Caleb Birch

• Birth Notes
  • Virginia Census, 1607-1890
    about Caleb Birch
    Name:     Caleb Birch
    State:     VA
    County:     Alexandria County
    Township:     Alexandria
    Year:     1850
    Record Type:     Slave Schedule
    Page:     465
    Database:     VA 1850 Slave Schedule 

• Death Notes
  • Built Birchwood around 1800 on land granted to James Robertson, his maternal grandfather, by Lord Fairfax in 1724. Original house burned down and was rebuilt in 1836. This house still stands at 4576 N. 26th St., Arlington, Va. (from Graveyards of Arlington County Virginia compiled by Arlington Geneology Club, copyright 1985.)
    
    
    
    The house was restored in 1939 by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Horn. The horns found the blackened foundations and hearth of the original house. The second house was a two story log cabin , one room above the other measuring 14 by 16 feet.
    
    Admiral Presley M. Rixey purchased the land including the homestead. he brought with him a colored valet named Richard Wallace. Richard made himself at home in the Birch cabin. When Admiral Rixey established the Washington Golf and Country Club golf course, he put Richard in charge of clearing the fairways. Green number 10 was surveyed to be at the cabin site, Richard took it upon himself to engineer otherwise. Admiral Rixey approved the change. Admiral Rixey deeded the cabin and three acres extending to Donaldson Run to Richard.
    
    The horns, both school teachers, found the decrepit cabin April 1, 1939 with a for sale sign by the door. They purchased it from Richard. The Horns took the cabin apart and reassembled the chestnut logs and rebuilt the massive chimney. Three floors were found to have been laid, one upon another and worn through. (from Arlington Heritage by Eleanor Lee Templeman, 1959)
    
    
    
    I visited this house and the Birch - Campbell Graveyard in February 2008.
    
    The address of the house is listed in several sources as 4572 but the number on the house is 4576.
    
    There is an historical marker that reads as follows: Birchwood    Caleb Birch, a farmer and constable, built a log house here around 1800 on land granted to his Grandfather James Robertson by Lord Fairfax in 1724. The original house burned and was rebuilt about 1836. A second log cabin was added ten years later. The two cabins, although separate, had a common roof, forming what was known as a "dog trot" house. Later, President Theodore Roosevelt rode horseback in this area with his friend and White House physician Rear Admiral Presley M. Rixley on whose estate Birchwood stood. Rixey's vlet, Richard Wallace lived at Birchwood and Roosevelt visited Wallace here. In 1936, Birchwood was reconstructed using the original logs.
    
    The reconstruction date on the marker and in Eleanor Lee Templeman's book contradict each other. The house was vacant when I visited and had a "for rent" sign on it.
    
    The graveyard was listed in the book Graveyards of Arlington County Virginia as being in a wooded area just North of the elementary school on the 26th St side of Marymount College campus. I did not find an elementary school on this street. A student directed me to a site on the campus behind the library which proved to be the right place. I found all the markers listed in the book except several small stones that included one with the letter "B". I found 4 markers not listed in the book. This graveyard is overgrown with ivy and sticker bushes, I plan to return with protective clothing and tools to search further.