This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/gIT.2ACEB/8.23.50.51.75 Message Board Post: My grandfather's grandfather was John Donaldson Payne, and lived in Falls Church Va, in fact he was the Mayor in the early 1800s. Falls Church is in Fairfax co on the border of Arlington. When looking for Donaldsons in this area, let me first tell you that while the land was mostly farmland , the area slowly developed ans with the changes came new names for the area. Alexandria's outer regions became Falls Church and later in the 1930s Arlington. Also records have the area listed as the Washington District of Alexandria. many farmers in this area of the Northern Neck of the Potpmac had residences in Washington City or DC where they stayed when they went to market.Falls Church is in Fairfax Co. My ancestor John Donaldson Payne was a Donaldson on his mother's side. The Payne/Donaldson family had a farm on the stretch of land that is now the Pentagon. The Donaldsons go back to the McDonald clan of Scotland. They had a Cherry orcard in a part of Arlington called Cherrydale. Some are buried in the cemeterin Washington DC next to Dumbarton Oaks. Their church was there. Some my be in the Mt Olivet Methodist Church Cemeter (George Washington's Church) on Glebe Road in Arlington.