The Jane K. Wall Fairfax County Cemetery Survey Papers, 1973-1977

Access and use

Location of collection:
Fairfax County Public Library
Fairfax County Public Library
City of Fairfax Regional Library
Virginia Room
10360 North Street
Fairfax, VA 22030-2514
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Chris Barbuschak
Phone: (703) 293-2142
Phone: (703) 293-6227 ext. 6 (Virginia Room)
Fax: (703) 293-2155

Summary

Extent:
0.5 linear feet
Creator:
Wall, Jane Kirkpatrick (1940-2001)
Abstract:
The Jane K. Wall Fairfax County Cemetery Survey Papers contains the final typescript of each survey conducted by Wall between 1973 and 1977. A descriptive location, cemetery condition, burial information, and survey date is included for each of the 96 cemeteries surveyed.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

The Jane K. Wall Fairfax County Cemetery Survey Papers contains the final typescript of each survey conducted by Wall between 1973 and 1977. A descriptive location, cemetery condition, burial information, and survey date is included for each of the 96 cemeteries surveyed. Subjects include cemeteries of Fairfax County, Virginia.

Biographical / historical:

Jane Peake Kirkpatrick was born on November 16, 1940, in Norfolk, Virginia to Capt. Raleigh C. Kirkpatrick and Nan Lee Peake Kirkpatrick. She married John Douglas Wall on August 7, 1966, in Virginia Beach and later relocated to Fairfax County, Virginia.

Jane K. Wall was an avid researcher and genealogist. Between 1973 and 1977, Wall surveyed 96 church and family cemeteries in Fairfax County. She recorded the names of each tombstone on 3x5 index cards. Wall donated her research material to Fairfax County Public Library’s Virginia Room where it quickly became a valuable resource to researchers and genealogists. In 1983, the Fairfax County History Commission presented Wall with the Distinguished Service Certificate in recognition of her cemetery survey work.

Wall was a founding member and treasurer of the Fairfax Genealogical Society. In the mid-1980s, the society undertook a gravestone transcription project built from Wall’s initial work. The society updated Wall’s surveys in addition to surveying other cemeteries that she had not included. The result was a 6 volume set of books published between 1994 through 1999 entitled Fairfax County, Virginia Gravestones which contained transcriptions for over 330 burial locations.

In the early 1980s, Wall moved to Cookeville, Tennessee. She died on September 22, 2001 in Putnam County, Tennessee after complications from cancer.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Jane K. Wall, 1980