History of Saint James’: The Marr family

COMPILED BY THE HISTORY COMMITEE

Across the street from Saint James’ Church, at 118 Culpeper St., is the John Quincy Marr House, built in 1830. John Marr, father of John Quincy Marr, was an ensign in the War of 1812. His son John Quincy Marr was the commonwealth’s attorney and sheriff from 1856 to 1859. The younger Marr then served as captain of the Warrenton Rifles and was killed in 1861 at the Battle of Fairfax Court House, earning him the ill-fated distinction as the first Confederate officer to fall in battle during the Civil War.

The property was left to the four daughters of John Marr, including Fannie H. Marr. Members of the Marr family were communicants of Saint James’ Warrenton.

In 1874, Fannie Marr, a poet, wrote of her love of Saint James’:

I love this church; I love to sit
Within this hallowed place;
The air, the books, the very walls
My flagging spirits brace.
I love to leave the world without,
With every care and fear,
And come in earnest, childlike trust,
To feel that God is here.

Oh, ‘mid the vexing scenes of life,
Its anxious toil and care,
How often have I sought this house
In earnest faith and prayer!
This house—where never yet o’er came
In anguish and dismay,
A sorrowing heart in humble trust
That went unblessed away.

Fannie H. Marr

This essay was originally published in 2016 to mark the bicentennial of Saint James’ Warrenton. Historical material was taken from “Warrenton, Virginia, A Unique History of 200 years, 1810-2010,” by John T. Toler, Cheryl H. Shepherd and Ann C. Power.