History Thursday: 302 Princess Anne Street
Women were the original and longest-term owners of this property.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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In the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries, this building and the building next door were owned by Ella Hicks, a lifelong resident of Fredericksburg—and the deed for the property was entered in her name alone, even though she was married at the time.
“It was unusual for a property deed to be entered in the wife’s name instead of the husband’s, unless the wife were particularly wealthy,” writes John Johnson for the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation’s marker report on 302 Princess Anne Street. “However, Mrs. Hicks’ parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Toombs, were of moderate means.”
Ella Hicks bought the property in 1889. There was one structure on the lot—a small building constructed around the time of the Civil War that the owner operated as a grocery store.
Ella and her husband at the time, Richard Hicks, continued to operate the grocery store at 304 Princess Anne Street. In 1889, she built another structure on the property, which is the current dwelling at 302 Princess Anne. According to Johnson, it’s a scaled-down replica of the brick house next door, but Ella added “many interior refinements” such as “a brick floored basement, six handsomely carved fireplaces, and an ornate front door.”
Ella outlived one husband and married Alexander Purcell in 1907. Purcell took over the grocery business—although according to the recollections of Sidney Armstrong, a longtime City Council member who grew up in the neighborhood—Ella did most of the work.
“[Armstrong] recalls that Ella Hicks Purcell ran the store and waited on customers while Mr. Purcell, neatly dressed in suit and tie, sat in the back,” Johnson wrote in the marker report. “He usually smoked a cigar and always wore his hat whether he was inside or out.”
According to Johnson, another resident of the neighborhood, John Russell, recalled Ella Purcell as being “a very strong-minded person.” In addition to running the grocery store, she continued to accumulate real estate in her own name—eventually up to 25 properties—that she rented out. Russell recalled that she was “very strict with her tenants.”
Ella Hicks Purcell died in 1935, aged 73, and left all her property to her one daughter, but gave her husband a lifetime interest in 302 Princess Anne Street. However, he was to allow Mamie Powell, a woman who had been raised by Ella, to occupy the house “if she finds it necessary to do so,” according to Johnson. This was another “unusual” provision in records related to Mrs. Purcell.
Ella Purcell wasn’t the only single woman with a relation to 302 Princess Anne Street. The original 1843 owner of the lot that later became 300, 302, and 304 Princess Anne Street was Jane Jones, a widow who lived in a frame house that later became 300 Princess Anne.
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