Black Lives Next Door in Fairfax

By looking at the “Grantor Index to Deeds from Jan. 1 ,1866 to Dec. 31, 1932” we find the first record of land being sold. James A. Quander, Alcinia Quander, John P. Quander, and potentially another James Quander (E. or C.) or it could be a typo on the deed. It is also identified that this transaction is a deed of trust. This implies that the landowners needed either a loan or mortgage of some kind and had to use the property as collateral. The reason for collateral is most likely due to Lewis Quander, which is explained by the “Chancery Cause County at Fairfax vs. James A. Quander ~Quander, his wife”. This document shows that Lewis Quander had not paid State and County taxes for the land he owned from the year 1876 to 1880. This land however was redistributed to Lewis’s wife and 5 kids after Lewis Quander's debt as well as the owed tax money. This explains the need for the landowners to put up such a small amount of land as collateral as they needed money to pay off the taxes that were not paid by Lewis Quander.

There was another Chancery Cause in 1885 which concerned the initial transaction where James A. Quander and others used their land as collateral. The Chancery Cause tells us that they either failed to pay back the initial loan or they needed more money to pay off the accumulated debts of Lewis Quander.   

In September of 1889 James and Alcinda sold ¾ of an acre to Peter Pullman this plot of land included a 2 story house and all contents found on the plot of land. In the Grantor Index to Deeds, it also is noted as a Trust which could imply that this land was also used as collateral for an additional loan or debt. This same instance occurred again in 1892 with the transaction being a trust and Peter Pullman being the grantee. This transaction also was connected to a J-5 document which showed us that there was also an auction. The receipt of the auction was also listed and revealed that they made a total of $29.17.

Again, James A. Quander and Alcinda Quander sell an additional piece of land, this time to Lucy Thomas and Hannah Moss. This was slightly odd as the land description is identical for both transactions and they occurred on the same day. Most likely Lucy and Hannah bought the property together and divided it privately.

In the same Deed it is important to note that in the Attest portion it states “State of Pennsylvania”. This tells us that most likely James A. Quander and Alcinda Quander moved to Pennsylvania, explaining why there was no record of death for James A. Quander in the Fairfax Archives. If a death record was to be recorded for James A. Quander it would most likely be found in Pennsylvania's Archives.

The final transaction found in the Grantor Index to Deeds that involved James A. Quander was in January 1913. This was a Chancery suit, which means that there was an issue that had not violated the law but required formal documentation to resolve. In this document, we than can conclude that James A. Quander was appointed a special commissioner who was directed to sell the remaining acres of James A. Quander's Land located in Mount Vernon.