STEPHEN C. LAWSON & HIS GRANDCHILDREN, ANNA RAE AND STUART RUDACILLE
This photo was taken in the early 1930s on the farm (“Glenway Farm”) in Glen Echo, Warren County, owned and operated by Stephen Clifton Lawson and Annie Susan Beaty Lawson. The young girl is Anna Rae Rudacille (1927-2014). She would dedicate most of her life to teaching children.
Anna Rae is also remembered as a great local historian, farmer, and carer. Standing next to her is her brother, Stuart Lawson Rudacille (1927-2008), future farmer, school bus driver and Warren County Board of Supervisors Chairman.
Both Anna Rae and Stuart, my mother, and her brother Stuart were born in the Glenway farmhouse. In this photo their proud grandfather, Stephen Clifford Lawson (1860-1949), is standing next to them, with his hand on a mound of wheat.
In this article we have focused primarily on the life of Stephen Lawson and the history of Glenway Farm, rather than on his grandchildren. However, we have included brief biographies of both Anna Rae and Stuart at the end of this article.
STEPHEN AND ANNIE LAWSON’S LEGACY
Stephen was born on 27th November, 1860 in Warren County. His father, John Andrew Lawson, (1815-1910) was also a farmer. His mother was Eliza Ardelia Collins (1825-1911). Stephen Lawson and his wife, Annie Susan Beaty, purchased a small part of the Woodward tract. The land was offered for sale at auction at the Front Royal Courthouse in 1901. Stephen did bid at that auction but his bid was not accepted. The following week he went to the bank and made an increased offer which was accepted.
At that time the farm was known locally as “The Old Woodward Place.”Many years later, Stephen and Annie’s son0in-law, Raymond Rudacille, would rename it “Glenway Farm.”
Very few people living in the Gooney Valley today have probably ever heard of the Glenway Farm. However, most of them (and especially those who are lovers of good wine!) will be familiar with Glen Manor Vineyards.
Stephen and Annie had one child, Ruth Ardelia, who married Raymond Hodder Rudacille. They were the second generation of Lawsons to work and live on this land. Ruth gave birth to two children at home, a son (Stuart Lawson) and a daughter (Anna Rae). Upon the deaths of Ruth and Raymond, the farm passed to these two children. Anna Rae married Alpheus Lee White, and the portion of the farm that Anna Rae inherited is where Glen Manor Vineyards and winery are now established.
Alpheus and Anna Rae had three sons, the youngest of whom (Jeff White) developed an interest in and an appreciation for wine. Glen Manor is currently managed and operated by Jeff and his wife, Kelly. They established the original 6 acres of vineyards in 1995. Today, the estate comprises 226 acres of pastures, forests, and just over 18 acres of vineyards. Their farm is recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia as a Century Farm for being owned and farmed by four generations of one family for over 120 years.
THE FARM
When we first read Jeff White’s account of the history of his family’s farm it set us wondering about the earlier history of the land acquired by Stephen Lawson in 1901. We know that in the 1830s William Woodward bought thousands of acres of land from the estate of the Marshall family, and that this included more than 4,000 acres in the Gooney Manor/Happy Creek area. When this sale took place some of that land that changed hands was already being farmed by leaseholders who had acquired their leases from the Marshalls.
Over the following six decades the Woodwards gradually sold off most of this land. Many of those who bought land were leaseholders who wanted to take full ownership of “their land”. Others, like Stephen Lawson, were men who had lived in Gooney Manor the whole of their lives, often working for other family members who were landowners or leaseholders.
Although there is absolutely no doubt that Stephen Lawson and his wife, Annie Susan Beatty, did acquire their land directly from the Woodward estate in 1901, we have found it almost impossible to unravel the mystery of who occupied and farmed this land during the 19th Century. Most of what we have discovered is based on the inscriptions carved on a relatively small number of gravestones.
THE LEWIN-LAWSON FAMILY CEMETERY
According to Jeff White, the only structure on the land in 1901 was “a very nice log cabin. This description omits the fact that, in addition to the cabin, there was also an old family cemetery on the land, not far from the location of the cabin. That cemetery in known today as the Lewin-Lawson Family Cemetery. In recent years a lot of work has been done to clean up the gravestones and clear the area around them. It can still be viewed today by anyone visiting Glen Manor Vineyards. The cemetery, as evidenced by inscriptions on the gravestones, was used for burials from as early as 1831. The last burial, of Posie Valpo Lawson, took place there in 1915.
The cemetery is typical of many of the family cemeteries to be found in the Gooney Valley and surrounding area. Historically, most burials in European countries took place in graveyards located close to a church. This was not the case in rural areas of Virginia in the 18th and 19th Century where the relatively small number of churches meant that people had to bury their deceased relatives on land owned or leased by family members. Many of the original 19thcentury grave markers in these cemeteries were made of native stone or chestnut. Few of these have survived the ravages over many decades of weather, insects, tree roots, or grazing sheep or cattle. Also, some of those buried in family plots in the Gooney Valley were moved later to the Prospect Hill Cemetery in Front Royal so that families could visit more easily.
When you look at the gravestones in these old family cemeteries you can often gain insights into the story of a family over time. According to Jeff White’s grandmother, there are many babies buried in the Lewin-Lawson Family Cemetery and there is a bit of a mystery about the demise of these children, who are all from one family.
The difficulty in unraveling the story of the Lewin-Lawson Cemetery is that some of the surviving gravestones are damaged and weatherworn. In addition, it is highly likely that many of the original grave markers have disappeared or, if they do still exist, have been buried and forgotten. Interpreting what remains is a bit like trying to understand a jigsaw puzzle that has lost most of its pieces. The headstones that have survived do provide some intriguing clues. They include members of four different families: the Collins, the Jennings, the Lewins, and the Lawsons, all of whom were related to one another through marriage. At least four of these graves can be linked directly to Stephen Lawson’s family:
William Lewin’s Grave (1784-1859)
William Lewin was the brother of Stephen Lawson’s grandfather, John Lawson IV. His is one of the earlier graves in the cemetery (1859). Two of his daughters and at least two of his granddaughters are also buried nearby.
The grave of his son, William M Lewin (1821-1893), the father of the two granddaughters, is not in this cemetery. However, there does not seem to be any record of his burial elsewhere so it seems likely that his gravestone may have been destroyed or buried.
Could William M. Lewin have been the last person to farm this land before he died in 1893? Maybe, maybe not!
Jeffrey Collins (1756-1851) and Jemima Arterburn Collins (1769-1831) Graves
Jeffrey Collins (1756-1851) was a Revolutionary War veteran. HAlthough he is a relative of Stephen Lawson by marriage this marble plaque commemorating his life and his status as a revolutionary war veteran does not indicate that he was actually buried in this cemetery. The plaque was placed here relatively recently by The Sons of the American Revolution because the location of his actual grave is unknown.
Jeffrey Collins lived during the last few years of his life with his daughter, Amelia Collins Brown, and son-in-law, Hezekiah Brown, at their home about one mile south of Browntown. His lost grave is most likely located somewhere in the nearby Baggarly-Updike Cemetery where both Amelia and Hezekiah are known to have been buried.
The reason that the Lewin-Lawson Family Cemetery was chosen as the location for the commemorative plaque is that there was a known connection between the Collins and Lawson families: Jeffrey’s son, Charles Antebrun Collins (1785-1867) married Nancy Lewin (1786-1876) in 1818. Nancy was the sister of Maria Lewin, the wife of Stephen Lawson’s grandfather, John Lawson IV, making her Stephen Lawson’s great aunt by marriage.
The Graves of Stephen Lawson’s Parents: John Andrew Lawson (1815-1910) and Eliza Arbelia Collins Lawson (1825-1911)
Both of Stephen’s parents were living with him and Annie at Glenway Farm in the early 1900s. John Andrew Lawson, died in 1910, Eliza died a year later We know that both were buried in the family cemetery, in either the southwest or northwest corner where there were two sunken graves, since filled and leveled. Unfortunately, there are no surviving markers for either grave.
Further clarification of who occupied and farmed the land that Stephen and Annie Lawson bought in 1901 may be possible by doing a thorough search of the land records of Shenandoah County and Warren County. For now, it remains a mystery.
If you can help unravel this mystery, please contact us through the link on this website.
Anna Rae Rudacille (1927-2014)
Anna Rae was born at Gooney Lodge, not far from the family farm. She would go on to earn higher degrees in education and dedicated her life to teaching children until she returned to Glen Echo in 1990 to provide care for her parents through the end of their lives.
She enjoyed her responsibility as steward of her ancestral farm and home and was especially proud, witnessing and helping in the transformation of her cattle farm into a wine producing operation (Glen Manor Vineyards) run by her son, Jeff White, and his wife Kelly.
Anna Rae also enjoyed interviewing and writing sketches of Browntown Community residents which were published in the Browntown Community Center Association Newsletter and are now housed at the Warren County Heritage Society in Front Royal.
Stuart Lawson Rudacille (1927-2008) – Anna Rae’s brother.
He was first elected to the Warren County Board of Supervisors in 1983 and served five consecutive four-year terms.
His oldest daughter, Susan Bell, described her father as a Warren County man. “He really cared about the whole county. He loved it so much, he never wanted to leave it even on vacation. He was a people person. I always called him the great American defender of the underdog, and he would laugh….His passion was Warren County and his farm (Glenway Farm).”
When he retired as a school bus driver Stuart held the state record for being on the same bus run for 39 1⁄2 years. He also earned a spot in Who’s Who of Virginia in the 1970s for his work as a manager and coach of Front Royal basketball teams.