William Henry Fitzhugh married Anna Maria Goldsborough of Maryland and built the house on the Ravensworth estate so intimately associated with the Fitzhughs and Lees. In September 1820, he sold the house in Alexandria to William Brent of Stafford for ten thousand dollars. William Brent Jr., lost the house by indebtedness to the Mechanics Bank of Alexandria in 1824. The bank was the highest bidder at $3,500.

Young Fitzhugh met an early death shortly after his marriage when thrown by his horse. He was an only son and he died childless so that branch of the clan ended with the death of Mrs. George Washington Parke Custis. Fitzhugh's widow lived for forty years at Ravensworth.



Later William Hodgson and his family owned the Oronoco Street house for a couple of generations and in turn sold the house to William C. Yeaton, who owned it for some twenty-odd years. This family planted many tropical trees, the unique magnolia and the lemon trees among them. In 1883 the house was sold at public auction for one thousand dollars to Mary E. Fleming, widow of Dr. Robert F. Fleming, "she being the highest bidder."

It is a strange coincidence that to this Alexandria home of the Fitzhughs came, about 1818, the widow of a gentleman active in the affairs of the nation. He had commanded, during the Revolution, a Legion bearing his own name; he had served as governor of his state from 1792 to 1795; as a member of Congress from 1799 to 1801, and he it was who prepared the memorial resolutions which were presented when word reached Philadelphia of Washington's decease, declaring him in immortal words: "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow citizens." In fact, he liked the phrase himself and used it with a slight modification in the halls of Congress when making his celebrated eulogy of Washington.

This widow then resident in the former home of William Fitzhugh was Mrs. Henry Lee, born Anne Carter of Shirley. Exiled from Stratford when her eldest stepson came into his patrimony, she and her husband, General Lee, known to all Virginians as "Light Horse Harry," moved to Alexandria. The Lees occupied several houses from time to time, but on October 14, 1824, Mrs. Lee was at home in the house on the northwest corner of St. Asaph and Oronoco Streets and she received a visitor of such importance that it made history. The guest, who was no less a personage than General the Marquis de la Fayette, came to pay his respects to the wife of his friend. This visit was witnessed by the young Quaker, Benjamin Hallowell, who had moved into the house next door with his bride of a day, and stood in the doorway to watch the Marquis go by. Moreover, the Marquis saw the young couple and "made a graceful bow."

Mrs. Henry Lee, with her family of boys, occupied this house for seven years. Robert Edward's room adjoined hers, on a lower level, being connected by a small stairway.

Shortly after Mr. Hallowell opened his school, Robert E. Lee went to him in February 1825, for instruction in mathematics, preparatory to going to West Point to prepare himself for the Army.

Naturally the friendliest intimacy existed between the family at Arlington and the house on Oronoco Street. And so, two years after leaving West Point, Lieutenant Robert E. Lee, Corps of Engineers, married, on June 30, 1831, Mary Custis, granddaughter of William Fitzhugh, and great-granddaughter of Martha Washington.

General Lee always loved this house and after defeat he came back to Alexandria, which for some time had been in command of the Union forces, to take farewell of his family and friends and went again to look once more upon the scenes of his childhood. The story is told that people next door were startled to see a man peeping over the wall. Upon investigation, it proved to be General Lee, who had climbed upon the wall to look into the garden. He apologized, saying, "I just wanted to see if the snowballs were in bloom."

To this day the garden, as the house, retains its integrity. All the growing things associated with old gardens are there—the lilacs, boxwood, magnolias, lemon trees, iris, syringa, lilies, jonquils, jasmine, honeysuckle—and General Lee's remembered snowballs.



Chapter 20

George Washington's Tenements

[123 South Pitt Street. Owners: Mr. and Mrs. Fred Latimer Hadsel. 125 South Pitt Street. Owners: Mr. and Mrs. Harlan Trott.]

On the corner of Pitt and Prince Streets stand two little frame houses that possess the distinction of being the only buildings in Alexandria built on George Washington's lots and dating back to his time. Their history is fairly complete and may be compiled by anyone taking the trouble to search the records housed in the Alexandria clerk's office and balancing those data against the well kept accounts and writings of General Washington.

Alexandria had outgrown her swaddling clothes by 1761 when the trustees petitioned the assembly for permission to extend the limits of the town. This was promptly granted. New acreage was added, divided into lots and sold at auction as formerly. General Washington bought, at the sale held on May 9, 1763, two half-acres of ground, numbered on the plat as 112 and 118, which he took up later for approximately L48. For the former, the subject of this sketch, on the northwest corner of Pitt and Prince, he paid L38. On the latter lot at Pitt and Cameron Streets he built his town house six years later. As early as 1760 Washington spoke of "my House in Town," but this earliest reference[168] is believed to have related to Lawrence Washington's estate, for which he was one of the executors. Its subsequent story has not been unwound, but all facts point to the house at South Lee Street as having been built by Lawrence.

General Washington acquired the deed to lot No. 112 in 1765 and mention was made of it in his will and in the accompanying inventory of his property. At the time of his death the lot had been subdivided for building and let on ground rent, for purposes of revenue. The two small frame houses standing today at 123 Pitt and 501 Prince Streets unquestionably date from this period.

Time did not deal gently with these little houses and a few years ago they were condemned by the city council as unfit for habitation and ordered to be destroyed as they created a fire menace. Former owners succeeded in allaying the ultimatum of the council, reclaiming them from oblivion. Unaware that the story of Washington's ownership was true, the wing of one was demolished, the other is a new addition and replaces a smaller one too dilapidated to restore. The floors, mantels, much of the trim, some hardware and two chimneys are original. The uprights were found to be mortised together and numbered in Roman numerals. Handmade nails and split wood laths formed part of the original construction. Preservation of the structure was the urgent concern.

In her History of Old Alexandria Mrs. Powell tells an interesting anecdote relating to the construction of these houses. The mention of "Mr. La Fayette" identifiable as the son of the Marquis, fixes the period at 1797. It seems that the coach had been sent to Alexandria from Mount Vernon for repairs and stood in the courtyard of the coachmaker's waiting to be called for. Two little children, Hannah Taylor and Joe Peters, were playing hide-and-seek in the courtyard. The little girl opened the door and hid in the coach. Joe failed to find her, and she fell asleep. The carriage was called for, the horses hitched and driven to Mount Vernon, without awakening the child. Only when the coach came to a standstill in the stable yard did she awake, much frightened and in tears. She was carried at once to the house, soothed and petted. The General dispatched a servant on horseback to tell Mr. and Mrs. Taylor that the little girl was safe and would be returned in the morning. She dined with the family, sat next to Miss Nelly, and was laughed at by a young man called "Mr. La Fayette" whom she did not like. She was put to bed by the Negro maid, Caroline Brannum, in a little room at the head of the stairway, wearing one of Miss Nelly's gowns, much too large, but with beautiful lace on neck and sleeves, her sheets warmed by the first copper warming pan she had ever seen. Caroline left the candle burning until Hannah fell asleep, to keep the little girl from being frightened. She had a splendid breakfast and was returned home in the coach wrapped in a large shawl and with a piece of cake as booty.

After that she frequently saw General Washington on the streets of Alexandria. "He often walked past her father's shop to the corner of Pitt and Prince, where two small frame houses were being built, and he seemed to be giving some directions to the carpenters, but he did not recognize Hannah who stood in too much awe of the great man to make herself known."[169] Hannah was all of seven years old at the time of the visit. Her trip to Mount Vernon furnished her with conversational matter for the rest of her life.



The little houses, known in Alexandria for many years as the Washington Tenements, fell to the lot of his nephew, Lawrence Washington, in the division of the estate.

Now to explore the title for those whose time does not permit or whose inclination does not incite to delving into old and dusty records.

In February 1767 Washington, in an irate letter to Carlyle & Adam, who had neglected to pay for some wheat, soundly berates them, complaining that in September 1764, he passed his bond for the wheat for "some lotts in Alexandria as payment," only to have the money demanded again with interest and "was at some pains to convince Mr. John Alexander of the unreasonableness of paying twice for the same thing."[170]



Writing to his friend, the Secretary of War, Henry Knox, in January 1785, he says, "... Rents have got to such an amazing height in Alexandria, that (having an unimproved lot or two there) I have thoughts, if my finances will support me in the measure, of building a House, or Houses thereon for the purpose of letting."[171] Later in that same year he confides to Knox that his finances were not equal to undertaking the projected building in Alexandria.

Ten years later the lot was still unimproved, when Halley, who owned abutting property, was desirous of acquiring ten feet of Washington's land for an alley. The deal did not go through and a year later William Summers offered the owner three thousand dollars for the lot in question, which was declined. President Washington wrote Tobias Lear, his secretary, under date of March 21:

I have no wish to part with the lot unless I can do it upon advantageous terms, and can dispose of the Money in a more productive manner. I had thoughts of building on it, but this would be attended with trouble, and perhaps a good deal of impositions; as it could not be properly attended to in the execution of the work. And besides workmens wages and materials are very high at this time.[172]

Shades of a later postwar era!

By June 1797, Washington had determined upon the subdivision as a solution. This was time-honored practice locally. To John Fitzgerald, on June 12 he wrote, "If you have had leizure to examine my unimproved lot in Alexa, more attentively, and have digested any plan in your own mind for an advantageous division of it, I would thank you for the result, as I wish to fix on a Plan." A plot plan, docketed by Washington "my vacant lot in Alex" has been found among his papers preserved in the Library of Congress,[173] and is worthy of reproduction. That this plan was carried out almost to the letter is revealed by the text of an advertisement prepared in July to be set up in the gazettes:

The Subscriber having resolved to lay off the half acre lot which he holds in the town of Alexandria (bounded by Prince and Pitt Streets) into convenient building squares, gives this public notice thereof; and of his intention to lease them forever, on ground Rent. Five and a half feet extending from Prince Street, will be added to the alley already left by Mr. Rickets, across to Mr. Halleys lot; and another Alley of ten feet will be laid out about midway the lot from Pitt Street until it intersect the former Alley. All the lots on Prince Street will extend back to this Alley, and be about 83 or 4 feet in depth. And the lots North thereof will extend from Pitt Street to the first mentioned Alley, and be four in number of equal front (about 21 feet each). The other lot will have a breadth of 26 feet on Prince Street and about 83 or 4 on Pitt Street, or may be divided into [illegible] remaining front on the former street will be divided into [illegible] lotts, equal in size and abt. 24 or 5 feet front each. If any persons should be inclined to make offers for the lots here described, or any of them, Mr. Jas. Anderson (my manager) will receive the same [illegible] shortly, the lotts will be exposed at public sale, of which notice will be given.[174]

The following September, writing to James Harrison, he said, "The Ground Rent of the lot I have offered to Lease, in Alexandria, is three dollars a foot, for what it measures on each Street. This I must obtain as an annual Rent or the lot will not be disposed of in that way."[175]

Washington died on December 14, 1799, and his will, written July 9, 1799, was probated January 20, 1800. In an annexed schedule of property which he directed be sold (some conditionally disposed of) with explanatory notes relative thereto appears this entry:

Alexandria

Corner of Pitt & Prince Stts. half an Acre—laid out into build[in]gs 3 or 4 of wch. are let on grd. Rent at $3 pr. foot. 4,000(t)[176]

Under the note "t" the property is further described: "For this lot though unimproved, I have refused $3500.—It has since been laid off into proper sized lots for building on—three or 4 of which are let on ground Rent—forever—at three dollars a foot on the street,—and this price is asked for both fronts on Pitt & Princes Street."[177]

These lots were included in the estate left to his wife for her lifetime. Martha Washington died on May 22, 1802. On June 7, 1803, the executors of Washington's estate sold this half-acre lot divided into nine lots, Nos. 1 to 4 on Pitt and Nos. 5 to 9 on Prince. An alley ten feet wide separated the Prince Street lots from those on Pitt. Only one lot was unimproved. The executors submitted this sale along with others made the same day to be recorded at Fairfax July 15, 1811.

The lot at the intersection of Pitt and Prince, bearing the number 5 in the division, was sold to L.A. Washington for $1,613.33, bringing more by nearly four hundred dollars than any of the other eight.

Lawrence Augustine Washington's deed for this property was dated August 7, 1804, and calls for "twenty-five feet four inches on Prince Street, beginning at the intersection, running in depth parallel to Pitt eighty-three feet to a ten-foot alley, and all Houses, Buildings, Improvements, Streets and Allies."[178]

On the death of Lawrence A. Washington the little houses and the lot on the corner of Prince and Pitt Streets became the property of his son, Robert W. Washington. He in turn sold the property to Alexious Johnson, at whose death it was sold at public auction by Samuel Bartle, commissioner, to William Gregory for $605.00 on July 11, 1844. Three years later, September 13, 1847, Will and Mary Gregory sold the same property to Benjamin Huges. Benjamin and Susan Huges divided the property, selling 30 feet 10 inches on Pitt Street to Joseph Francis Cook on July 15, 1874, and on July 26, 1887, the Huges sold the house and lot on the corner of Prince and Pitt, running 25 feet west on Prince and 52 feet north on Pitt to J. Frank Taylor. On July 17, 1874, Joseph Francis Cook and his wife, Georgeanna, conveyed to Taylor the part they had previously bought from the Huges.

On April 20, 1897, J. Frank Taylor conveyed this same property to Walter G. Rogers, and on April 20, 1900, Walter G. Rogers and his wife, Matilda A. Rogers, sold to George T. Klipstein. In 1935 the property was purchased by Charles B. and Gay Montague Moore, and in 1945 the property was again divided, and the house on Pitt Street was sold to Mr. Charles Francis Alexander, and the Prince Street House to Colonel Hubbard.



Chapter 21

The Georgian Cottage

[711 Prince Street. Owner: Mrs. Andrew Pickens.]

Alexandria was never a large town. The thrifty merchants of this Scottish trading center built well, and their dwellings abound in architectural interest, but really great houses are rare. On the 700 block of Prince Street, behind a picket fence, guarded by a tall magnolia and several gnarled box trees stands what is called in England a "Georgian cottage," which in Alexandria is an important house.

On November 2, 1797, William Thornton Alexander and Lucy, his wife, sold to James Patron, of Fairfax County, half an acre of land situated in Fairfax County in the state of Virginia, adjacent to the town of Alexandria and bounded as follows:

Vizt: On the South by Prince Street, on the West by Columbus Street. Beginning at the corner formed by the intersection of the East side of Columbus Street and with the North side of Prince Street and running Eastwardly with Prince Street 123 feet 5 inches, thence Northerly and parallel with Columbus Street one hundred and seventy six feet seven inches, thence Westerly and parallel with Prince Street 123 feet 5 inches thence Southerly with Columbus Street to the point of beginning.[179]

This was subject forever to a ground rent of L30 in good and lawful money of Virginia. On this lot James Patton erected a type of house well known locally as a "flounder," because of its narrow width. Such a building was usually set back from the street, anticipating fuller architectural development when the flounder became the ell of the larger house. Patton's home, though diminutive, was comfortable and it had convenient gardens and pleasant surroundings. Here he lived until overtaken by that ogre of all Alexandria shipping merchants—compound interest.

He became indebted to the firm of Marsteller & Young to the amount of ten thousand dollars and sundry notes discounted for his use at the Bank of Alexandria to the amount of nine thousand dollars. To afford full indemnity, he sold in November 1809, to Robert I. Taylor, twenty-five shares of Potomac Bank stock, six shares of Little River Turnpike stock, ten shares of Great Hunting Creek bridge stock, a house and lot on Fairfax Street, and two squares of ground under the charter of Alexandria, adjoining Spring Gardens, bought of Jesse Sims, and the brig John of Alexandria. Also relinquished to Taylor in the settlement of his debts was the half-acre on Prince and Columbus Streets "with the buildings and improvements thereupon erected."[180]

A year later William Fowle with "the consent and concurrance of all parties," purchased the said lot of ground and improvements from James Patton at the price of $6,550.

William Fowle had come to Alexandria in 1800 from Boston to enter, as a partner, the important shipping firm which became Lawrason & Fowle. He married Miss Esther Taylor, daughter of George Taylor of Broomalaw and they are purported to have had eighteen children, eight of whom they reared to maturity. Fowle's father-in-law is remembered as the last gentleman in Alexandria to hold to the fashion of knee breeches and silk stockings. As he lived well into the nineteenth century, his figure clad in "short clothes" and leaning upon a high cane (similar to those associated with the Court of Louis XVI) was a familiar sight upon the streets of Alexandria long after such a costume had become a curiosity. Taylor entertained no idea of giving up the habits of his ancestors, nor of complying with any such folderol as high choker collars and pantaloons so tightly strapped under a gentleman's gaiters that someone had to invent a machine for jumping into them.

The Fowles were agreeable hosts and the Georgian cottage was the scene of many gay gatherings and fine dinners. The family took part in all the festivities of the town—balls at Gadsby's, the theatre; trips to Boston, doubtless in their own ships, were frequent. William Fowle was senior warden at Christ Church for many years.



Thirty-six years after Fowle moved to Alexandria the following notice appeared in one of the papers. It is interesting to observe that the firm was now "William Fowle & Co."

The splendid ship Alexandria, about 500 tons burthen, built under the superintendence of Captain William Morrell, for William Fowle & Co., and others, and to be commanded by Capt. Charles W. Turner was launched in beautiful style on Thursday.



William Fowle was a man of taste as well as means. He improved his garden by acquiring adjoining property and extending his grounds as far east as Washington Street and as far north as King, adding several new outbuildings. Nor did he stop with horticulture. He took up architecture and deftly transformed his home to the ample size and satisfactory design all admire. The earlier flounder house became one of the fine houses of Alexandria—and one of the loveliest. By the addition of a wing to the left of the present doorway, a beautiful Palladian window, and new entrance porch set in a gabled bay, Fowle changed the front facade into the latest mode. The house has an individuality and appeal unlike anything else in town.

The outstanding architectural interest is in this entrance. Inside as well as out the design and wood carving are chaste and elegant. Four slender columns support a shallow balcony whose grace and lightness is produced in a great measure by the fragile spindles carrying the weight of the projection. The delicate inclosure of wrought iron is Regency at its best in this medium. It is said he imported the plans for this arresting doorway from New England. The interior focal point is again the doorway, for here the beauty in design and wood carving equal the elegance of the exterior. An added interest is the circular wall, window and door in the entrance hall.

The drawing room mantel is of gray marble, early Empire in design, a style which dominates the lower floor. The walls support the original old whale-oil lamps, complete with engraved shades and prisms. Interesting family portraits and fine furniture have occupied the same places for over a century and a quarter. The Sheraton sideboard is exceptional.

In the garden court, box bushes cluster close to the doorway, perfuming the air after a summer's shower. Enormous pink poppies, phlox, and roses grow in riotous abandon, while old-fashioned periwinkle covers the roots of ancient trees.

It is a satisfactory thought that Fowle's descendants still inhabit his house, using many of his possessions, for this is one of the few old residences in Alexandria still in the family. Five generations have called it home. Two wings, or dependencies, of this house have been demolished and the garden reduced by time and the inroads of "progress." What is still a large city garden, no longer touches Washington and King Streets.



Chapter 22

The Vowell-Snowden House

[619 South Lee Street.]

Presently the residence of Mr. Justice and Mrs. Hugo L. Black, this house has been known in Alexandria for about a hundred years as the Snowden home; and so it was from 1842 to 1912 when it passed from the hands of that family.

The Snowdens have long been prominent in the old town. Samuel Snowden became sole owner and editor of the Alexandria Gazette in 1800, a paper that traces its ancestry back to 1784, and boasts of being the oldest daily newspaper printed continuously, still in circulation in the United States. Edgar Snowden succeeded his father as editor, at the age of twenty-one years. Active in civic affairs, interested in politics, he was the first representative of Alexandria to the Virginia Assembly after the retrocession of Alexandria to Virginia in 1846. He ran for Congress on the Whig ticket when Henry Clay was defeated for the Presidency and went down with his party.

He was mayor of Alexandria in 1841, and Mrs. Powell states in her History of Old Alexandria that in a collection of silhouettes in London is one of "Edgar Snowden, Mayor of Alexandria."

Snowden married Louisa Grymes of the prominent family of Grymesby, Brandon, and Marmion on the Rappahannock. From this union there were three sons, Edgar, Jr., Harold and Herbert, "each of whom in turn upheld the traditions and honor of the old paper."[181]



Edgar Snowden purchased the Lee and Franklin Streets property from Lawrence B. Taylor, who had the house from Thomas Vowell Jr. In a deed granted August 29, 1798, William Thornton Alexander and Lucy, his wife, let this property with all houses, buildings, streets, lanes, alleys, and so on, to Thomas Vowell Jr., for the yearly ground rent of $61.66. The fact is cited that William Thornton Alexander had the property from his father, John Alexander. In 1802 Thomas Vowell was released from this obligation upon payment of L200.

In 1826, in a deed of trust, the house is referred to specifically as a two-story brick dwelling, with other buildings and improvements. There is doubt as to whether the present house was built by Alexander or by Vowell. William Thornton Alexander mentions in the deed of 1798, "all houses, buildings, streets, lanes, alleys, Etc." The front of the house is a typical federal house, hardly earlier than 1790 to 1798, and similar to the New City Hotel, built in 1792. The doorway is almost a replica of the doorway taken from the tavern to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and since restored. The transom above the entrance door, in a deeply recessed arch, is interesting in design. The unusual cornice excites attention.

Thomas Vowell, in partnership with his brother, John, operated for a long while a successful mercantile business. The firm of John & Thomas Vowell owned a large wharf on the east side of Union between Prince and King Streets and sent out its own ships to the far corners of the earth, advertising its wares upon their return. George Washington ran an account with the Vowells and receipts preserved at Mount Vernon tell of purchases made by James Anderson, his manager. One of Anderson's dockets, dating from 1798, reaffirms in the inscription the age-old system of barter, "For Lint seed Sold them & Salt in Exchange." Lean and hard times were Thomas Vowell's lot. He overreached himself in speculation—buying and selling property until "by reasons of losses and misfortunates in trade" we find him mortgaging his warehouse and wharf, even his house; finally he was forced to part with his home.

Thomas Vowell's first wife, Mary Harper, died in 1805, aged twenty-three years, and was buried in the old Presbyterian meetinghouse graveyard. She was the daughter of Captain John Harper; her sister, Margaret, married Thomas Vowell's brother, John. The graves of the two sisters lie near the north wall of the church, while their father's remains rest within.

The Vowell-Snowden house, in splendid condition, stands flush with the street, surrounded by a half-acre of garden, defying the elements as well as the hand of time. Much of the fine woodwork has been removed or destroyed, but the perfect proportion of the rooms is indestructible. The hall arch and stairway remain untouched and convey some idea of the former beauty of the woodwork and elegance of the house.

There are people still living in Alexandria who as children played on the "Widow's" or "Captain's Walk" that formerly topped the old mansion. A magnificent view up and down the Potomac River could be had from that vantage spot, long since disappeared.



Chapter 23

The Edmund Jennings Lee House

[428 North Washington Street. Owners: Mr. and Mrs. Franklin F. Korell.]

Many of the citizens of this community bore the greatest names in the Commonwealth. Henry Cabot Lodge's description of Virginia society in the eighteenth century might aptly be applied to Alexandria: "We must go back to Athens to find another instance of a Society so small in numbers and yet capable of such an outburst of ability and force."

Among the great Virginia names closely associated with Alexandria is that of Lee. Virginia's (and America's) patriot, Arthur Lee, was born at Stratford, in Westmoreland County, on December 20, 1740, and died at his residence, Lansdown, in the old town of Urbanna, Middlesex County, on December 12, 1792. These fifty-two years he filled with deeds and action. His primary education was gotten at Eton. From there he went on to the great University of Edinburgh to study medicine. For a while he practiced this profession in Williamsburg, but in 1766 we find him reading law at the Temple in London. By 1770 he had begun his role as a barrister in London and there he practiced until 1776. For five years of this time he acted as London agent for Virginia and Massachusetts. Thus began his diplomatic career. With Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane he was one of the commissioners to France in 1776, and from this he went on to other negotiations between America and Europe.

Arthur Lee returned to America in 1780, and from 1782 to 1785 he served as a member of Congress. During these years he entered somewhat into the real-estate business in Alexandria. When his will was probated, he left to his niece, Hannah Washington, wife of Corbin, a half-acre lot on Washington and Oronoco Streets.

Hannah and Corbin Washington sold a half-acre lot to Charles Lee on March 19, 1796. It is described as beginning at the intersection of Washington and Oronoco on the southwest side, running west on Oronoco 123 feet 5 inches and south on Washington 176 feet 7 inches.

Charles Lee and Anne, his wife, sold this property to their brother, Edmund I. Lee, for five thousand dollars in January 1801. Part of the lot was rented at that time to Henry Zimmerman, subject to a ground rent, and part to Howard Beale, and there were houses, ways, advantages, and so on.

Edmund Jennings (always called Edmund I., following the eighteenth century usage of I for J) Lee was born just prior to the Revolution in 1772, when great events were stirring. He grew to young manhood in the post-Revolutionary days, and developed into an able lawyer, one of those stalwart citizens, giving his time and energy to his family, his church, and his city. He has been overshadowed by his more famous brothers, "Light Horse Harry" and Charles Lee, Attorney General in Washington's cabinet, and his immortal nephew, Robert Edward Lee.

At twenty-four, Edmund Jennings Lee married Sarah Lee, daughter of Richard Henry Lee of Stratford, his near cousin, and that same year, 1796, settled in Alexandria. Nearly everyone of local prominence dined at Mount Vernon on some occasion or another—and so did Edmund Lee and his wife. Washington's diaries record three dates when the former was present and one when the latter accompanied Attorney General Charles Lee and his wife. Mrs. Edmund Lee as "Miss Lee" had visited General and Mrs. Washington innumerable times with her father. As a matter of statistical interest, the General's diaries enumerate more than one hundred visits of various Virginia Lees to Mount Vernon.

Edmund I. Lee is remembered in his native city for saving the Glebe lands for Christ Church. Glebe lands were property belonging to the Church of England, and used for the support of the rector and the needs of the parish. After the Revolutionary War the Virginia Assembly confiscated these lands for the use of the poor. On behalf of the Alexandria church, now called Christ Church, Edmund I. Lee took this case to the United States Courts in 1814, protesting the unconstitutionality of the act. His eloquence, legal knowledge and labors resulted in the return of the Glebe lands to Christ Church. The case was won on a technicality, i.e., the Virginia Assembly had no jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, and Alexandria lay in the District.

In 1810 Lee was president of the common council of the city, a thankless task which he performed faithfully and cheerfully. The year 1832 saw "his house and half an acre lot at Washington and Oronoco Streets in which he now resides for sale or rent." It was not sold, for in his will, Lee left this dwelling and lot to his two daughters, Sally Lee and Hannah Stewart, jointly. To his son he left the family Bible and a cane-bottom settee, formerly owned by William Lee of Green Spring, and a house and lot at the "bottom of his garden" on Washington Street, and the "arm-chair" from his drawing room. His son, Cassius Lee, fell heir to his father's home and there brought up a large family of handsome children.

Family tradition names Edmund I. Lee as the builder of his home, which would fix the date of the house at 1801 or later. Everything about the house is typical of a late eighteenth century federal building. It is certain that Charles Lee built the mansion around 1796 and that Edmund I. Lee lived there from the time of his marriage. The price of five thousand dollars at the time of purchase is also indicative of a substantial and elegant residence.

This house is a fine federal example and is handsomely fitted out. The Lee family seems to have had a leaning toward brass hardware, and like the hinges in the great hall at Stratford, unusual brass latches and locks are here plentiful. Unquestionably the handsomest brass locks in Alexandria are in this house. A rare latch in addition to the great locks is attached to the Washington Street door. This double doorway, deeply recessed, in a hand-carved Georgian frame, arched and paneled, challenges the attention of every passer-by. The colonnaded rear gallery is hung with festoons of wisteria and is the most picturesque and lovely spot when the great lavender bunches of bloom are scattered and draped around the vine and against the white columns and railings. The woodwork throughout the house is in keeping with the dignified exterior. The rooms are large and inviting; the mantels' trim and stairway are better than pleasing.



Robert E. Lee was first cousin to Cassius Lee. They grew up together, were of the same age and generation, devoted and sympathetic friends throughout their lives. For advice and counsel they sought each other.

On April 21, 1861, the Sunday following General Lee's resignation from the United States Army, he attended Christ Church in Alexandria, and left his carriage and horses at Cassius Lee's house. Sometime during the morning, commissioners sent by the Virginia convention arrived at Arlington House and found General Lee gone to church in Alexandria. They followed him to the home of Cassius Lee, and there awaited his return from church. When the two Lee gentlemen, who had walked home from church together, entered the house, they found the waiting delegation. Realizing at once that only grave considerations had brought these gentlemen to his home, Cassius Lee left the room, and dispatched his family of children to the house of his sister, Mrs. Lloyd. General Lee had written to General Scott only the day before—on April 20:

Since my interview with you on the 18th inst. I have felt that I ought no longer to retain my commission in the Army. I therefore tender my resignation, which I request you will recommend for acceptance. It would have been presented at once but for the struggle it has cost me to separate myself from a service to which I have devoted the best years of my life, and all the ability I possessed.... Save in the defense of my native State, I never desire again to draw my Sword.[182]

For this purpose the commissioners from the governor and convention had come, to ask Robert E. Lee to draw his sword—to accept the office of commander in chief of the Virginia forces.

General Lee arrived in Richmond on April 22, and the next day accepted from the Secession Convention the command just offered him:

Trusting to Almighty God, an approving conscience and the aid of my fellow citizens, I will devote myself to the defense and service of my native State, in whose behalf alone would I ever have drawn my sword.[183]



EPILOGUE

WASHINGTON IN GLORY—AMERICA IN TEARS

The effect of the sudden news of his death upon the inhabitants of Alexandria can better be conceived than expressed. At first a general disorder, wildness, and consternation pervaded the town. The tale appeared as an illusory dream, as the raving of a sickly imagination. But these impressions soon gave place to sensations of the most poignant sorrow and extreme regret. On Monday and Wednesday the stores were all closed and all business suspended, as if each family had lost its father. From the time of his death to the time of his interment the bells continued to toll, the shipping in the harbor wore their colors half mast high, and every public expression of grief was observed. On Wednesday, the inhabitants of the town, of the county, and the adjacent parts of Maryland proceeded to Mount Vernon to perform the last offices to the body of their illustrious neighbor. All the military within a considerable distance and three Masonic lodges were present. The concourse of people was immense. Till the time of interment the corpse was placed on the portico fronting the river, that every citizen might have an opportunity of taking a last farewell of the departed benefactor.—The Alexandria Times and District of Columbia Advertiser, December 20, 1799.



PART THREE

Five Sketches of the Nineteenth Century



Chapter 24

The Yeaton-Fairfax House

[607 Cameron Street. Owners: The Misses Crilly.]

William Yeaton was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1766, and migrated to Alexandria to enter the shipping business when a young man. In the early nineteenth century he launched into the building trade—an "undertaker" he would have been called in the eighteenth century—an architect and contractor today.

On July 15, 1805, he purchased from Cuthburt Powell a part of a lot, granted unto Levin Powell by James Irvine in a deed dated September 10, 1795, and described as situated at the intersection of Cameron and St. Asaph Streets, running west on Cameron for the distance of one hundred feet and north on St. Asaph for ninety-eight feet. The consideration involved one thousand one hundred dollars.



The elegant three-storied square brick house which William Yeaton erected upon his land is a monument to his talent as a designer. His residence is an individualized interpretation of the best Georgian traditions. The facade of the house is broken in the middle by a long recessed shallow arch, beginning flush with the first belt line, and continuing nearly to the modillioned cornice. In this recess the middle, second and third story windows, are centered, giving the effect of a very high Palladian window. Large arched windows flank each side of the entrance, while windows of the second and third stories are quite ordinary, save in proportion. Every window has outside shutters and molded iron holdbacks.



The entrance, a flat arch flush with the house, opens into a deeply recessed and paneled vestibule. Side lunettes, leaded transom, double doors supported by reeded half columns, and an elaborate fret decorate the arch and door trim, making the doorway a very important element of the design. Stone front steps and double flights of outcurving steps, banded by iron railings, contribute emphasis. The watersheds and belt lines are white, as is the recessed arch, adding a dramatic touch to the dull red masonry.

To the right, upon entering, runs a long room the entire length of the house; to the left a small chamber faces the street. A large arch frames a graceful stair, which winds up to the third floor in a circular movement. Newel post and stair ends are carved. While woodwork throughout the house is elaborate, the difference between the first and second floors is marked. That of the first floor is massive, rather more dull than interesting, but the second floor, especially the large room, is startling in that mantel, door trim, chair rail, and baseboard are carved with the delicate lightness of Adam. The feature of this room is, of course, the mantel which is centered between two large shell-like shallow recessed arches, reaching from the floor to the ceiling. The room might have been done by McIntire at his best.

In 1814 the Yeatons sold their home to a man who immediately disposed of his interest in the property to the Bank of the Potomac for ten thousand dollars. Sixteen years later, on December 9, 1830, the house was purchased as a town residence by Thomas, Ninth Lord Fairfax, for five thousand dollars, and remained in the Fairfax family for thirty-four years. Thomas, Ninth Lord Fairfax, in 1800 married Margaret Herbert, eldest daughter of William and Sarah Carlyle Herbert and granddaughter of John Carlyle. They had ten children. Mrs. Robert E. Lee (nee Custis) was an intimate of the girls of this family and a frequent visitor in the house.



Doctor Orlando Fairfax succeeded his father as owner from 1848 to 1864. He bore the title of the "Beloved Physician." The following advertisements, taken from the files of the Alexandria Gazette, give a brief glimpse of his activities in the 1830s:

Dr. Fairfax has returned to Alexandria, and is ready to resume the practice of his profession in the town and its neighborhood. His office is at the N.W. corner of Pitt and Cameron Streets.

Dr. Fairfax in his late absence of five months, has been constantly engaged at Philadelphia in increasing his medical acquirements. [1831]

Dr. Fairfax has returned to Alexandria and is ready to resume the practice of his profession. He has, during his late absence from Alexandria, witnessed many cases of the epidemic cholera. [1832]

In 1829 Dr. Fairfax had married Mary Randolph Cary, daughter of Wilson Jefferson Cary. They had nine children.



In a deed of April 14, 1864, the fact is revealed that this property was condemned according to an act of Congress in 1862 "to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion to seize and confiscate property of Rebels and for other purposes."[184] It further records that on the preceding day, April 13, 1864, Gouverneur Morris, attorney for Patsy J. Morris, of Westchester County, New York, purchased for four thousand dollars, he being the highest bidder therefor, all the right, title, interest and estate of Dr. Orlando Fairfax.

Gouverneur Morris was a brother-in-law of Dr. Orlando Fairfax, and while living in France sent the Fairfaxes from the palace at Versailles a very large and elegant mirror which hung in the drawing room, filling one of the alcoves from floor to ceiling. This mirror is still in existence and in the possession of Dr. Fairfax's granddaughter, Mrs. Donald MacCrea.

Mrs. Burton Harrison in her Recollections, Grave and Gay, relates the wartime experiences of her uncle and his family who were forced to seek refuge in Richmond, of their sufferings and privations, and of the death of the young son of the family, Randolph, barely twenty, killed in action in mid-December 1862.

During the years of Fairfax occupancy, this mansion was one of the social and cultural centers of the town; the Fairfaxes were the important noble family of the "upper reaches of the Potomac." They intermarried with the Carlyles, Washingtons, Herberts, and Carys. Their contribution to Alexandria cannot be overrated, for in their personal lives and public service, they set an example of chivalry and courage. They have been distinguished by handsome men and beautiful women, by gentleness and courtly bearing. They have had great wealth and used it generously; have lost great wealth and borne it nobly. The family is represented in England today by Thomas Brian, Thirteenth Lord Fairfax, great-great-grandson of Thomas, Ninth Lord Fairfax.

Let us return to William Yeaton, builder of the mansion on Cameron Street. It is of vital interest that he was the designer and contractor for the inclosure of the Tomb of the Pater Patriae.[185] The archives at Mount Vernon contribute a number of papers dealing with this construction. Here is the proposal which Yeaton addressed to Major Lawrence Lewis, of Woodlawn, General Washington's nephew and the executor who supervised the work:

Alex April 4th 1835.

Dear Sir

I have sent you a sketch of the wall & have anticipated a Gate way on one of the sides which I expect will be necessary.

If you wish the Gate, one something like the sketch will be appropriate, you may have the gate made solid—or open as you prefer, to releive the dead wall, between the arch and copen there may be placed a slab of stone 4 Feet long & one foot wide, or a pannell may be formed in the wall.

I will engage to have the wall erected and find all materials, say Forty Five Feet square, ten Feet high, from the bottom of the foundation, which is to be two Bricks thick 2 feet high, the peirs to continue the same thickness to the copen, the pannells between the piers to be one brick & one half thick, the copen to be formed with best Brick three courses above the square—the Gateway & Gate similar to the sketch the work to be well done, & materials of the best quality—For Six hundred dollars,—

Very respectfully Your Obed Servt

W. YEATON

This addition was completed by the end of the year at a cost just slightly in excess of the original six-hundred-dollar estimate. Designed primarily as a protective wall to inclose the burial vault built in 1831, it contributed an appropriate architectural character to the tomb lot. The Gothic arch of the completed entrance was in sympathy with a funereal scene enhanced by willowlike foliage observable in certain views of the period.

Alterations were made in 1837 which created a vestibule between the vault and the outer wall and gateway constructed by William Yeaton. It is not known whether Yeaton again participated in the construction. It was in 1837 that the bodies of General and Mrs. Washington were removed from this closed vault behind and permanently entombed in marble sarcophagi, which the visitor views today in the outer chamber at Mount Vernon.



Chapter 25

The La Fayette-Lawrason-Cazenove House

[301 South St. Asaph Street. Owners: Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Wallack.]

The presence of La Fayette was nothing new to Alexandria, yet his official visit in 1824, as the nation's guest, created a turmoil in the town. As soon as the news was received of his arrival in New York (it took two days to reach Alexandria) Captain A. William's company of artillery arose before dawn to fire a national salute at sunrise, and at noon the same company fired seventy-six rounds. During the day the harbor presented the spectacle of all ships displaying their flags at masthead. When the Marquis reached Baltimore, on October 8, representatives from the Alexandria city council were on hand to extend an invitation (in the form of an address) to visit the town, which the distinguished visitor was pleased to accept.

He was met on the south side of the Potomac River on the 16th by that same Captain Williams and his company, firing a salvo in salute, and was addressed in a "neat and handsome" manner by General Jones and suite. He "then entered a splendid barouche, drawn by four fine grays, with postilions dressed in white with blue sashes," and thus was escorted by a company of cavalry under the command of Captain Andrews and a civilian escort led by Captain James Carson, dressed in blue "with sashes of the same color." To this splendor add marines, fire companies, the Alexandria Battalion (1,500 men) all saluting, firing salvos, presenting arms—two bands playing, reception committees, constant alighting from and entering the barouche, and you have some idea of the excitement as the procession passed under the triumphal arch spanning Washington Street.



This arch was a masterpiece. It has been described by Benjamin Hallowell in his Autobiography and by the Alexandria Gazette at the time, and memories of it linger in old tales told in many homes. Built in three sections, a large arch spanned the street, with smaller ones the sidewalks. The columns were decorated with portraits of Washington and La Fayette. Noble and patriotic sentiments were inscribed: "Welcome La Fayette—A Nation's Gratitude Thy Due"—"For a Nation to be Free, it is Sufficient that she wills it." A fully rigged ship hung beneath the central span, and the whole was decorated with cedar, laurel and oak, set off by a Liberty cap and "a real mountain eagle which had been politely furnished by Mr. Timothy Mountford of the Museum." When the column passed under the arch, the eagle "politely furnished" opened wide his wings and gave a mighty screech, produced, 'tis said, by a small boy and a pin placed in close proximity for this very purpose. From the windows of the houses ladies waved handkerchiefs and threw nosegays in fiesta fashion.



When the parade reached Royal Street and Gadsby's Tavern, we are told that a ceremony took place there which, "in sublimity and moral effect surpassed all." "One hundred young girls and one hundred boys from seven to twelve years of age were arrayed in lines extending to the Reception Room." They were neatly dressed, the "females" in white with blue sashes and badges and leghorn bonnets, the boys in blue with pink sashes and badges. As the General approached, a little girl, Rosalie Taylor, stepped out and "spoke with becoming grace and manner" a poem several verses long that began:

Fayette, friend of Washington. Freedom's children greet thee here; Fame for Thee our hearts has won Flows for thee the grateful tear. Chorus Happiness today is ours; Strew, ye fair! his way with flowers!

After being wined and dined at Claggett's Hotel, formerly Gadsby's, the barouche was again brought forward and General La Fayette, escorted by the procession, "moved on to the house which had been procured for his accomodation."[186]

And so we arrive at the home of Mrs. Thomas Lawrason, the most elegant house of its day and time in Alexandria, lent by this charming Irish lady to the great Frenchman, thereby endowing it with imperishable fame as the La Fayette house.

On August 5, 1779, the executors of John Alexander sold to Thomas Wilkinson "a half acre lott lying and being upon the South side of Duke Street and the West Side of St. Asaph Street and described by the number 175," the ground rent of which was L14 10s. In September 1795, William Thornton Alexander, one of the heirs of John Alexander, released Benjamin Shreve and James Lawrason from this ground rent upon the payment of the sum of L300, and in this indenture of September 14, the fact is cited that this was the property sold by Thomas Wilkinson and that Shreve and Lawrason divided the property.



On September 27, 1819, in an indenture between James Lawrason and Alice, his wife, and Elizabeth Lawrason, widow of Thomas Lawrason, son of the said James, lately deceased, and their five children, the fact is cited that Thomas Lawrason bought for five hundred dollars the lot at the intersection of St. Asaph and Duke Streets, described as running "West on Duke 120 feet to an alley 6 feet wide 10 inches to be held in common with the heirs of Benjamin Shreve, thence on said alley South 55 feet, thence East, parallel to Duke 120 feet to St. Asaph and thence on St. Asaph North to the beginning." This same document further described that "the said Thomas entered on said lott and erected thereon a three story brick tenement and other buildings and improvements and afterwards departed this life intestate without having received a deed for the same," which deed James was at this time executing, conveying this property to his son's widow and orphans.

The three-story brick tenement, built by Thomas Lawrason for his young wife, is one of the important federal houses in this ancient seaport. High upon the roof a white railing incloses the "Captain's Walk" from which point of vantage the Fowle & Lawrason ships could be sighted far down the Potomac. The doorway is the outstanding feature of the house. The fanlight over the door is a true fan in shape and design, and the lunettes on each side of the double doors are unique. The interior of the mansion is commodious and comfortable with well proportioned rooms of agreeable size and beautiful woodwork.

James Lawrason of Sussex County, New Jersey, married Alice Levering. Their son, Thomas Lawrason, builder of the house, was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1780. The Lawrasons lived for a while in Canada, where life for those with Tory sympathies was more agreeable, but after the Revolution, and prior to 1795, the family returned to Virginia and settled in Alexandria, where the senior Lawrason was associated for a time with Benjamin Shreve.

Thomas Lawrason, a member of the important shipping firm of Lawrason & Fowle, married Elizabeth Carson, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Dr. Samuel Carson of Armagh, Ireland, in October 1808. To them were born five children: Samuel Carson, October 18, 1809; James Thomas, July 28, 1811; William Wilson, 1814; George Carson, 1816; and Anne Carson, 1818.

Thomas Lawrason died on June 7, 1819, before he could enjoy his fine, new home, leaving Elizabeth to struggle with a house and family. She never remarried, remaining in Alexandria until her children were reared and settled in life. Then she followed her youngest son, George Carson Lawrason, to New Orleans. An entry in the family Bible reads: "Elizabeth Lawrason, consort of Thomas Lawrason died at the residence of her son George C. Lawrason in New Orleans on the 11th of April, 1851, aged 59 years." A curious and sad sequel to her death is that some years later her grave was washed away and swallowed by the Mississippi. When General Lee's body lay in state at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) her grandson, Samuel McCutcheon Lawrason, then a student at Virginia Military Institute, was one of the bodyguards at the bier.



The original portraits of Elizabeth and Thomas hang in the Lawrasons' Louisiana plantation home at St. Francisville. Some of the family silver, made in Alexandria by I. Adam, belongs to her granddaughter, Mrs. Kirkpatrick.

The La Fayette-Lawrason association rightfully includes the name Cazenove to commemorate the role played by Alexandria's noble French-speaking citizen on the happy occasion of La Fayette's visit. Really his name was De Cazenove for his family was both Huguenot and noble. They had fled France in 1688 and settled in Geneva, Switzerland, where they were prominent bankers for over one hundred years. When the French Revolution broke out, the radical Swiss threw the French aristocrats into jail; then, becoming frightened at their tyranny, they released the patricians. Among those incarcerated were the De Cazenove family. After their release Antoine Charles de Cazenove and his elder brother were sent by their parents to America to avoid the Revolution. They landed in Philadelphia and were the guests of some cousins there by the same name. The two brothers married sisters, the Misses Hogan of Philadelphia.

Later, the elder brother returned to Geneva. Antoine Charles Cazenove (for by this time our young Frenchman had become imbued with the spirit of republicanism and dropped the De as un-American), moved to Alexandria about 1794 and founded the banking house of Cazenove & Company. Head of a large shipping business, he maintained his own wharf and warehouses; was French consul; one of the founders of the Alexandria Water Company and of the cotton factory; and an active member of the old Presbyterian Church. He owned three or four black slaves who spoke only French. During the yellow fever epidemic in 1803, when forty to fifty people were dying in a day, Cazenove refused to leave Alexandria. He contracted yellow fever and was one of the few persons to have the disease and survive.

After Mrs. Lawrason put her Alexandria home at the disposal of General La Fayette, Antoine Charles Cazenove was invited to act as host. When the Alexandrians crowded outside the Lawrason house demanding a sight of and a speech from La Fayette, Cazenove introduced him. La Fayette was "chez lui"; the whole visit passed off with great eclat.

The great General on departure referred to his entertainment in Alexandria as "the most pleasing hours of his life." A gratified city council presented Mrs. Lawrason with a silver cup in recognition of her generous and hospitable act. This, duly inscribed, is cherished to this day by her great-granddaughter, Mrs. Donald M. Hamilton of Georgetown, in Washington, D.C.



Chapter 26

Enter the Quaker Pedagogue: Benjamin Hallowell

Benjamin Hallowell came to Alexandria in 1824 to open a school for boys. He was then twenty-five, with no fortune, a large debt, a dependent mother, a new and young bride.

For his first school he rented the building on the northeast corner of Oronoco and Washington Streets, next to the house where the widow of General Harry Lee resided!

Alexandria was in a turmoil of hospitality, welcoming the Marquis de la Fayette. Hallowell and his wife of a few hours stood in their front door the morning after their marriage and saw the famous Frenchman paying his devoirs to Mrs. Lee. Hallowell's autobiography pictures the occasion: "When he got opposite," he wrote, "he looked at us, took off his hat, and made a graceful bow, not knowing it was to a lady who had been married the day before." Nor that his liking for a fresh smiling face inspired the schoolmaster to immediately express his emotions in the following verse:

Each lover of Liberty surely must get Something in honor of LaFayette There's a LaFayette watch-chain, a LaFayette hat, A LaFayette this, and a LaFayette that. But I wanted something as lasting as life As I took to myself a LaFayette wife.[187]

The school of Benjamin Hallowell filled slowly at first. The ninth boy to enroll was Mrs. Harry Lee's son, Robert Edward. Edmund Lee and Thomas Swann sent their boys, who were "ten dollar" scholars. The time was to come when Hallowell would turn away more than a hundred applicants, but that was after Robert Edward Lee had gone to West Point and distinguished himself.

At the end of his year in Alexandria, Hallowell's child was born. Both he and the mother were very ill, "seemingly with bilious fever." Then, for the first time, Hallowell heard that the "situation on Oronoco Street, on the edge of town as it was, had always been regarded as unhealthy."[188] He could not bear the idea of his wife and family continuing in a place that was so evil, or of inviting his scholars to share such an environment. Then it was that he got in contact with the widow Hooe, made arrangements to give up his first schoolhouse and immediately engaged the more healthy situation on Washington Street.

The house which was so "unhealthy" is a replica in almost every respect of Mrs. Harry Lee's house, but there is no record of Mrs. Lee complaining of the situation nor of the health of her boys.

The new schoolhouse, so commonly spoken of as the Lloyd House [220 North Washington Street.] by Alexandrians, was built by John Hooe in 1793. In 1826, Benjamin Hallowell rented it from the widow Hooe and in the spring vacation with his ill wife in his arms, moved into this building so admirably adapted to his purpose.

"My school room," he tells us, "was on the first floor, north end, all across the house. I having obtained permission of my Landlady, in our arrangements, to remove the partition on condition of replacing it by one with folding doors, when I should leave the property, which was done. My lecture room was the back room over the school room.... The very day the quarter's rent was due the widow Hooe's carriage was at the door, and this continued to be her custom as long as she lived. If I had not the money, which was generally the case, I would frankly tell her so, and add that the first money I could get, and could possibly spare, I would take to her, with which she was always satisfied. She never said a word like urging me, or being disappointed in not getting the rent due, and I did take her the very first I received, never permitting it to be in my possession over night."[189]

The frail Mrs. Hallowell opened a school for girls in the front room over the schoolroom, and Hallowell lectured to her scholars. Money being very scarce with them at this time, they could not afford two stoves, so Hallowell and the servant, Nancy, carried the stove from schoolroom to lecture room as needed.



"On the 17th of Ninth month, 1830," the autobiography continues, "commenced giving private lessons to Angela Lewis, daughter of Major Lawrence Lewis (who was a nephew of General Washington, and it was said a good deal resembled him in appearance). These lessons continued through the year, for which I charged fifty dollars, and the Major promptly sent me his check for the amount. Eleanor Lewis, Angela's Mother, always attended at her daughter's recitations in English Grammar, Parsing, Natural Philosophy, etc., so that her influence, which she afterwards exerted in my favor, and her praise of my method of teaching, was of greater value to me than the amount I received in hand for teaching her daughter."[190]



In the meantime, he struggled along with debt, with illness, with sorrow. Scarlet fever wiped out three of the four little Hallowells in nearly the same number of weeks. He witnessed the cholera in Alexandria and had the unhappy experience of seeing a man drop dead of the plague before his eyes; he heard the market square echo to the feet of soldiers mustering and drilling in preparation for war in Mexico.

This man had the most singular relationships in his business dealings. When he bought the lot and buildings of his school from the bank, it was two years before any papers were signed, interest paid, or deed given, although he had made extensive improvements during that time. He never failed to meet an obligation although at the beginning it took him ten years to pay back the two hundred dollars plus five per cent interest, that he had from his Uncle Comly in Philadelphia. Everyone trusted him, the merchants in Philadelphia from whom he had his school supplies and chemical apparatus; his grocer in Alexandria, John P. Cowman, not only never dunned him, but invited him to come to his store and get what was necessary, and never sent bills unless requested.



Hallowell was city surveyor, but accepted no fee because it afforded a fine opportunity to instruct his pupils in "Field Practice with the Odolite and Level." He was something of an architect, improving every place he occupied, and building two fine structures in the town.

In 1831 the widow Hooe died and in the spring of 1832 the house which he had acquired for a school in 1826, was put up at auction. Hallowell hoped to possess this property, having put both his time and money into the remodeling. He had already enlarged and improved a sugar house adjacent to the building. His school was growing in reputation and size, he becoming more prosperous. Gathering together all the cash he could put his hands on, he attended the auction where he had the misfortune to be outbid. The property was purchased by John Lloyd, and remained in the Lloyd family for nearly one hundred years.



Ancient mahogany filled the rooms, portraits of ancestors lined the walls. General Lee was a frequent visitor in this house. The Lloyds intermarried with the Lees, and Mrs. Lloyd was General Lee's first cousin. His daughter, Miss Mary Custis Lee, always stayed here when visiting in Alexandria. The last Lloyds to live in this house were two very old ladies. What follows will serve to reveal why their neighbors considered them "quaint."

Following the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's consort, a fashion grew up in Virginia affecting widows. At the death of the husband a real Victorian Virginia lady simply went to bed and awaited death. It did not always follow that a broken heart put her in her grave as readily as was anticipated, and many of these brokenhearted widows lived to a ripe old age. Such was the case with one of these piously saddened ladies. When she heard the doorbell, she at once put herself between the sheets of her high poster and covered herself to the chin. Under the cover went such things as high button shoes, a "reticule" and any other regalia that was in service at the moment. If the caller was familiar, or after the formalities had been observed, proper sympathy for the heart palpitating between the sheets, the head languishing upon the pillow noticed and condoned, the sufferer would arise, hop out of bed fully clothed and partake of cookies and wine passed by the black dwarf, Selena. This small creature, after fulfilling her part in the social amenities, seated herself upon a small stool, joined in the conversation, and when amused (which was often) broke into a high falsetto laugh. In the last years of these two ladies she gained a most unholy influence over her charges and took cruel advantage of their helplessness.

Another peculiarity of this household was the fashion of being admitted to the mansion. After repeated ringing of the bell, a second-story front window would open—those not in the know often left—and in a leisurely fashion a grape basket was lowered by a long string. Inside the basket, those who were familiar with the proceeding would find the front-door key, a large, heavy iron affair, somewhat like that to the Bastille, now on display at Mount Vernon, and with this they let themselves in.

The Lloyd house, a large rectangular brick building, divided by a central hall with rooms on each side, is two and a half stories high. Three dormer windows pierce the roof, front and back, and four great chimneys rise from the gable ends. Flush with the street, on a corner, with a handsome garden behind a pale and paneled fence adjoining to the left, the house is a model federal town mansion. Pedimented doorway, window caps, keystones, cornice and dormer trim follow the best mid-Georgian tradition. This house is one of Alexandria's finest homes. It was for many years the residence of Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Smoot.



Chapter 27

The Alexandria Lyceum

[201 South Washington Street.]

Benjamin Hallowell, our Quaker pedagogue, was not content with improving the minds of the young. He soon realized the necessity of furbishing up the cranial contents of his associates.

An able propagandist, Hallowell set himself to interest his friends in founding a lyceum. This was accomplished in 1834, just ten years after his entrance as a schoolmaster. Naturally he was the first president and naturally the early lectures were held in his school. Here the erudite of the town were wont to gather to express themselves in lecture and debate. Hallowell does not give the date of the actual building of the lyceum, saying merely:

At length a lot was purchased on the Southwest corner of Washington and Prince Streets, on which was erected a fine building, a little back from the street, with a pediment front supported by four fluted Doric columns with a triglyph cornice, and surrounded by an iron railing, and a beautiful yard of flowers and ornamental shrubbery. In this building was placed the Alexandria Library, and there was besides, on the first floor a large reading room, and a room for a cabinet of minerals, and specimens in Natural History. On the second floor was a well arranged and handsome lecture room, with marble busts of Cicero and Seneca, one on each side of the President's desk and seat. In this room lectures were given by John Quincy Adams, Caleb Gushing, Dr. Sewell, Samuel Goodrich (Peter Parley), Daniel Bryan, Robert H. Miller, William H. Fowle and several others. I gave the introductory lecture (which was published) and several others afterwards. Attending the Lyceum was a very interesting and improving way of spending one evening in the week (Third-day evening), and the citizens would adapt their visiting and other arrangements so as not to have them come on Lyceum evenings.[191]

Thus came into being one of the finest examples of the Classical Revival in American architecture. When the portico was under construction, bricks salvaged from old St. Mary's Catholic Church were used for the columns (afterwards plastered). This is an interesting fact, but another Quaker-Catholic relationship merits recalling here. Old St. Mary's Church stood on South Washington Street on land donated by Robert Townsend Hooe, a Quaker. Built in 1793, it was abandoned in 1826 when the new church on Royal Street was opened, but the early graveyard which adjoined the old church continues in use. A small detail this of the bricks—yet it commemorates the friendly ties ever maintained in Alexandria between the two congregations.

It was appropriate that the new lyceum should provide facilities for the Alexandria Library Company, the city's first organization for the advancement of learning dating back to 1794. Insight into the early efforts to establish a library and the bid made for its public support is revealed through announcements of the type which follow. This one appeared in the local gazette for the year 1797:

ALEXANDRIA LIBRARY COMPANY

The President and Directors of the Alexandria Library Company desirous of promoting the influence which they conceive eminently calculated to diffuse useful knowledge, establish the morals of the rising generation, and afford rational entertainment for a vacent hour, earnestly recommend it to the attention and support of their fellow citizens. The utility of a public circulating library is too obvious to need arguments to demonstrate it. The friends of Literature, of Virtue, and refinement of manners, will, no doubt duly appreciate its value, and interest themselves in its advancement.

The addition of a number of valuable books has lately been made to the former selections; to which the American edition of the Encyclopoedia is directed to be super added as soon as it can be procured.

The President and Directors have ordered a catalogue of all the books in the library forthwith to be printed, with their respective prices annexed; to which will be prefixed the existing laws of the company, together with the names of all the actual subscribers to the institution. As they can determine between real and nominal members only by the fulfillment of their engagements, they solicit those who are in arrears to come forward and pay their respective balances to Samuel Craig, Treasurer, before the fifteenth of the next month, otherwise their names will be omitted in the list and their shares, agreeably to the condition, will be deemed forfeited to the company without respect of persons. Also all such as incline to become subscribers are desired to call on Mr. Craig on or before the above date, and pay their subscriptions, that their names may be inserted with the rest.

Signed by order

JAMES KENNEDY, Librarian.

That the Alexandria Library Company merited and met with cordial and generous support is shown by the fact of its perpetuation to this day within the structure of the Alexandria library system. The Library Company has been called one of the "time-honored heirlooms of the town."[192]

The Alexandria Library has had a nomadic existence from the time it was called into existence in 1794 until it was moved into its new home on Queen Street in 1937. At least five buildings other than the lyceum have doubled for home during this period; but the lyceum is the first location mentioned in the extant minutes of the company. The author nostalgically hopes the lyceum may know a renaissance and that it may again serve as the city's library and a historical museum.

Hallowell tells us that the books were housed on the first floor. His autobiography also contributes an interesting note on the busts of Cicero and Seneca which stood in the lecture room upstairs: "The marble busts spoken of above," he added, "were purchased in Italy in the time of Cromwell by one of the Fairfax family; they were brought to this country by Lord Fairfax, and had come into the possession of Daniel Herbert, whose mother was a Fairfax. I purchased them of him for the price he asked (one hundred and twenty-five dollars), but permitted them to remain in the Lyceum while it continued in operation." Benjamin Hallowell served as president of the lyceum until 1842.

After the War Between the States, the lyceum was abandoned, the society dissolved. The town was rife with rumors that a Negro organization was making plans to acquire the building. By order of the court in 1867, the stockholders of the Alexandria Lyceum Company were compelled to sell the property. Advertisements were set up in the Gazette. W. Arthur Taylor and Reuben Johnston were appointed commissioners, and having given thirty days' notice of the time and place of sale, the building was offered at public auction in front of the mayor's office on May 16, 1868 and "struck off" to John B. Daingerfield for the sum of $6,800.00, being the highest bid. The sale was confirmed by the court and the deed ordered executed, describing the lot of ground with buildings and improvements, southwest corner of Prince and Washington Streets, commonly called the Lyceum Hall, fronting on Washington Street 92 feet 7 inches and on Prince 101 feet 5 inches and bounded on the south by the property of H.W. Vandergrift and on the West by Mr. Henry Daingerfield's estate.[193] John Bathurst Daingerfield and his brother, Henry, owned almost the entire square bounded by Prince, Duke, Columbus and Washington streets, where now stands the Alexandria Hospital.



John B. Daingerfield turned the lyceum into a residence for his daughter, Mary, at the time of her marriage to Captain Philip Beverly Hooe, 17th Virginia Regiment, C.S.A. The house remained in the Hooe family until 1900, when John Daingerfield Hooe and his wife, Mary, the daughter of Colonel Arthur Herbert, sold the property to Sara J. McGuire. In 1913 Mrs. McGuire transferred the property to her husband, the late Dr. Hugh McGuire. The lyceum was used for many years as a private residence by Dr. and Mrs. McGuire, and the interior has been much changed. The exterior is quite untouched, triglyph cornice, Doric columns, all well past the century mark. It stands today one of the best examples of the Classical Revival in architecture, not only in Alexandria but in America.

The corner of Prince and Washington Streets is hallowed ground to Alexandria. From here the 17th Virginia Regiment, C.S.A., marched gallantly off to war, and when the fighting and turmoil died, the remnant of this regiment was wont to gather on Confederate Memorial Day and hold services for those left behind on Virginia's bloody battlefields. This custom continued long after the bronze monument of a Confederate soldier was placed in the center of the street. If, today, hurrying automobiles are forced to slow up to pass the circle enclosing the Confederate warrior, it is well. For this spot, while marking a lost cause, does not mark a forgotten one.



Chapter 28

The Sea Captain's Daughter and Her House

[617 South Washington Street. Owners: Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm Westcott Hill.]

This large, almost square house, rises three stories in a stately pile of soft red brick, flanked by two ancient tulip trees towering twenty-five feet above the pavilion roof, while a great box hedge partially hides the front facade and large garden. Five generations of the same family have called it home.

It is a romantic and interesting house. Built prior to 1853 by Reuben Roberts on a half-acre of unimproved ground, it lay "in the country" for some years. Roberts, a Quaker of the family of Cameron Farms, died in 1853; his widow moved to New Jersey, and the house stood new and tenantless until 1857, when it was purchased by Captain Samuel Bancroft Hussey of Portland, Maine, as a bridal gift for his only daughter, Melissa Ann. And thereby hangs a tale.

Gallant Captain Hussey is reported to have been a descendant of that Christopher Hussey who arrived in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1630 and became one of the large proprietors. Intended for the Navy at an early age he ran away to sea and became a master of Clipper ships that raced the seas in the China trade. Captain in succession of the Reindeer, the Strabo, earlier and smaller vessels, he became Captain of the Westward Ho on which, in 1854, he made a record trip of eighty-five days from Canton to New York. In 1857 he speeded the same vessel from Boston around the Horn to San Francisco in a hundred days. Two years later he died on the Stag Hound of which he was master and part owner.



The Westward Ho was a great and beautiful ship of sixteen hundred tons, outfitted with every comfort and luxury of her day, including crystal, books, silver, and a melodeon on which to while away the hours at sea. Captain Hussey was frequently accompanied on his voyages by his wife, and for a time they lived in India, as well as many other far-off and curious ports.

Melissa Ann Hussey[194] after her graduation from the Charlestown Female Seminary, near Boston, made the grand tour with her father. This was not her first voyage, as he had entrusted her to Captain Creesy, master of the Flying Cloud on a long journey from China. But on the occasion of this grand tour graduation gift, he directed the Westward Ho up the Potomac and anchored in the then busy port of Alexandria. The city of Washington was not very sophisticated in those days, so the official and social set of the capital sought the theatres, taverns, and balls of Alexandria. Statesmen had apartments at the new and elegant Braddock House or Green's Mansions on Fairfax Street, and at this hotel the Captain engaged a suite for himself and daughter.



While in Alexandria, a romance developed which resulted, in 1857, in the marriage of Melissa Hussey and Robert Lewis Wood. Their wedding took place in New York, and the young couple returned to take up life in Alexandria. No colonial house was desired by this bride of nineteen. She must have something new and fresh and modern, and as though preordained, they came upon the large red brick house at Franklin and Washington Streets, much like those so well known to her in Portland, Longfellow's "beautiful town that is seated by the sea."

With Melissa came to her new home a collection of rare birds in such numbers that the room over the kitchen was devoted to the cages of cockatoos, parakeets, parrots and nonpareils. Here these feathered friends in spectrum-hued plumage lived among the potted plants and charmed the little bride with their beauty and sweet tricks. Other appendages included a chimpanzee, and a small Chinese slave boy, bought by her father from one of the innumerable sampans in the harbor of Canton. "Chinese Tom" was reared and educated by Melissa Wood and after the War Between the States she gave him his freedom. For years he was the only Chinaman in Alexandria. Mrs. Wood's granddaughter remembers the visits of this man to her grandmother. He would station himself at the entrance to her door and a long conversation would go on between the guttural-voiced Oriental and the gentle little "Missey" whom he adored.

Almost unchanged is Melissa Hussey Wood's house. Her exquisite wax flower arrangements, colored and molded by her hands, her mother's tete-a-tetes, made in England and purchased in India, paintings of her father's ships and his ivory chessmen, her silver wedding bouquet holder, her baby's shoulder clips, her brass and crystal girandoles, her pictures, books and chairs, have all been used by her two daughters, her granddaughter, and her great-granddaughters. Old pressed brass cornices decorate the windows above the lace curtains. Unusual, too, are the very large silver daguerreotypes, made in California for the new house, and the haircloth "pouf" rocking chairs. An Italian clock, bought by her father in Florence, which arrived in Bangor, Maine, on the day Melissa Ann was born in 1838, stands on its original music box base upon the dining-room mantel. Strangest contrast of all, above the doors of this high-ceilinged room are steel engravings in their contemporary oval frames of Generals Joe Johnston, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert E. Lee, placed there by the Yankee bride, who after three years in Alexandria became an ardent champion of the Confederacy and never took the oath of allegiance while Alexandria was under Union jurisdiction.



Acknowledgments

It would be impossible to write a book of this kind without a great deal of help from many sources. This help was given by very busy people with knowledge or documents, which inspired the historian to further impositions upon their useful persons.

An expression of appreciation, always banal, is nevertheless an attempt to express gratitude—and this is my only means of acknowledging my obligations to friend and stranger. Without such help this book, such as it is, would never have been written and so my lasting gratitude goes:

First, to my father, who said I would never finish it, and to my husband, who said I would.

To Mr. Walter Wilcox, American Photographical Society, and Royal Photographical Society, for his labors and beautiful photographs which illustrate this book.

To Mrs. George Kirk, for endless and patient typing and sustained enthusiasms.

To Miss Virgila Stephens, for intimating that I might be able to write anything that anybody would ever care to read, and to Mrs. Worth Bailey, who said I had.

To Mr. Worth Bailey, curator of Mount Vernon, for numerous historical contributions, rare and authentic, for the finished seal of Alexandria, the endpapers, the charming drawings, for editing; and lastly, for wise and useful advice. Mr. Bailey's historical knowledge and artistic training have been invaluable.

To Mrs. Louis Scott, for permission to see the scrapbook of her mother, Mrs. Mary G. Powell, and family papers; for the Harper family records, for her gracious assistance and advice, and for the use of her late mother's The History of Old Alexandria, Virginia.

To Mrs. Robert M. Reese, for long and helpful hours and the generous use of the Ramsay family records, and historical documents.

To the Lady Regents of Mount Vernon and to Mr. Wall, the superintendent, for the use of the Mount Vernon library, the photograph of Lawrence Washington, the choice bill of lading, and Dr. Dick's George Washington.

To Miss Frances Herbert, for information about the Carlyle, Herbert and Fairfax families, and for the photograph of John Carlyle's mother, Rachel Carlyle.

To the late Mrs. Charles R. Hooff, for loan of the Carlyle genealogy and for permission to photograph John Carlyle's snuffbox.

To Mrs. William Boothe, for Lee family notes and Christ Church anecdotes.

To Mrs. Charles Baird, and her sister, Mrs. Gerhard Dieke, for permission to quote from the books of their father, the late Fairfax Harrison, and from the books of their late grandmother, Mrs. Burton Harrison; for photographs of Sally Gary, George William Fairfax and Ben Dulany.

To Mr. Taylor Burke, for the anecdote of the purchase money for Mount Vernon.

To Judge Walter T. McCarthy, for permission to open court-sealed deed books.

To the late clerk and assistant clerk of the Fairfax Court House, Messrs. F.W. Richardson and Alton R. Holbrook, and to the present clerk, Mr. Thomas P. Chapman Jr., for documents, photostats and unfailing patience and courtesy.

To the attendants of the manuscript division, the map room and the rare book room of the Library of Congress.

To the attendants of the Virginia state archives in Richmond, for assistance in uncovering Alexandria records.

To the ladies at the Alexandria library.

To Miss S. Frances Leary, for the Michael Swope family notes.

To the late Mr. Charles Callahan, and to Mrs. Callahan, for permission to quote from Mr. Callahan's works and for many inspirational talks with Mr. Callahan.

To Captain George H. Evans for old photographs.

To Mrs. Arthur Herbert, for photographs of Herbert furniture from the Carlyle house.

To Mr. Courtland Davis, for generous aid and valuable Alexandria records and the use of his personal manuscripts and to Mr. Davis and the Reverend Doctor William B. McIllwayne, for access to the old Presbyterian meetinghouse session books.

To Miss Cora Duffy, for the records of the Sun Fire Company.

To Mrs. Margaret Gill Davis, for use of an old customs house journal.

To the late Mr. Ward Brown, for loan of architectural documents.

To Messrs. I.D. Matthews and Milton Grigg, for floor plans.

To Mrs. Howard Tolley, for the photograph of Dr. Brown and his obituary.

To Mr. Gardner L. Boothe and the vestry of Christ Church, for permission to photograph the church.

To Mrs. Helen Lawrason Kirkpatrick, Miss Margaret Lawrason and Mrs. Edward Butler, for a wonderful day at the Lawrason plantation, Greenwood, in Louisiana, and the photographs of the Lawrason portraits.

To the Misses Carne, for the loan and use of valuable Alexandria documents.

To Miss Belle da Costa Green, of the Pierpont Morgan Library, for use of an important Martha Washington letter.

To Dr. St. George L. Sioussat, chief of the division of manuscripts of the Library of Congress.

To Mr. Allen L. Reese, for exciting finds among the Washington papers in that library.

To Mrs. Andrew Pickens, for notes on the Fowle family.

To Mr. Louis de Cazenove, for information on the Cazenove family.

To the late Mr. Cazenove Lee, for the story of General Robert E. Lee and the Edmund I. Lee house.

To Mr. W.B. McGroarty, for the letters and biographical information on Dr. Dick and permission to quote from his works.

To the Corcoran Gallery of Art for photographs of St. Memin's Alexandrians.

To Mr. John O. Brostrup, Mr. Thomas Neil Darling, Mr. Lewis P. Woltz, and others, for the use of photographs.

And last but not least, to Lena Harris, my old and faithful maid, who made it all possible.



Chapter References



PART ONE: PROLOGUE

An Account of the First Century of the Seaport of Alexandria.

[Footnote 1: Caton, Jottings from the Annals of Alexandria, 3-4; and Powell, The History of Old Alexandria, Virginia, 25.]

[Footnote 2: Hening, Statutes at Large, IV, 268.]

[Footnote 3: Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, Session 1727-34, 1736-40, 204.]

[Footnote 4: Ibid.]

[Footnote 5: Ibid., Session 1742-47, 1748-49, 30.]

[Footnote 6: Fairfax County was formed from Prince William in 1742 (Journals of the House of Burgesses, Virginia, 1742-47, 70; and Hening, V, 207-8) after numerous petitions to this effect had been presented to the Burgesses, beginning as early as 1732 (Ibid., 1727-34, 1738-40, 146), with a request to divide the county into two parishes.]

[Footnote 7: Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1748-49, 1742-47, 265.]

[Footnote 8: Ibid., 375.]

[Footnote 9: Ibid., 404-5.]

[Footnote 10: Hening, Statutes at Large, VI, 214; and Caton's Jottings, 6-8.]

[Footnote 11: Caton's Jottings.]

[Footnote 12: Ibid.]

[Footnote 13: Ibid.]

[Footnote 14: Ibid.]

[Footnote 15: Ibid.]

[Footnote 16: In 1748 George Washington made a survey of the site of Belle Haven, and the following year, 1749, a plan of the town, doubtless for his brother, Lawrence, who purchased lots. Now with the Washington papers in the Library of Congress.]

[Footnote 17: Minutes of the Trustees of Alexandria, 1749-1767.]

[Footnote 18: Ibid.]

[Footnote 19: From data contributed by Robert C. Gooch, Chief of General Reference and Bibliography Division, Library of Congress, Letter dated April 11, 1947.]

[Footnote 20: Minutes of the Trustees of Alexandria, 1749-1767.]

[Footnote 21: Ibid.]

[Footnote 22: Ibid.]

[Footnote 23: Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1752-1755, 1756-1758, 21, 24 and 31.]

[Footnote 24: Ibid., 27.]

[Footnote 25: Ibid., 34.]

[Footnote 26: Analoston Island, formerly My Lords Island, was part of the Alexander purchase.]

[Footnote 27: Minutes of the Trustees, Recorded Deeds; and Carne's Tiny Town notes.]

[Footnote 28: Fitzpatrick, Diaries of George Washington, I, 74.]

[Footnote 29: Ibid.]

[Footnote 30: Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, I, 148-150, Washington's Report to Governor Dinwiddie, July 18, 1755.]

[Footnote 31: Burnaby, Through the Middle Settlements in North America (1759-60), 40.]

[Footnote 32: Fitzpatrick, Diaries of George Washington, I, 163.]

[Footnote 33: Ibid., 294.]

[Footnote 34: Ibid., 294.]

[Footnote 35: Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, II, 338.]

[Footnote 36: Minutes of the House of Burgesses, November 5, 1762, 76, (Vol. 1761-1765); Minutes of the Trustees of Alexandria, 1749-1767.]