Grave-marking ceremony honors local UDC founder

Nannie Seddon Barney, who spearheaded a drive for Confederate tombstones, will receive a United Daughters of the Confederacy marker at her own grave.

Date published: 4/9/2005

ASPECIAL grave-marking ceremony tomorrow, hosted by the Fredericksburg chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, will honor Nannie Sed don Barney, who founded the local group in 1896. The 2 p.m. observance will be held in the Fred- ericksburg Confederate Cemetery on Washington Avenue.

Nannie, who was born in Fredericksburg on June 10, 1838, wed a U.S. naval officer, Joseph Nicholson Barney. With the advent of the Civil War, Barney resigned his commission to join the Confederacy.

After the war, Nannie Barney became a member of the Ladies' Memorial Association, which was formed in 1866 to establish and maintain the Confederate Cemetery here. She led the fund-raising drive that replaced the wooden posts on the graves with marble tombstones and erected a statue of a Confederate soldier.

Nannie Barney died on Oct. 11, 1913, and is buried near her husband and seven children.

A UDC marker will be placed at her grave at tomorrow's ceremony. The speaker will be Mrs. Forrest R. Akers of the Fredericksburg UDC chapter.

Also participating will be the Virginia Division 5th Brigade; Matthew Fontaine Maury Camp No. 1722, Sons of Confederate Veterans; Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder Camp 258, Military Order of Stars and Bars; and Barbara Crookshanks of the Ladies' Memorial Association.

Greetings will be given by Mrs. Francis Latham, vice president of the Virginia Division, UDC, with Mrs. David Bailey, Fredericksburg president, presiding.

A national UDC officer, Mrs. Donald Joyner, recorder general of military service awards, also will be on hand, as well as some former members of the Fredericksburg chapter of the Children of the Confederacy, which was named after Nannie Seddon Barney.

Refreshments will be provided at the event, which is open to the public.

Follow us on

Date published: 4/9/2005