ADAM LYNN
Jeweler, Silver and Goldsmith, Silver Tea sets may be had to any pattern at short notice, warranted to equal any in America.
It is noted that in 1801 he "respectfully informs the public that he has commenced the clock and watchmaking business, in addition to that of jewelry. He has laid in a large assortment of the best materials in that line and is determined to give general satisfaction." Lynn's work is delicate and fine. Strangely, very little remains but what there is is satisfactory. He frequently decorated his flatware with a refined etching or gravure, his hollow ware with reeding. To the jewelry business Lynn combined another. In 1810 his advertisement read:
New Hardware Store
Adam Lynn & Co.
Have received by the Ship "Dumphries" from Liverpool, via Baltimore A Large and General Assortment ... which they now offer for sale at their store corner King and Royal Streets—late occupied by Peter Sherron.
Lynn held several offices in the Masonic lodge and served for years as vestryman of St. Paul's Church. He had the added distinction of being drawn by M. de St. Mèmin.
A few spoons and ladles survive Mordecai Miller, 1790; John Duffey, 1793; George Duffey (1845-1880); James Ganet (1820-1830); William Cohen, 1833; Benjamin Barton, 1833; R.C. Acton, 1840; William A. Williams (1787-1846). The last-named craftsmen made the famous silver cup presented by the "grateful City Council" to the lovely Mrs. Lawrason for entertaining La Fayette in her home. John Pittman is listed in a deed in 1801 as a goldsmith and silversmith, while the census for 1790 gives the names of Thomas Bird, William Galt, John Piper and John Lawrason. In addition, from other deeds and advertisements, the names of John Short (1784); James Galt (1801); Josiah Coryton, "late of this town" (1801) are gleaned as watchmakers and clockmakers.
silverware
Top: Creamer, sugar and bowl by Charles Burnett. Center: Sauceboat and sugar urn by Charles Burnett, creamer by I. Adam. Owned by Mrs. John Howard Joynt. Bottom: Service by I. Adam. Owned by the Misses Snowden.
Slate roofing seems to have made its initial appearance around 1800. In 1805 Joseph Riddle's dwelling house was "covered in copper" and John Janney's warehouse in slate, and at least one building in "composition." At this date an insurance plat shows a tinsmith and coppersmith's shop. The early roofs were covered in wood (i.e., wooden shingles).
heading
With the death of George Washington in 1799, which emphasized the close of the eighteenth century, the city whose prosperity seemed in some mystic fashion to have developed and grown with him began a decline.
In 1803 came yellow fever, leaving desolation and mourning in its wake. An English traveler wrote in 1807:
Alexandria was about eight years ago a very flourishing place, but the losses sustained from the capture of American vessels by the French in the West Indies, occasioned many failures. In the year 1803, the yellow fever, which broke out there for the first time, carried off a number of its inhabitants. These shocks have so deeply affected the mercantile interest, that the town has but two or three ships in the trade with Great Britain; and there is little prospect of its ever attaining to its former prosperity.[53]
Alexandria was further subjected to plagues. Cholera broke out in 1832, and people dropped dead in the streets while the population shuddered. Illness, death, and burial was the fearsome sequence of only a few hours. There was a Board of Health and a Quarantine Officer, but ignorance of sanitation laws and preventive medicine resulted in appalling epidemics brought in by visiting vessels.
Fire, too, ravaged the town. There were two major conflagrations in the early nineteenth century, one in 1810 and another in 1824, in each of which at least fifty buildings were consumed. The fire in the latter year all but demolished the west side of Fairfax Street between King and Prince Streets. George Washington is credited with having founded the first fire company and giving to the city what was then the finest of modern hand pumpers—a magnificent affair of red paint, brass trimmings, and leather buckets. A law of the town made it mandatory for each householder or proprietor of a dwelling or storehouse to furnish leather buckets of at least two-and-one-half-gallon capacity at "his or her expense"—in quantity equal to the stories of his house; no proprietor was expected, however, to provide more than three buckets. The buckets were numbered and lettered with the names of the owners, whose duty it was to send or carry them to any place where a fire broke out, or to "throw them into the street so that they may be taken there."[54]
The fire companies at the first alarm, in scarlet shirts, turned out on shortest notice, at a dead run on "shanks' mare." Woe betide the member who was late, for he was fined right heavily. Pumping by hand to put out a fire was a laborious affair and slackers were not tolerated. Even with the best of will and the most earnest of pumpers, the fires got out of hand and took a terrible toll of the early buildings. While insides were gutted, the walls often remained to contain again an interior of beauty and dignity.
Alexandria suffered more from the War of 1812 than from the Revolution. Before Washington fell to the British in 1814, Alexandria was forced to capitulate and had to pay a high indemnity for physical protection. This disaster, coupled with the failure of the canal which was to open up the vast Ohio country, all but wrecked the best financial hopes and plans of the city.
The opening of the Potomac River for navigation, to connect with the Ohio, was a project close to General Washington's heart. He had entertained this dream from the time of his first western venture in 1754. He calculated, plotted, and surveyed distances, and from 1770 onward his mind was set upon the accomplishment. In July of that year he was in correspondence with Thomas Johnson, to whom he wrote: "Till now I have not been able to enquire into the sentiments of any of the Gentlemen of this side in respect to the Scheme of opening inland navigation of the Potomac by private subscription."[55] Washington's trips to the Ohio, in October 1770 and again in September 1784—on both occasions accompanied by Dr. Craik—while in the interest of his western land holdings were also to forward this canal business.
All of this resulted in the founding of the Potomac Navigation Company in 1785, and Alexandria subscribed heavily to the bond issue. By 1829 the first steam locomotive was operating in America and the coming of the steam engine was followed by the collapse of the canal project. Thousands of local dollars were thus lost. When the deflation was complete, financial stagnation followed, from which Alexandria never entirely recovered. During these trying 1830s and 1840s many of her younger men departed for the west hoping to better their fortunes.
Alexandrians did not take kindly to federal jurisdiction of their affairs, and within half a century from 1800—on February 3, 1846—a petition was presented from the citizens of the county and town of Alexandria to the Virginia General Assembly, stating that they had pending before Congress an application for recession to the Commonwealth of Virginia. They asked the Assembly for a law to accept them back into the fold should their request be granted. By act of Congress, dated July 9, 1846, it was provided that: "With the assent of the people of the County and Town of Alexandria, that portion of the territory of the District of Columbia ceded to the United States by the State of Virginia ... receded and forever relinquished to the State of Virginia ..."[56]
Virginia welcomed the recession as a mother would welcome home a maltreated and divorced daughter. Alexandria County (later Arlington County) and the City of Alexandria were accepted on March 13, 1847, just two years short of the latter's centenary.
Fourteen years later the first blood of dreadful civil war was spilled in Alexandria and the city found itself a pawn to arbitrament by the sword. When General Robert E. Lee accepted the command of Confederate forces, a host of Alexandrians followed him into battle. To the citizenry with Southern sympathies, war meant bitter severance once again from Virginia. For the duration of the Civil War, Alexandria, under federal jurisdiction again, became the capital of that part of the state (West Virginia) which refused to secede with the Richmond government. To the old city came a governor and legislature with Northern sympathies, making welcome any federal forces camping on the outskirts of town. Old prints show the Union flag in the hands of marching soldiers on King Street, and camps and cantonments, beginning at the "Round House," extending for miles.
Even so, the best and noblest donned the gray, and Alexandria's own marched out to become part of the 17th Virginia Infantry, C.S.A., upon the bloody battlefields of the South.
With the close of the Civil War, prosperity departed. Fewer and fewer ships came to anchor in the Potomac port, until finally nothing remained to show the important part that Alexandria played for a century in the sea commerce of the world save rotted piles that once supported wharves, and a few grimy, scarred old warehouses whose collapsing roofs and loose bricks threatened the very life of the pedestrian.
Other wars have come and gone and each has had a conspicuous effect upon the town. The tragic era of 1861-65, binding our great nation into an indissoluble union, began likewise the process of cementation which steadfastly links Alexandria to the District of Columbia by bands that are basically nonpolitical (maybe stronger for that same reason). Paradoxically, Alexandria is a free city—part of Virginia, though not characteristic of the State; allied to the District, but no part of it.
Alexandria's cultural heritage has appealed for many reasons to Washington officialdom, and many persons prominent in national affairs have crossed the river to settle and to restore the gracious old homes of bygone days. George Washington's Alexandria is a city at once assured and self-conscious. Confident in its background, its venerable traditions, and its associations with the great in the country's development, Alexandria ponders its destiny.
Lynn
Adam Lynn, Silversmith.
(By Saint Mèmin)
All faithful sons and daughters, whether native or adopted, fondly hope that this bicentennial year of the city's existence may bring closer to fulfillment the famous toast voiced by La Fayette in 1824: "The City of Alexandria: May her prosperity and happiness more and more realize the fondest wishes of our venerated Washington!"
Where is the great seaport that was Alexandria? Where are the ships that plied their trade to the four corners of the earth, built, outfitted, loaded from this port, officered and manned by the men of this town? Where the great shipyards down whose ways slipped vessels of any magnitude; the ropewalks where black slaves trod the weary miles twisting the hemp to lift the sails made in Alexandria sail lofts? Where the great docks, wharves and warehouses that lined the water front?
Only phantom vessels, locked in the eternal secrets of the deep, float at anchor and crowd the harbor with a pale tracery of masts and rigging. Only the voices of sailors long silent float ashore on the breezes in a polyglot of languages, while ghostly laughter and oaths of those held in taverns by rum and sugar at three pence ha'penny disturbs the sobriety of the water front.
Gone are the shipyards. Upon ways destroyed by rot will rise no more the skeleton ribs of sloop nor barque nor brig.
Silent are the sail lofts. Long ago the last workman at day's end put down the canvas and the thread.
Empty are the ropewalks of docile slave and pungent hemp.
Cold are the bake ovens—crumbled the last biscuit....
The worn and polished cobbles are destitute of coach and four, of chariot and chair. Nor does the mail arrive by stage.
No more will hoops and wigs add allure to the progress of beauty—nor peruke nor smallclothes invest the beau with grandeur.
The factor and the sea captains have departed. The weary clerk has put up the last shutter; empty stools and blunted quills abandoned. Only the ledgers remain, free of blot and blemish to attest the skill and patience of the forgotten scribe.
An autumn moon lights the old town, turning to silver the tiny waves lapping the old sea wall, shimmering on the panes of dormer windows, silhouetting the high brick facades against the white night, outlining trim and cornice. Lighted transoms dimly reveal the white paneled doorways.... Let us enter....
heading
heading
William Ramsay: Romulus of Alexandria
[Historic Ramsay House, once the home of Alexandria's first mayor and oldest building standing in the city, miraculously escaped destruction by fire in 1942. Later threatened by the "wheels of progress," it was saved by heroic efforts of Alexandria antiquarians who persuaded the city fathers to purchase the structure as a gesture to the 1949 anniversary. As this book goes to press an active campaign is under way by Alexandria historical societies to raise funds for restoration.]
Some two hundred years ago a sturdy-bottomed little sailing ship riding at anchor in the port of Dumfries in Scotland, and bound for the port of Dumfries in Virginia, was boarded by a young Scotsman. No parvenu voyager he, but a young man of settled background and promising future, educated for his calling and going out to take his place in one of the Scottish firms trading in Virginia.
Our adventurer belonged to the Ramsay family of the noble house of Dalhousie, which goes back into Scottish history of the thirteenth century. King Edward I, in July 1298, spent the night at Dalhousie on his way to battle with William Wallace; and in 1400 Sir Alexander Ramsay defended the walls of Dalhousie against Henry IV. In 1633 William, Second Lord Ramsay, was created First Earl of Dalhousie. This young adventurer bore the name of the Second Lord, William. He was born in 1716 in Kirkendbrightshire in the Galloway district of Scotland, and he was destined to play no small part in his own particular sphere. He brought the integrity and industry of his native land to the new world shores, and was one of that band of Scotsmen of whom President Madison said, "Their commercial edicts served the colony as substantial legislation for many years."[57] These traits, added to vision, wisdom, sound morality and a tender nature, formed the character of the future first citizen of Alexandria.
The year 1744 found William Ramsay settled in business with John Carlyle, trading under the name of Carlyle & Ramsay in the village of Belle Haven. This little settlement lay on the banks of the upper Potomac behind the Great Hunting Creek warehouse.
Ramsay early sensed that the large harbor of Belle Haven with its deep water and fine approach was a better situation for a town than many then being agitated before the Burgesses. Forming friendships with Colonel Fairfax, Lawrence Washington, George Mason, George Johnston, and other large planters, he impressed them with the importance of this situation as a site of great promise for a city and a port.[58]
When this dream became an accomplished fact it was a natural conclusion that William Ramsay was one of the seven men chosen by the Virginia Assembly for the purpose of laying out the town at Hunting Creek warehouse.[59]
His faith in Alexandria was supported by his pocketbook. At the first auction of lots on July 13, 1749, he bought lots Nos. 46 and 47; and he never lost an opportunity to invest his hard and dangerously earned money in the soil of his begotten city.
At the outbreak of the French and Indian War he was appointed (on George Washington's recommendation) Commissary in 1756. Many letters dealing with commissary affairs, and more interesting, the movement of troops, written from Rays Town are among the Washington papers.
His partnership with Carlyle was followed by one with John Dixon which was dissolved in 1757, when Dixon returned to England and his native Whitehaven. Ramsay incurred a large debt by buying Dixon's interests. He wrote to Washington in July 1757, saying he had been extremely unfortunate in all his affairs, and asking for a loan of £250, saying, "I have made application to the monied ones—My Ld Fx, Mr Speaker, Mr Corbin, Mr Cary and many others witht success wch I put to the Accot of my perverse fortune, not to the want of ability to serve me." These gentlemen were among the richest and most influential men in the colony, but George, a young colonel of militia, scraped up £80 in August and another £70 in September, to lend his good friend and mentor.
William Ramsay had given Washington some sound advice in September 1756, when the young Colonel was somewhat upset by criticism of militia officers and not too happy in his official duties. Ramsay wrote, "... Know sir, that Ev'ry Gentn in an exalted Station raises envy & Ev'ry person takes the Liberty of judging or rather determining (with judging) from appearances (or information) without weighing circumstances, or the proper causes, on wch their judgemt ought to be founded.... Upon the whole, Sr, triumph in your innocency, your disinterestedness, your unwearied Application & Zeal for your country's good, determine you to continue in its service at a time there may be the greatest call for you, & when probably some signal Day may mark you the bravest (as hitherto you have been) of persons ..."[60]
Ramsay served Alexandria some thirty-six years as a public servant. He was town overseer, census taker, postmaster, member of the Committee of Safety, colonel of the militia regiment, adjuster of weights and seals with John Carlyle at Hunting Creek warehouse in 1754, town trustee, mayor, and did his duty as gentleman justice for many years, beginning that service prior to the settlement of Alexandria. Tradition has it that he was the most beloved citizen of Alexandria, which is certainly confirmed. In 1761 he was elected by his fellow townsmen their first and only Lord Mayor. The enthusiastic inhabitants decorated him with a golden chain bearing a medal. "Upon one side was represented the infant state of Alexandria and its commodious harbour, with these words in the legend, 'Alexandria Translate et Renate Auspice Deo,' and in the exerque, 'Condita Rego Geo. II. An. Dom. 1649.' The reverse has this inscription: 'Digmo Domno Guilielmo Ramsay. Romulo Alexandriae Urbisque Patri, Consuli Primo. Bene Merenti. An. Dom. 1761.'"[61]
The election and investment over, the Maryland Gazette tells us, "the Lord Mayor and Common Council preceded by officers of State Sword and Mace bearers and accompanied by many gentlemen of the town and county, wearing blue sashes under crosses, made a grand procession ... with drums, trumpets and a band of music, colors flying." The shipping in the harbor displayed "flags and banners while guns fired during the afternoon." A "very elegant entertainment was prepared at the Coffee House," where the new Lord Mayor and his entourage sat down to a sumptuous repast. This was followed by a ball given by the Scottish gentlemen "at which a numerous and brilliant company of ladies danced." Ceremonies ended with fireworks, bonfires, and "other demonstrations." Perhaps this enthusiasm may be somewhat explained by the fact that this celebration took place on St. Andrew's Day.[62]
In 1765 Ramsay went back to Scotland, whether to see again his family or on business is not revealed. But that he had a most remarkable reception cannot be questioned. Dumfries and Kirkendbright conferred extraordinary honor upon him. Yellowed by age, two pieces of engraved parchment are treasured by his descendants. These towns each made him a "Burgess," the most signal distinction to be conferred upon a visitor.
Besides the original lots which William Ramsay purchased on July 13, 1749 (Nos. 46 and 47 for forty-six pistoles), he later purchased lot No. 34. Augustine Washington forfeited his lots, Nos. 64 and 65, for neglecting to build within the required time, and Ramsay bought this property. When William Seawell, the peruke-maker, lost his holdings for indebtedness, Ramsay also acquired lot No. 61. He owned the Royal George, a tavern of importance, and had numbers of slaves and indentured workmen. In 1749 he paid taxes on seven blacks and seven whites. In 1782 he owned twenty-one blacks, four horses and a coach. His will, dated the month before his death, enumerated seven slaves by name, specifying special considerations for two, viz: "that they may be better cloathed both in Winter and Summer than is common for slaves, and that they be particularly taken good care of as a reward for their long and faithful services."
William Ramsay married Ann McCarty, daughter of Dennis McCarty Sr. and his wife Sarah Ball, who was a kinswoman of George Washington and sister of Mrs. George Johnston. Ann McCarty Ramsay was one of those women of the day who by the laws of the land lost their property and identity with marriage. Yet, when this retiring, gentle person was called upon to raise funds in Alexandria and Fairfax County, no modern matron working for bond drive or Red Cross ever did a more successful work. Thomas Jefferson, as Governor of Virginia, in a letter from Richmond written on August 4, 1780, to General Edward Stevens, attached a list of "female Contributions, in aid of the War, Probably in 1780." Among the thirteen ladies who gave their watch chains, diamond drops and rings is the name of "Mrs. Anne Ramsay (for Fairfax), one halfjoe, three guineas, three pistareens, one bit. Do. for do. paper money, bundle No. 1, twenty thousand dollars, No. 2, twenty-seven thousand dollars, No. 3, fifteen thousand dollars, No. 4, thirteen thousand five hundred and eighteen dollars and one third."[63]
This excellent wife took her Presbyterian husband into the Established Church and we find Washington crediting him with £33 for pew No. 20 in Alexandria (Christ) Church in January 1773. But the Presbyterian citadel of learning was the choice over William and Mary College when time came for the eldest son, William Jr., to prepare for a professional career. The strict discipline of Old Nassau was more to the liking of Scottish conservatism than the laxness reported among students and faculty at the Williamsburg institution. At Princeton young William studied medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush. In 1775, after joining the General in winter headquarters at Cambridge, Mrs. Washington wrote the family that she had seen young Ramsay as she passed through Princeton and that "he was very well but did not talk of comeing home soon."[64] Maybe this was a woman's subtle way of breaking the news of young William's plans to follow the Continental cause wherever it might lead. As surgeon in the army, he served throughout the Revolutionary War.
Following the custom, the elder William Ramsay placed his second son in trade with the firm of Jennifer & Hooe in Dumfries. From Alexandria, on December 5, 1774, he sent young Dennis, then a lad of eighteen years, the following letter brimming with sound parental advice and Scottish business acumen:
Dear Dennis
Tho' you have been but a short time from us, I cannot help informing you that we are all well—But as a Parent, I must say more but I hope you are so well grounded in the principals I would inculcate, that it need only put you in mind of the duties we owe to the supreme Being & our fellow Men—your first duty my dear Son, is to your God, do not by any means neglect your duty in paying your adorations & supplications to him for a blessing on your endeavors, & your gratefull acknowledgements for every benefit and money you receive, which you & I every day experience—Your next duty is to your Parents, who, I hope you will pay that respect to, you always have done, & continue to listen to their advice with proper attention, because you must be assured, it flows from the parental and affectionate regard they have for you and your welfare here & hereafter. Your next duty is to your fellow Men, more especialy to your employer, his interest demands your justice, your diligence and utmost attention to his business and interest, your secrets & his relating to your affairs you must religiously keep, mind his business only, do not intermedle with that of other peoples, and avoid entering into any dispute with them: you may gain much observation & society, but nothing by disputetation. Let your intimates be few and those well chosen, for the formation of youth depends on the companions they chuse, therefore in this be very cautious. I will not say any more to you on this head but hope that you will conduct yourself as hitherto you have done & shun even the Appearance of evil. When yo lodge by yourself be cautious in securing your Windows and doors, and if you cou'd, as probably you may, get some agreeable young fellow to sleep with you if not always, very often; he wou'd be company to you, and made your time less lonesome, but your own prudence will suggest to you these things better than I can—When your Bed and Chest comes down, I will send Anthony down to you, he can make your fire, clean your Shoes, fetch you water &c.... As I mentioned to you, that what you now get from your industry shall be your own, besides, I will help you all that I can 'till you are of age, please God to bless me & you with the sight of that day, I will strain every nerve to set you forward in the World, your behavior I hope will entitle you to it, and give your Mother and me the highest pleasure we can hope for here, that is, your doing well—If you want a Waistcoat and Breeches you may get them in town yourself. Mr. Hooe says that he will immediately send you some Rum & Sugar on their Accot to dispose off in the Wholesale way, that you may take your choice out of it to retain on your own Account—Be cautious and do not trust. I do not know my dear Dennis anything I can say more to you at this time. I expect to hear from you next Post and that you will be particular with regard to your situation &c. Your Mother gives her blessing to yo, all your sisters,
I am, my dear Dennis, your most Affectionate Father,
Wm Ramsay[65]
lading
Bill of Lading to William Ramsay at Bellehaven, dated 1751. (Ramsay Papers)
When war came, Denny Ramsay, like his brother, threw his lot with the cause of liberty and served with distinction in the army, reaching the rank of colonel.
Dennis Ramsay closely followed in the footsteps of his father. Both served as mayor of the town and it was the official duty of both to address General Washington upon commemorative occasions—William in 1781 after Yorktown, and Dennis in 1789 when the General paused in Alexandria on his way to be inaugurated as President of the new republic. Both father and son were Freemasons and members of the Sun Fire Company.
After the death of Martha Washington's little daughter, Patsy Custis, her empty heart sought solace in association with the young daughters of her friends. The girls of Alexandria kept the carriage wheels rolling to Mount Vernon, where they were joyfully received, and where they were nearly always numerous enough to make a gay evening. The young ladies from the houses of Carlyle, Dalton and Ramsay were near neighbors in Alexandria and frequenters of Mount Vernon, as were the Misses Craik, Herbert, Fitzhugh, Lee, and Fendall, whose presence brightened the mansion house with girlish laughter and confidences. At these gatherings none was held in more affection than the young daughter of William and Ann McCarty Ramsay. Where could a more charming letter be found than this written by the hand of Martha Washington one hundred and seventy-four years ago, within the sounds of the guns of Bunker Hill, to Mistress Betty Ramsay:
Cambridge
December the 30th 1775
Dear Miss
I now set down to tell you that I arrived hear safe, and our party all well—we were fortunate in our time of setting out as the weather proved fine all the time we were on the road—I did not reach Philad till the tuesday after I left home, we were so attended and the gentlemen so kind, that I am lade under obligations to them that I shall not for get soon. I dont dout but you have seen the Figuer our arrival made in the Philadelphia paper—and I left it in as great pomp as if I had been a very great some body.
I have waited some days to collect something to tell, but allass there is nothing but what you will find in the papers—every person seems to be chearfull and happy hear—some days we hear a number of Cannon and shells from Boston and Bunkers Hill, but it does not seem to surprise any one but me; I confess I shuder everytime I hear the sound of a gun—I have been to dinner with two of the Generals, Lee & Putnam and I just took a look at pore Boston—& Charlestown—from prospect Hill Charlestown has only a few chimneys standing in it, there seems to be a number of very fine Buildings in Boston but God knows how long they will stand; they are pulling up all the warfs for fire wood—to me that never see any thing of war, the preparations are very terable indead, but I endevor to keep my fears to my self as well as I can.
Your Friends Mr Harrison & Henly are boath very well, and I think they are fatter than they were when they came to the Camp—and Capt. Baylor is a lusty man to what he was when you see him. The girls may rest satisfied on Mr. Harrisons account for he seems two fond of his country to give his heart to any but one of his Virginia Friends, there are but two Young Laidis in Cambridge, and a very great number of Gentlemen so you may guess how much is made of them—but neither of them is pritty I think.
This is a beautyfull Country, and we had a very pleasant journey through New england, and had the pleasure to find the G[eneral] very well—we came within the month from home to the Camp.
I see your Brother at princeton he was very well but did not talk of comeing home soon.
Plese to give my love and good wishes to your mamma & grand mamma, Mr. Ramsay and Family, my compliments to all enquiring Freinds, the good gentlemen that came with me up to Baltimore, and Mrs. Herbert—in which the general and Mr. and Mrs. Custis join, please to remember us to Mr. and Mrs. McCarty and Family.
I am Dear miss your most affectionate Friend and Well &C
Martha Washington.[66]
Ramsay did not wait for death to close his eyes ere he provided for his children. As early as 1777, and probably before, he divided his original purchase of lots Nos. 46 and 47 among his eight children. There is a much-worn old plat still in the hands of his descendants showing this division; on file at Fairfax Court House there is a deed to his youngest son, Dennis, for that part of his lot No. 47 fronting on Fairfax and King Streets, "Beginning at the S.W. corner of said lot extending north up Fairfax 90 feet more or less to Ramsay's Alley, then east down said alley 75 feet more or less, then South 90 feet to King Street, and then West with King 75 feet to the beginning with all houses warehouses Buildings, etc."
To his eldest son and namesake he gave his dwelling house and lot lying to the north of the alley. As the custom of primogeniture prevailed it was but natural that William Jr. fell heir to the dwelling house of his father. At the time of this gift in December 1784, William reserved to himself an "absolute right and title to take away as much earth or dirt from said ground even up to my Dwelling House, if necessary without prejudice to the said House to be applied towards filling up my wharf and Peers until they are finished ..."[67] After the death of his father, William Jr., bachelor, "farm let" to his brother, the married Dennis, for the full term of ten years from the 10th day of May last [1785], "the rent to be fixed by Robert McCrea, John Allison, or any other person whom they shall choose—the lot lying and being on the north side of King Street and the east side of Fairfax, beginning upon Fairfax Street ten feet south of the south end of the Kitchen, which stands upon the said street belonging to William Ramsay, then running east sixty-six feet parallel to King, then north parallel with Fairfax twenty-five feet, then with a line parallel to King West twenty-two feet, including a Brick Smoke House, then with a line parallel to Fairfax north to a four-foot alley lately laid out in the said lott by William Ramsay, Esq., deceased, then East with the line of the alley 84 feet, then south to Ramsays Alley then West parallel to King until it reaches Fairfax Street, then with Fairfax and binding there upon to the beginning and all Buildings, Houses, Yards, Gardens, Stables, to the said premises belonging or in any wise pertaining. Furthermore Dennis Ramsay may erect upon the premises a Kitchen in such part as will be most convenient, and at the expiration of the lease Dennis Ramsay has Liberty to remove the same from the premises."[68] Ten years later, on July 6, 1795, William Ramsay Jr. sold this property to Guy Atkinson. This gentleman owned the property until his death in 1835 and requested in his will, probated July 14 of that year, that his children reside "in my present mansion."
This is the house standing today at 113 North Fairfax Street,[Owner: Miss Frona Matthews.] and unless other research at a later day denies the assumption that this brick mansion was the last home of the Romulus of Alexandria, it is so declared.
The little white frame clapboard house with the Dutch roof, standing on the northeast corner of King and Fairfax Streets was certainly the property of William Ramsay—probably his office or kitchen, and later occupied by the descendants of his son, Dennis, after additions and improvements. The architect who is restoring this ancient and quaint house thinks that it is far older than the town of Alexandria, and that it is not now established upon the original foundation, but has been moved over from another location. It is interesting to think that it might have been part of Carlyle & Ramsay's original office in Belle Haven in 1744.
On February 12, 1795, George Washington was at Mount Vernon happily engaged in planning his garden and planting his shrubs when he "Received an Invitation to the Funeral of Willm. Ramsay, Esqr., of Alexandria, the oldest Inhabitt. of the Town; and went up. Walked in a procession as a free mason, Mr. Ramsay in his life being one, and now buried with the ceremonies and honors due to one."[69]
A few days later the town's newspaper carried the following tribute:
MEMORIAL
On the 10th, instand departed this Life, in the 69th year of his age, WILLIAM RAMSAY, Esq., a Gentleman generally esteemed for the humane and generous sentiments of his heart, as well as for his uprightness and integrity, throughout a long and active life.
This Gentleman first proposed and promoted the establishment of the town of Alexandria, and was its first inhabitant. He was consoled on the verge of life, with the reflection of having acted his part well, and of having reared and leaving to represent him a numerous and amiable family, in possession of as much happiness as generally falls to the lot of humanity. Thus he met the lingering, but certain approach of death with a composure and resignation of mind very remarkable and truly exemplary.
His remains were interred on the 12th, in the Episcopal Church Yard, and attended by a very numerous and respectable company, preceeded by the Brotherhood of Free Masons in procession with the solemnities usual on such occasions.[70]
Within less than two months, Washington, still at work upon his garden, grafting cherry trees, was interrupted to go to Alexandria to "attend the Funeral of Mrs. Ramsay who died (after a lingering illness) on Friday last.... Dined at Mr. Muir's and after the funerl obseques were ended, returned home."[71] Again was spread upon the sheets of the town paper an obituary:
MEMORIAL
On Saturday last departed this life, Mrs. ANN RAMSAY, relect of the late WM. RAMSAY, Esq., in the 55th years of her age.
The amiable character of this lady, exemplified in her conduct as a wife, a mother, and a neighbour, as it procured her through life the general esteem and affection of all who knew her, will render her loss long regretted not only by her nearer relations, but by the inhabitants of this town, and neighbourhood of every rank and description, to whom her benevolence and humanity displayed in numberless good offices, and her agreeable deportment have heretofore been a social blessing and comfort.
On Monday her remains were interred with every mark of respect, contiguous to the grave of her late deceased husband.[72]
Ramsays
Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Ramsay
The General had seen the "Romulus of Alexandria" to the grave. Fourteen years later the latter's son served as honorary pallbearer for the Father of His Country at Mount Vernon, on that fateful December 18, 1799.
heading
[Like nearby Ramsay House, the home of John Carlyle has also been threatened by business interests and was in danger of demolition just before the outbreak of World War II. It was saved by Mr. Lloyd L. Scheffer who acquired the property from the Wagar estate and continues to maintain the residence as a historic house museum. Entrance to the Carlyle Home is through the lobby of the Wagar apartments at 123 North Fairfax Street.]
In an ancient will book at Fairfax Court House is the inventory of a gentleman's estate—household fabrics, mahogany and walnut furniture, family pictures, maps, prints, books, silverware, glassware, chinaware, and all manner of utensils, and drawers of "Trumpery!" More personal items imply a rich wardrobe and a man who doubtless cut a figure in society, for the list of apparel is long, containing, "1 scarlet cloth jacket with broad gold lace," "1 crimson velvet jacket with broad gold lace," "1 pair scarlet breaches with gold knee bands," "1 silver tobacco box," "1 tortoise shell ditto with silver top," "2 pair silver shoe buckles and 1 pair gold studds," "24 silver large coat buttons and 1 stock buckle," "1 box with 4 wiggs," etc.[73]
Another entry in a more ancient tome reads:
At a court held for the County of Fairfax, 19th March, 1754. Present John Colvill, Geo. Wm. Fairfax, John West, William Ramsay and Thomas Colvill, Gentlemen Justices.
Mr. John Carlyle produced a commission from the Honorable the Governor under the seal of the Colony appointing him Commissary of provisions and stores for an expedition intended to the River Ohio pursuant to which he took the oaths according to Law, repeated and subscribed to the Test.... Lieutenant Colo George Washington, Lieutenant John West Jr. and James Townes pursuant to their military commissions from the Honorable the Governor took the oaths according to Law and subscribed to the Test.[74]
house
John Carlyle's Alexandria Mansion
Military echoes are not lacking from the inventory of his possessions. Is it possible that "1 Blue cloth coat with vellam holes"[75] related to his military service as major of Virginia militia? Was this perchance the coat worn by Major Carlyle in 1755 when the Redcoats of His Britannic Majesty's forces and the Virginia Militia fought under General Edward Braddock and met defeat at Great Meadows at the hands of the French and Indians? Major Carlyle was quartermaster in those days, with the mission of scouring the countryside for horses and forage. Objects of military use more easily picked out of the list taken by his executors include a spyglass, guns, pistols, swords, saddles, saddlebags, holsters, a powder horn and "2 spontoons." It is a local tradition that a store of these latter antique weapons were left behind in Alexandria by Braddock's direction and that they constituted part of the equipment of the town watchmen until the outbreak of the War Between the States.
mantel
Mantel in the dining room
John Carlyle was a Scotsman of gentle birth, of the Limkilns branch of Carlyles of Torthorwald Castle. He left his home in Dumfrieshire for Dumfries in Virginia at the age of twenty to enter one of the Scottish shipping firms in that town in the year 1740. Foreseeing the end of that port, he moved to the village of Belle Haven, and with John Dalton set up in the mercantile and shipping business by 1744. This firm, under the name of Carlyle & Dalton, was destined to become the most important one in the new port, and John Carlyle the leading citizen. He was one of the influential men in Fairfax County who agitated for a town at Belle Haven, at the Hunting Creek warehouse. He was selected by the assembly as one of the incorporators of the town of Alexandria, and as one of the first trustees. Active in the town from the beginning, he helped build the courthouse and market place. He was the town's first "Overseer." In 1755 he was ordered to build a warehouse at Point Lumley, a hundred feet long, twenty feet wide, with thirteen-foot pitch, as well as to build roads and clear streets.
snuffbox
John Carlyle's shell and silver snuffbox. Listed and described in the inventory of his estate
Carlyle bought the third lot put up for auction on July 13, 1749, No. 41, paying thirty pistoles. As the auction continued, he purchased another lot adjoining the first for sixteen pistoles. Upon his two lots he erected in 1752 the greatest private house in Alexandria for two or more decades, and furnished it with the best his ships could carry.
The Carlyle house stands high above the river and so strong and thick are the foundations that tradition has it they were early fortifications against the Indians. The house of stone is oblong, being almost as long again as it is wide and is believed originally to have had connecting wings. Two-and-a-half stories high, large twin chimneys rise out of the hipped roof and three dormer windows break the front and back. Double galleries stretch across the river end, and before modern buildings obstructed the view, the river could be viewed for miles in each direction.
mum
Portrait of John Carlyle's mother, Rachel Carlyle, which hung always above her son's bed
Inside, a large hall divides the house. A stairway that has neither the appearance nor character of so old a house, and is doubtless an "improvement," winds up to the second floor. Four rooms open into this hall—fine rooms, too—but the blue or drawing room is the gem, architecturally and historically. This is paneled from floor to ceiling. There are three windows with low window seats and heavy paneled blinds which become a part of the jambs when closed. Over the doorways are elaborate pediments, with broken arches. The chair rail is carved in a fret pattern and the dog-eared fireplace mold in the familiar egg-and-dart design. In the overmantel, double dog-eared molding outlines the center panel and two flat fluted pilasters reach from mantelshelf to the heavy modillioned cornice which is carved in alternating modillions and rosettes. The room is sixteen by eighteen feet, painted a light slate blue with white or cream trim. On the second floor five comfortable bedchambers open upon a narrow hall.
To this home Carlyle brought his first wife, Sarah Fairfax, whom he married in 1748. She was the daughter of Colonel William Fairfax of Belvoir, sister of Ann Fairfax Washington and George William Fairfax. After her death in 1761, when Carlyle married Sybil West, he named their only son for his well loved brother-in-law, George William Fairfax. When his will was opened, it was by the side of Sarah he wished to be buried: "As to my Body, I desire it may be interred under the Tombstone in the enclosed ground in the Presbyterian Yard near where my first wife and children are interred."[76]
This house was the social and political center of Alexandria. Such men as Charles Carroll, Aaron Burr, John Paul Jones, John Marshall, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, George Washington, and the two Fairfaxes are but a few of those who gathered here for good food, good wine, and better talk. Any visitor of importance was entertained at "coffee"; the house was often filled with music, and "balls" were common.
The "Congress of Alexandria" met here Monday, April 14, 1755, and on the following Tuesday and Wednesday, when with Braddock and the five colonial governors plans were made for concerted action against the French and Indians. Here that famous letter, still in existence, was written, urging upon the British government the necessity of taxing the colonies. This letter set into movement a chain of events disastrous to the mother country. It resulted in the loathed Stamp Act and led ultimately to the Revolution of 1775.
mantel
Mantel in the music room. Probably a later "improvement"
Carlyle was appointed collector of His Majesty's customs on the South Potomac in 1758, succeeding his father-in-law, William Fairfax. In 1762 he was importing race horses into the colony. These were imported, "just as they imported Madeira wine and other luxuries." One of the early Maryland gazettes of July 29, 1762 carries the following advertisement: