Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-04-28

Old Union Church was destroyed dur
ing the civil war and around it lie the
ashes Of generations of the families OF
Fairfax and Loudoun counties. for Diff
cult run was once the dividing line
between those counties. Close upon
the site of old Union Church the Bap-
lists now have house Of prayer.
About 300 yards up the run from
Swink's mill may be traced the site
and part Of the stone wreckage of an
other mill. That was Balls mill. the
name of which goes back to the youth
of the United States. and it may have
been an old mill when the name Of Ball
was attached to it, for mills usually
have their names changed to agree
with the name of the latest owner OF
the property or the miller. It might
have been Scott or Turberville mill
before it became Balls mill. DR.. Mot
iron Ball moved to Fairfax county from
Northumberland In 1872. His wife was
Martha Corbin Turberville of the Iur-
through which the Little River turn
pike runs and which gave its name
to the battle which followed hard upon
the second Bull Run and where with
many others of less rank and renoWR
Gems. Phil kearney and Isaac Stevens
fell Dr. Mottron Ball built a hne
house on a hill about two miles from
the mills on SCOTS run. and that MIL
today bears the name of Balls nil, q
name which seems to have been given
it by Union topographers during the
civil war. The Ball family is an old
and numerous one in Virginia. Mary
Ball, 1.-The Rose of Epping Forest; was
the second wife of Augustine wash
ington and the mother of George WASH
ington. Ballstone. near Washington
takes its name from n branch or thls
family, and so also does Bans niuii;
where. on October 81. 1861. Col. Edward
d. Baker was killed and where 921
Union soldiers were killed. wounded or
captured
DR.. Mottron Ball called this tract
Woodbury.. His house was DESTROYED
many years before the civil war, but IN
front of its site stands today new
house, modelled on the lines OF the oider
one and owned by w. s. Ball, dlrect
descendant-the Rambler believes. the
great-grandson-of the first proprietor.
A large acreage has been preserved out
of the original Woodbury. and the part
so preserved is still called by that
name. DR.. Mottron Balls son, Spencer
Martin Ball, was for many years clerk
of the court of Fairfax county. He was.
of course, a democrat, but some time
before the civil war there was a whig
victory in the county, and, disguseeo
with such a revolutionary upset in the
affairs of Fairfax, he retired to that
eminence which the federal topogra-
pliers marked down on their maps as
Balls hill His house was burned dur
ing the civil war.
Two original grants cover this part OF
the country. oHe was the 8 AM ~ -,
Turbervilles, and that family gave to 1t
thesname of Chantilly: no, doubt. In re-
membrance of an ancestral home in
France. The other grant was to the
Scott family. and on it a descendant OF
the grantee erected his home, which he
called Strawberry VaAe Manor. That
old house, at the end of lane bordered
by locust trees, stands off the west side
Of the road which leads from Langley
to Fairfax Court House and close to the
historic road junction called Tysons
which is only about half
mile from Freedom hill, a place Of note
in colonial annals. On that hill stood
the first court building Of Fairfax coun-
ty No trace of the structure remains
and even it's site cannot be identified.
1t was in the building on that hill that
resolutions were adopted in 1774 set
ting forth the grievances Of the colo
MES mapping out program of nom
intercourse with the mother country