Thus out of the mist of one hundred and ninety years emerges again the dim figure of William Sewell. And who, pray, was William Sewell? Peruke-maker! So called in a deed of trust dated 1766, "William Sewell Peruke Maker," and Elizabeth, his wife. The same Elizabeth?

Nearly two hundred years have passed since William dressed a wig or powdered a head, but if these parlors were his shop, and certainly they were, all the gentry in the town waited his pleasure here. Visitors who came to Alexandria and took part in the balls testified to the elegance of the ladies' apparel (almost always) and a lady to be elegant must have a well dressed head. It was rare, too, to see a gentleman without his peruke. William must have had a very large business. One likes to think that Major Washington dealt with Sewell, and it is not difficult to imagine on ball evenings Mrs. Carlyle's maid rushing in, making a hasty curtsy and breathlessly demanding Madam's wig; or perhaps Mrs. Fairfax's maid presents Mrs. Fairfax's compliments and "Please, will Mr. Sewell come at two o'clock to dress Mistress Fairfax's hair?" Nor, is it difficult to picture William, when the shop day is over, with his apprentices bent over the fine net, meticulously crocheting, by candlelight, the white hair into a lofty creation that will, in about six months time, take a lady's breath away.

Alas! Alack! Peruke-making and hair-dressing were not all they ought to be. Poor William owed a lot of money. He was indebted with interest to John Carlyle and John Dalton for £42 15s. 7d.; William Ramsay for £83 14s. 4d.; John Muir for £23 7s. 9d.—all merchants of Alexandria. But that was not all; the Kingdom of Great Britain was concerned. He owed one Henry Ellison, of White Haven, merchant, £62 10s. 7d., and Joshua Pollard of Liverpool, shipmaster, £17. Poor William put up for security lot No. 61, with all buildings thereon, water rights, watercourses, etc., which led, eventually, to a sheriff's sale. By due process of law, and to satisfy and pay sundry mortgages, lot No. 61 fell to William Ramsay.

mantel

Mantel in home of William Sewell, peruke-maker

Ramsay sold a part of this lot on Prince and Royal Streets in 1785 to Colin McIver, and the property was described as bounded today: "Beginning 24 feet 6 inches west of Royal and running West on Prince 24 feet, 6 inches, thence 88 feet North to a six foot alley, etc., for £225, with all houses, buildings, streets, lanes, allies, profits, etc."

In 1795 Colin McIver's son, John, sold the property to a Philadelphia merchant named Crammond for £450 and Crammond agreed to give up the house and land within a stated time to anyone paying more, or to pay the difference.

After twenty-three years the property was bought by another merchant of Philadelphia, Thomas Asley, for $750.00, and within two years Mr. Asley sold it to John Gird of Alexandria, in the District of Columbia, for $1,300. In September 1819, John Gird had a note endorsed for $4,100 by Isaac Entwistle, and mortgaged some of his personal possessions which were listed as "one clock, one sideboard, two mahogany dining tables, two tea ditto, one pair card tables, one secretary, two bureaus, one writing desk, one dozen rush bottom chairs, one ditto with settee to match, one sofa, two looking glasses, carpets, brass andirons, two fenders, shovel, tongs, window curtains, three bedsteads and beds, chair, wash stand, chest, house linen, one set gilt tea china, four waiters, one half dozen silver teaspoons, one set plated castors, sundry glass and earthen ware, kitchen furniture, etc."[121]

Six years later this debt was not cleared up and John Gird secured the debt with his house and lot. Thus ended Gird's tenure and the property passed on through other hands for twenty-four years to the Miller family; thence to Isaac Rudd, until the Moore family purchased the house about 1892.

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church

Chapter 10

Historic Christ Church

Earliest parish records shed little light upon the spiritual life of the infant settlement of Alexandria. First mention of services held in the town turns up in the old Truro Parish vestry book, under date of June 4, 1753, when it was "ordered that the Rev. Mr. Charles Green do preach every third Sunday."[122] Later entries in 1754 and 1756 respectively for "building the desk at Alexandria"[123] and "to have seats made for the Church at Alexandria"[124] are puzzling since no mention occurs for any levies or appropriations for building or repairing. The inference would seem that some individual had provided a meeting place for services, though local tradition is firmly entrenched that a Chapel of Ease stood on Pitt Street near Princess.

Fairfax Parish emerged in 1765 as a daughter of the mother parish of Truro. Whatever previous arrangements for church attendance were provided for in Alexandria, an increasing population now demanded a more appropriate and commodious place of worship. James Wren, gentleman, designed the church and a contract to build it was originally let to one James Parsons in 1767 for the sum of £600. For some reason, Parsons failed to fulfill his contract and in 1772 the vestry appropriated an additional £220 and gave Colonel John Carlyle the task of finishing the building.

Wren proved himself an able architect and Carlyle a great builder. No cathedral in Europe conveys greater serenity than this little church. Cherished by Alexandrians for one hundred and seventy-seven years, the ancient interior expresses all the spiritual and sacred qualities of man. The reredos is centered upon a Palladian window, included as an element of the design. The window is flanked by the tablets for which James Wren was paid eight pounds "to write" the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Golden Rule. Fluted pilasters frame the windows and the tablets. A hexagonal wine-glass pulpit rising on its slender stem is surmounted by a hexagonal canopy. The pews, originally square, were divided in 1817. The balcony was added much later, but is in perfect harmony with the earlier woodwork. The brick tower and interesting "pepper pot" steeple were built in 1818.

In an old deed at Fairfax Court House, dated 1774, between John Alexander of Stafford County, gentleman, of the one part, and Charles Broadwater and Henry Gunnell, church wardens, of the other part, Alexander, for and in consideration of the sum of one penny, current money, gave to the parish:

church

Christ Church where both Washington and Lee worshipped

As early as 1762, General Washington was chosen vestryman for Truro Parish and at the first election held in March 1765, for the newly created Fairfax Parish (including Alexandria) he was elected to that office. This development stemmed from the terms of an act of the Virginia Assembly which set the boundaries in such a way that Mount Vernon lay within the new parish. As repealed and revised four months later, legislation returned Mount Vernon to Truro. Technically, then, Washington was vestryman-elect in the new parish for less than three months, yet his association with the Alexandria church was always close. Even before the new church (later to be known as Christ) was finished and delivered to the vestry, he had purchased pew No. 15, for which he paid £36 10s., thought to be the highest price paid for any pew.

Pohick Church in Truro Parish was completed about the same time as Christ Church in Alexandria. It was Washington's home church until after the Revolution, when it was practically abandoned by the Episcopal congregation. The General's habitual attendance at Christ Church apparently dates from about April 1785, when he bound himself to pay an annual pew rent of "five pounds, Virginia money."[125]

An anecdote told in Alexandria of how a group of girls tried to save the silver marker from the Washington pew during the War Between the States is worth repeating. The town was under Union jurisdiction. A group of half-grown girls of whom the leaders were Molly Gregory (Mrs. Robert Powell) and Connie [Constance] Lee (Mrs. George E. Peterkin, wife of Bishop Peterkin) banded together to help the Confederate cause in any way they could. One of their ideas was to go to Christ Church and remove the silver plate marking Washington's pew and take it home for safekeeping. No one was taken into their confidence. In very short order the Yankee provost marshal arrived at Cassius Lee's house and demanded the return the plate. Of course, Lee knew nothing whatever of the removal, but he summoned his children, lined them up, and demanded if any of them had any knowledge of the plate. There was silence for some time. The provost marshal became threatening before admission was made that the removal of the plate was not a theft, but had been taken for safekeeping. The plate was returned to the church. The next day it disappeared and nothing has ever been known of it since.

church

The Holy Interior of the old church

Interesting and distinguished men have occupied the pulpit of Christ Church, beginning with the Reverend Townsend Dade, rector (1765 to 1778); and including such men as David Griffith (1780-1789), Bryan Fairfax (1790-1792), and Thomas Davis (1792-1802). The last named officiated at General Washington's funeral. But in the second year of Davis' ministry, President Washington had received the following solicitation:

The letter was long in passage, but it elicited the desired result the following April. The President entirely approved this measure and affixed his name to the paper, regretful at the same time that public subscriptions of all sorts limited the size of his contribution.

This instrument, now preserved in the Smithsonian Institution, has had an engaging history. Built in England in 1700, it was first used in the colonial church at Port Royal and from thence was acquired for Alexandria. After considerable service at Christ Church, it went to the Episcopal church at Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and about the middle of the nineteenth century passed to St. Thomas Episcopal Church at Hancock, Maryland. It was presented to the Smithsonian by the vestry of the latter church in 1907.

Christ Church is proud of its association with the Reverend William Meade, afterward the Virginia bishop of beloved memory. His pastorate was short, from 1811 to 1813, but his fame as preacher, gentleman, and scholar forecast his later attainments. The Reverend Charles B. Danna was another nineteenth century divine who faithfully served the congregation. Dr. Danna occupied the pulpit from 1834 to 1860, when he left to take a church at Port Gibson in Mississippi. He later removed to Natchez, Mississippi, in 1866 to be rector of Trinity Church. He was a trusted friend of Mrs. George Washington Parke Custis and Mrs. Robert E. Lee, and he baptized the children at Arlington House. It was during his pastorate that Robert E. Lee was confirmed on July 17, 1853, by Bishop Johns. When word was received in Alexandria of Dr. Danna's death, in 1873, Christ Church was draped in mourning.

There is an odd and sad sequel to Dr. Danna's pastorate in Natchez. Some years ago there occurred an astounding and mysterious death in Natchez, Mississippi. A very prominent woman whose father had represented his country at a foreign court was found in her own home brutally murdered. Suspicion at once fell upon her nearest neighbors, a man and a woman, eccentric characters, who shared the same house. They were arrested and tried for murder. Their house immediately attained notoriety as "Goat Castle" and was so known over the United States from the manner in which the inmates lived. The strange fashion in which dogs, goats, chickens, or any animal on the place was made welcome in the drawing room was very queer and gave cause for the name.

pew

The open door marks Robert E. Lee's pew. Here he came for spiritual guidance

The murdered woman had objected to the presence of her neighbors' pets on her place, especially the goats, which were prying and curious, as well as other tame animals which belonged by right in the barnyard, but preferred the drawing room. Ill feeling sprang up, quarrels, lawsuits, all the dreadful sequel of a neighbors' feud. At the trial circumstantial evidence piled up and up. It was not enough for conviction. The inmates of "Goat Castle" were acquitted. Even so, black distrust was their portion from many of their fellow townsmen.

Some people from Alexandria were making the Natchez pilgrimage and came unwarned upon "Goat Castle." Lovely strains of music could be heard, coming from an old piano, sometimes improvised, sometimes a bit of Bach, Mozart, Chopin, played with much feeling. As the strangers approached the house they were shocked at the dilapidation—sash missing in the windows, doors off hinges, boards decayed and missing from the house and porch. Embarrassed, they hesitated to enter when to the door came a man, the musician. Speaking in a quiet voice, he asked them in. Upon the piano a large hen was standing, perfectly at ease. The deterioration of the interior was more pronounced than that of the outside—springs bursting through upholstery, beds unmade and without linen, neither carpets upon the floors nor curtains at the windows. Animals wandered in and out at will. Yet upon the walls hung some portraits and the furniture had been good. There were many books. The man was obviously cultivated in his speech and manner. The host collected the stipend for entering the place and proceeded to show the tourists the house, which was interesting, and his inventions, which were not; a collection of senseless, pitiful, useless things.

Upstairs, and downstairs, into this room and that they were taken to be shown an "invention." Each room was more squalid than the last. Finally the end in sight, escape near at hand, the gentleman said, "I'll show you something," and took the Alexandrians into a room opening off the hall. There was a large mahogany bookcase, sealed by a court order, which the host opened at will, carefully replacing what he took out after it had been examined. One of the strangers, flipping the pages of an old book, saw the signature of Robert E. Lee, Alexandria, Virginia. Startled, she asked where the book had come from. "It was my father's," was the simple reply. "That is my father," pointing to an old oil portrait of a clergyman. "He lived in Alexandria. He was rector of Christ Church."

Not long after this a Negro, arrested in the West, but formerly employed in Natchez, was purported to have confessed to the murder for which these people had been tried and acquitted.

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church

Chapter 11

The Presbyterian Meetinghouse

[In 1928 the church was restored as a shrine and the cemetery put in order by a group of persons, many of whom were descendants of the original society members. In 1940 the Alexandria Association replaced the missing pulpit with one, which while not a replica, conveys the spirit if not the pattern of that destroyed. Ecclesiastical settlement has vested the property in the name of the Second Presbyterian Church of Alexandria.

Before this book goes to press the Old Presbyterian Meetinghouse will have opened its doors again for regular services.]

One does not associate religious intolerance with America; nevertheless, the Act of Toleration which permitted religious freedom of worship was not signed until 1760. French Presbyterians were seeking refuge in the New World as early as 1562. The Church of England was the official form of worship in Virginia from 1607 until after the Revolution. Prior to 1760 worship not of the Established Church was done secretly and behind closed doors, generally in the fastness of a citizen's private home or place of business, though from time to time one finds permission given to preach. For example, in 1699, Francis Makemie was granted permission from the colonial authorities to preach Presbyterianism at Pocomoke and Onancock on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Francis Doughton preached in Virginia as early as 1650-59, and is considered the father of British Presbyterianism in the middle colonies, having begun his work as early as 1643.

Here in the little town of Alexandria, the population was largely composed of Scottish agents, shipping merchants, and sea captains, sincere followers of Dr. John Knox. Outwardly they conformed to the Episcopal Church, punctually attending services, by compulsion or otherwise. At the same time they adhered to the Scottish faith they had brought with them, meeting where and when it was expedient, until the day came when unmolested they were free to emerge from secret places and publicly worship as they pleased. That they practiced the liberty of conscience, which they won the hard way, is proclaimed in an announcement carried in The Columbian Mirror and Alexandria Gazette of November 28, 1793: "At 12 o'clock on Friday the 30th instant a charity Sermon will be preached in the Presbyterian Church, by the Rev. James Muir, for the benefit of the Poor without respect to country or sect."

Major John Carlyle, after completing Christ Church in 1772 for his Church of England friends, undertook the direction of the Presbyterian meetinghouse, so-called, doubtless, to distinguish it from the Church of England. According to a report written in 1794 by the pastor, Dr. James Muir, "No church was yet built ... to accommodate them in worship [i.e., in 1772]. It was determined to build one; Mr. Richard Arrell and his wife, Eleanor, presented the Society with a lot of ground ... the members of the Society came forward with generous subscriptions and loans; some assistance was afforded by their brethren of other denominations; they were thus enabled to erect and cover in a brick building sixty feet long and fifty feet broad."[127] This was partially completed by 1774. Not until after the Revolution was the church plastered and finished off.

The first minister of the congregation, the Rev. William Thom, was ordained in Pennsylvania in 1772 and called to Alexandria. But in one year the "Little Minister" was dead of a pestilential fever. Further steps to improve the House and organize the Society were interrupted, according to Dr. Muir's report, by the war which commenced between Great Britain and the colonies.

In 1780 the Rev. Isaac Stockton Keith was invited to remain with the Society during the winter. He remained nine years. The "Contract for the erection of the manse was let in July, 1787, to Mr. Robert Brockett."[128] In March 1789, Dr. Muir was called to the pastorate and remained until his death, serving for thirty-one years. Dr. Muir was a trustee of the Alexandria academy. As president of the board of trustees, he rendered to Washington satisfactory accounting on how his donations were being applied and what good was being accomplished, after a rather sharp letter of inquiry. As chaplain of the Masonic lodge, he assisted Dr. Dick with the Masonic ceremonies at the funeral of George Washington on December 18, 1799. Ten days later the Gazette carried the following notice: "The walking being bad to the Episcopal Church the funeral service for George Washington will be preached at the Presbyterian Meeting House tomorrow at 11 o'clock." This was a memorial service, one of a countless number held throughout the length and breadth of the land. The Rev. James Muir's "Funeral Sermon on the Death of George Washington" was widely circulated in its day by means of a printed broadside.

When Dr. Muir died on August 8, 1820, he was held in such great affection and respect that it was decided to bury him under the pulpit and to erect a suitable monument to his memory. The committee appointed for this purpose was working at least five years and submitted reports again and again on the cost of altering the pulpit for the memorial. The last mention of the subject in the Committee Book reads: "Mr. Mark reports that the bannisters of the Cupola have been taken away as ordered at last meeting ... Rev'd E. Harrison, Mr. Jno. Adam & Mr. Jos. B. Ladd are appointed a Committee to make all necessary arrangements for procuring and erecting a suitable monument to the memory of the late Dr. Muir."[129]

An old table gravestone with its inscribed eulogy formerly marked the spot where Dr. Muir was buried under the pulpit. It was removed to the burying ground to the lot beside the tombs of his wife and children after the restoration of the church building following the fire of 1835. A mural tablet under the gallery on the north wall now bears eloquent testimony to his beloved memory.

Dr. Muir's widow was allowed to continue on in the manse where she conducted a school for several years. Near the end of her life she moved from the manse with expressions of gratitude, and her daughters took up and continued the school for some years after her death. These ladies might have stepped out of the pages of Barrie's Quality Street so gentle and so inadequately equipped were they to battle with cold dollars and cents and naughty children. Eleven years after the good doctor's death, this announcement in the Gazette shows Dr. Harrison and Mr. Hallowell giving a helping hand:

On a hot Sunday afternoon in July 1835, during an electrical storm, the meetinghouse was struck by lightning. On that day the pastor, Dr. Harrison, had been invited to Georgetown to preach, and the usual Sunday afternoon services were postponed. Imagine his horror upon returning to discover the "severe and Awful calamity which had befallen the church and congregation." In the session book of the meetinghouse, we find this vivid description:

church

The old Presbyterian Meetinghouse showing the new tower

Dr. Harrison's lamentations, while justified, were not for complete demolition. In the minutes of the trustees, the fact is stated that the roof and cupola burned and fell in, destroying much of the interior woodwork, but not all. The walls and part of the galleries remained intact, Dr. Muir's tablet was uninjured, many windows were not broken, and the organ, at first thought destroyed, was very little injured; it remains in use to this day, and likewise the old clock. However, the damage was terrific and there was only a nominal insurance to cover the loss.

Part of the congregation wished a new building site and it was given some thought, but the "siller" [silver] was found to be inadequate for the purpose. The amount in the treasury did cover the cost of restoration, and on April 5, 1836, it was "Resolved, That the congregation of the Church be called to meet at the Lecture room on Friday evening next at ½ past 7 o'clock, to decide permanently on the location of the Church."[131] In November the committee minutes recorded that "The location of the Church was permanently fixed on the old site,"[132] and on February 7, 1837, "Mr. Smith, from the committee appointed to consult on the propriety of lowering the gallery, reported that it was thought to be inexpedient to do so."[133] The final notation on the new church read: "It was, on Motion Resolved that our New house of worship, be solemnly Dedicated to the Worship of Almighty God on the last Sabbath of July next—it being on that day two years before, that our former house of worship was consumed by fire...."[134]

It is distressing to think of the eighteenth century interior destroyed on that hot afternoon of July 1835, but we must be grateful for what the rebuilders of 1837 preserved as an outstanding example of Georgian architecture. In 1843 the tower was added: it was in the approximate location that the pulpit had stood for many years. In 1853 the front vestibule was constructed.

Dr. Harrison was a delicate man and for a long time his health was far from good. In 1848 he was so wretched that it was recommended he go south for his health. The firm of Lambert & McKenzie offered Dr. Harrison a free passage to and from the Barbados on the barque Archibald Gracie. The minutes of the committee record the motion of appreciation to the owners.

Mr. Robert Bell of the old printing firm of that name made a gift of letter paper to Dr. Harrison every Christmas for many years. In his latter years the Doctor in thanking Mr. Bell always said that he never expected to see another Christmas. He saw at least three after the first of these communications, for that many letters exist containing the same mournful allusion.

In 1862 the Civil War disrupted the Church. Dr. Elias Harrison died in 1863 after forty-three years of ministering to his congregation and with his death the Church ceased to function and its congregation scattered. During the Battle of Bull Run, it was used as a hospital for wounded soldiers, and from time to time it was used by other faiths, including a Negro Baptist congregation. Neglected, uncared for, the prey of thieves and vandals, the doors were finally closed.

The cemetery lies between the Church and the manse. Here John Carlyle sleeps. Cofounder and trustee of Alexandria in 1748; son-in-law to Colonel William Fairfax; brother-in-law to Lawrence Washington; commissary of the Virginia forces under Braddock in 1755; collector of customs on the South Potomac, and major in the Revolution; a Scottish gentleman, heir to a title, he cast his fate with the colonies. Nearby lies the tomb of William Hunter, founder of St. Andrew's Society, and that beloved friend and physician of General Washington, Dr. James Craik. Ramsay, McKenzie, Muir, Vowell, Harper, Hepburn and Balfour are among the names found inscribed upon the old stones. Their dust makes of this soil a part of Old Scotland.

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engine

Chapter 12

Presenting The Sun Fire Company

In the eighteenth century calamities visited Alexandria, and of these nothing was more feared than fire. To prevent and control such catastrophes the gentlemen of the town formed themselves into several companies of fire fighters. How and with what means the raging holocausts were controlled is revealed in an old, mutilated, leather-bound minute book of the Sun Fire Company.[135] The first entry in this treasure is part of the damaged record for the March meeting in 1775. The next page is numbered 9 and contains the minutes for the April meeting. This is evidence that the Company was formed in 1774 between August and December.

At this March 1775 meeting it was agreed to limit the number of the Company to forty-five persons. The clerk for this meeting was John Dalton; members served as clerks in rotation. Absent members were fined one shilling three pence. Members were to be provided with two buckets, a brown linen or oznaburg bag containing at least four yards of material, and a wicker basket as soon as possible after admittance. These were to be hung up in good order and always in place. There was a forfeiture of money for any neglect. The Company took some several months to acquire proper ladders and hooks. In April the "propriety of purchasing an Engine" was discussed and at the June meeting it was agreed to postpone the matter. Three ladders were then finished but most of the buckets were at the painters being marked with owners' names and numbers. By August the ladders had been completed by Thomas Flemming, and John Dalton was ordered to procure locks with proper staples for securing the ladders under the "piazza of the Court House."

As the Revolutionary War got under way many of the members were excused, "being frequently abroad on the Servis of Their Country." Among these were Captain Valentine Peirs, Captain John Allison, Colonel John Fitzgerald and J. Windsor Brown.

Unfortunately the clerks took for granted that everybody knew when there had been a fire and rarely are these important events mentioned in the minutes. In January 1777, "William Wilson lost a bucket at the late fire" and he was authorized to purchase another at the Company's expense; Robert Adam, who was clerk, forgot to "warn the Company and was fined Ten Shillings"; several members neglected to put up lights when the late fire happened at Zael Cooper's and the fine was two shillings. The next clerk was "desired to Enquire of the several members if they had candles at their windows and to collect Fines from such of them as had not."

The light begins to break—at the first hint of fire the Company member must, at the fastest possible speed, put lighted candles in the front windows of his dwelling. This was Alexandria's first alarm system! The member then dashed for four yards of material in an oznaburg bag, two leather fire buckets (they each weighed as much as a saddle) and a wicker basket and, without stopping, he raced to the fire, where he either pumped water, formed spectators in ranks for passing buckets, removed goods from burning houses in his bag or basket, climbed ladders or pulled down adjoining houses when necessary; and last but not least watched to "prevent evil minded persons from plundering sufferers." The only tranquil occupation was that of the "sentinels" who kept watch over goods removed from the conflagration wherever such goods were deposited.

What a spectacular sight a fire in Alexandria presented when one remembers the elegant dress of the day; short clothes, elaborate jackets or vests, ruffled linen, full skirted coats, perukes, queues braided and beribboned, powdered heads in three-cornered hats, silken and white hose, buckled shoes; and that fires generally occurred in winter upon the coldest days and in the worst weather, often at night, and that these firemen were the élite of the town, the serious, responsible merchants, doctors, masters, ship captains and owners.

There was some reward now and then for their efforts. At the April meeting in 1777, the "Succeeding Clerk is desired to warn the Company to meet next month at the Ball Room and to Desire the Treasurer to purchase Ten Gallons of Spirits, and one Loaf of Sugar Candles etc. The Clerk to have the Ball Room cleaned and put in order." Alas, the members were either not warned or invited for only six showed up. The next month was worse, again no warning and only four came. The clerk was ordered to warn again and provide what spirit, sugar and candles may be necessary for the next meeting and "that the same be held in the Town House." The clerk was reimbursed "one pound Two Shillings for white washing and cleaning the Ball Room."

On February 22, 1779, a resolution was passed to fine the clerk refusing or neglecting his duty forty-two shillings, and absent members three shillings. There was a fine called the "Moreover Fine," which was increased from five shillings to nine shillings, and the Company voted to dispose of any sum not exceeding £5 "when less than ²⁄₃ of the members are met." Besides funds in cash, the Company had 1,000 pounds of tobacco on hand. The following July the Company ordered the tobacco sold.

On Monday, October 27, 1783, nine years after the founding of the Company, the succeeding clerk is ordered to give notice that at the next meeting a proposal will be made to dispose of the money in stock in the purchase of an engine. Two months later, undaunted by the recent unpleasantness, the treasurer was requested to "Import from London on account of this Company a fire engine value from seventy to eighty pounds sterling." It took two years for the engine to arrive. Preparatory to its reception, officers were appointed for its direction. Nine stalwart members were chosen, and they were ordered to serve nine months. Six shillings each was collected from the members to help make up the deficiency, and a committee was appointed to wait upon the county court with a petition requesting ground sufficient for building an enginehouse upon the courthouse lot. This was granted and the enginehouse was built on Fairfax Street "adjoining the school House." The members were called on for a dollar each for this purpose and it was later necessary to borrow another dollar. Two keys were ordered labeled "Sun Fire Company."

The April minutes in 1786 contain the invoice for the engine:

It was incorporated into the articles that the engine was to be worked for two hours every Monday of the meeting, and anyone neglecting to attend and work the engine was penalized nine pence. Moreover William Herbert, Dennis Ramsay and Isaac Roberdeau were charged with getting the engine to fires.

About this time (1788) the Virginia Assembly passed an act authorizing the different towns in the state to elect fire companies.

In May 1789, Dr. William Brown was elected treasurer to succeed William Hartshorne.

The first mention by the Sun of other fire companies in Alexandria is in the minutes of February 28, 1791. In July specific reference is made to the Friendship Fire Company and the Relief Fire Company.

In May 1793, the Sun Company was dissatisfied with the English engine, and they began correspondence with a Mr. Mason of Philadelphia with the intention of selling the old engine and acquiring a new one. Mason manufactured three engines. They contained 190, 170 and 160 gallons of water, respectively, which they discharged in one minute and a half and they were worked by twenty-four, twenty-two and eighteen or twenty men, respectively, and varied in price accordingly. The Sun Fire Company purchased the smallest engine for £125. It seems to have arrived in April 1794. Later the old engine "with the suction pipe" was thoroughly repaired by Mason and returned to the Sun Fire Company.

By 1796 such confusion reigned at fires that the three companies associated themselves together to make and sustain certain plans and rules for the management of fires. It was decided to have three directors or commanders, one chosen from each company, only one of whom was to act at a time, who were to have control of the engines, fire hooks, ladders and to be the judges of the expediency of pulling down adjacent buildings. In order that these gentlemen be more conspicuous (distinguished was the word) it was decided to "elevate their voices above the ordinary clamour on such occasions," each of them in action was ordered to carry in his hand a "speaking trumpet, painted white, and not less than three feet long." Each company was to keep such an affair in the enginehouse.

There were then chosen three subordinate directors who had immediate charge of the engine under the commander, then four persons from each Company, to be called regulators, who were to "be diligent in searching for the most convenient source of water, in forming lanes for the supply of the engines, and preventing the use of dirty puddle water." Upon these gentlemen fell the unpleasant task of "noticing remisness in the members and others and being obliged to give information to their respective companies whenever such shameful instances occured to their observation." Trustees were responsible for the removal of property, and the entire company was obliged to wear "at times of fire" by way of distinction, black caps with white fronts with letters thereon designating their company. Moreover these companies pledged themselves to "respect" the other companies when their property was in danger from fire, "in preference to persons who are members of neither."

Doctor Dick stated that he lost his fire bucket at the fire at William Herbert's house, then occupied by Edmund Edmunds, and the treasurer reimbursed the good Doctor eighteen shillings on October 24, 1796.

In July 1797, Dennis Ramsay was ordered to lower and enlarge the engine house to receive the old engine; the floor had given way in 1793. He presented his bills the following February for a total of £43 9s. 9d.

In 1799 it was decided to hold meetings at the courthouse, from May to October at half after seven o'clock, and from November to April at six o'clock.

One of the last mentions of the engines was in 1800. The engines were both worked at the January meeting, found to be in good order, except that the old one leaked a little.

Governed by a set of "articles" framed by themselves, to which they faithfully adhered, these firemen fined themselves and paid their fines, cheerfully or otherwise (they were mostly Scotsmen) when neglectful of their duty. A roster was kept each year, month by month, marking the members present or absent. The A's predominate. It was from these fines, plus others for neglect of duty that the Company's funds were formed. Many of these rosters have been destroyed, but enough remain to give an idea of the citizens who were members of the Sun Fire Company and lived near each other within a certain radius of the water front.

List of members of the Sun Fire Company of Alexandria for January 1777—being the first intact roster in the minutes:

By the turn of the century, the city of Alexandria boasted three fire companies whose membership rosters included the most responsible citizens. The year 1774, marking the formation of the Sun Fire Company, also saw the organization of the better-known Friendship Fire Company, claiming Washington as honorary member. The Star Fire Company was founded in 1799.

Alexandria property owners were quick to realize the advantages of membership in the Mutual Assurance Society, established in December 1794 and offering protection "Against FIRE on BUILDINGS in the State of Virginia." At the Alexandria office, leading citizens enthusiastically subscribed to a plan so soundly conceived and efficiently administered that the company which pioneered it is in operation to this day. The archives of the Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia constitute a mine of valuable information for the researcher. From General Washington's own files derives a broadside listing early subscribers throughout the state.[136] The Alexandria section includes a number of citizens whom we know to have been conscious of the ever-present danger of fire:

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