History Thursday: 224 Princess Anne Street
House's owners have included an African American waiter and cook, a local duckpin bowling champion, and a Croix de Guerre recipient.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
This home on lower Princess Anne Street was built in 1888 for James Lee, who worked as a waiter on one of the steamboats that traveled the Rappahannock River in the late 19th century, and his wife, Sarah.
“James Lee, a waiter on one of the Rappahannock steamers, is building a comfortable two-story frame building on Princess Anne Street,” a note in the April 22, 1887, edition of the Free Lance reads.
The lot where 224 Princess Anne Street stands was vacant when the Lees bought it, according to research conducted by W. Sydney Armstrong for the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation’s marker program.
Armstrong concludes that there had been a dwelling on the property that was severely damaged during the Civil War. It was rented to various tenants and then demolished.
The Lees, who were African American, lived in the home for about 10 years and then moved to Washington, D.C., where there were better opportunities for James Lee to work as a cook, according to Armstrong.
A subsequent owner, Julian Garner, added a front porch and a two-story rear addition. Garner’s nephew, Gilbert Minor lived in the house and then inherited it when his uncle died in 1948. Minor was frequently written up in the Free Lance-Star throughout the 1930s and 40s for being a high scorer in the downtown merchant’s pinball bowling league.
Minor sold 224 Princess Anne Street to Jesse and Hattie Scott in December of 1958. Jesse Scott was from the Fredericksburg area but had lived in Newport, Rhode Island for almost 50 years, working as a policeman. He retired and moved back to the area but died less than a year after buying the home.
According to his obituary from December 31, 1959, published in the Free Lance-Star, Jesse Scott served in action in France in World War I and received the Croix de Guerre and a commendation from General Pershing for his bravery. His funeral was conducted at Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site) by the Rev. B.H. Hester, who was a longtime pastor, educator, and social activist.
After Jesse Scott’s death, the property was sold at auction and became a rental until 1975. When Armstrong conducted his marker research in 1996, one of the house’s owners was Wayne Wray—who coincidentally shares a last name with one of the very first 18th-century owners of the lot, Jacob Wray of Elizabeth City County, Virginia.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:
First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.
First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.
First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:
And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
