Ancestral Home of the
Hall and Fernald Families (1790 to 1868)

All information provided by Jason Lester Atkins,
Great-Grandson of George Elijay Fernald and Virginia May Hall-Fernald, and
Grandson of James Wesley Jarvis and Emma May Fernald-Jarvis, and
Oldest Son of Jesse Clifton Atkins and Virginia May Jarvis-Atkins.


Directions to the Ancestral Home of the Hall and Fernald Families

From Norfolk, Virginia get on Interstate 64 West and take Exit 250 (which is Highway 105 East). Drive 3.8 miles and turn Left on Highway 17 North. Drive 17.5 miles and turn Right on Highway 14 East. Drive 15.7 miles to the town of Mathews and then turn Right to stay on Highway 14 East. Drive 3.0 miles and turn Left on Fern Hall Road. About 0.2 miles on the Left is the house built by James Wesley Jarvis in the year 1895. At the end of the road (about 0.4 miles) is George Elijah Fernald's home which was originally built in the year 1790 by the Hall family (Elijah's first wife was Virginia May Hall).

Hall Ancestral Home

The Hall and Fernald Ancestral Home - Built 1790 and Expanded in 1868.
Above Picture Taken at Atkins Family Reunion in 1974 by Lester Atkins.
Top Floor Left Window - Bedroom the Atkins Children slept in.
Bottom Floor Left Window - Bedroom of Pa Elijah Fernald.
Bottom Floor Right Window - Room Used for Family Funerals.
First car on left is Jesse Lee Atkins’ Oldsmobile.
Second car from left is Lester Atkins’ 1973 White Cadillac Eldorado.
On the far right side of the picture is a Sycamore Tree.

Built 1790 back section (connected not shown) - a large single room with cooking fireplace and porch and shed room for food storage downstairs and loft room above - divided into 2 rooms - one for boys & one for girls. Built by Hall family after Revolution. This family owned large acreage of swampy land - growing tall straight pine trees (used in shipbuilding for British Crown before war). The area was Gloucestershire at that time (Kingston Parish since 1652) - Name changed to Mathews County in 1798.

In 1876 George "Elijah" Fernald (born 1849) married Virginia May Hall (born 1853, his first wife) and he added the 2 story front section (shown in above picture) after the Civil War. They had 4 boys (Carroll, George, Golly, & Emmitt and one daughter Emma May). Emma May married James Wesley Jarvis & was grandmother to Atkins children. (Both first wives died young.) Elijah Fernald married Nancy Diggs and he lived until 1934.

Fernald Home

James Wesley Jarvis married Edith Hurst (2nd wife). He built house in 1895 on land given by father-in-law Elijah Fernald. (Note: The Jarvis House is shown in the picture on the right which was taken July 2, 2004. The Jarvis House is on the left on the same road as the Hall Home which is shown in the picture at the top of this page.)

Atkins children spent weeks in summer in 1920’s at the old home with Pa Elijah. The old house was haunted by generations of ancestors and we children feared sleeping in 2nd floor bedrooms. House still standing (2004) in Port Haywood, Mathews, Virginia (Halltown).

Recorded by Lester Atkins, June 23, 2004.




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Permission to copy pictures granted by Jason Lester Atkins and Robert Wayne Atkins on September 16, 2004.


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