A Portrait of Old George Town

ridge (

ging, gave way while a stage-coach was passing over it. The coach was precipitated into the water but only the driver

s. French had been Arianna Scott, sister of Mrs. Robert Peter. The house, which is still rememb

mbered by a gentleman who lived there when he was quite young, who says he remembers passing when the house was being demolished and again admired the very handsome and

wned several houses nea

ale o

opposite the bank is very eligibly situated for a commercial character having an excellent storeroom and counting room with every convenient compartment for a private family. The house

ry 1799 A

d a millinery stor

(29th) Streets, was where David Reint

Mrs. Schoofield comforted him the first night he was there, a home-sick little boy, by telling him the story, from the Bible, of Joseph being sold by his brother and carried off into Egypt. He said "I remember, also, to have seen a ge

The building was standing until a few years ago when it was replaced by a filling station. When it b

ators and gentlemen assembled for the races, which are to commence

the capitol in a large stage-coach with

ng, Count Volney, Humbolt, the geographer; Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat; Lorenzo Dow, the eccentric preacher; several young naval officers from the Tripolitan War; and John Randolph of Roanoke. I wonder if it was from this old tavern that that brilliant but erratic statesman went out across the Chain Bridge to

he duel in quoting poetry and playing

in his boarding place on Capitol Hill, he insisted on his body servant, Juba, getting

t when the ships bringing it from Philadelphia docked at Lear's Wharf. Abraham Bradley, who, as Assistant Postmaster General, had charge of the r

ng it on the west side. For this purpose Thomas Jefferson helped by subscribing $75.00. In 1806 the trustees of the congregation were incorporated by Congress. They were: Stephen B. Balch, William Whann, James Melvin, John Maffitt, John Peter, Joshua Dawson, James Calder, George Thompson, Richard Elliott, David Wiley, and Andrew Ross. The first and only elder for some time

sbyteri

ts. Just beyond here, still on the north side where the two lovely old carved doorways remain unchanged, are the houses once owned by Henry Addison, who served as

en. He owned the line of omnibuses that ran along Bridge (M) Street and over to the

t it could be worked by both families. The water flowed smoothly until something caused a fuss between the two men, and one day,

hn Abbott, who came from Philadelphia wit

of the Corporation for sixty-seven years, fro

e that Major L'Enfant had his headquarters while he was mapping the new capital city. Then, someone said it had never been proved. So now w

arently, by inheritance, it came to Rachel Furvey (formerly Rachel Leyhman), and in June, 1767, by deed, it became the property of Cassandra Chew, who made it over to her two daughters, Harriot, who married Richard Bruce, and Mary, who first married

, this bank enabled the government to pay the war debt. It has now been absorbed by the Riggs National Bank and moved further up the street. Before the building of the bank, John Peter, a nephew of Robert Peter, had a house on that corne

nds the Georgetown post office, an imposing granite buildi

Baltimore County, he came to George Town, intending to go on to Richmond, but being so impressed with the thriving little town, he decided to settle here. He first rented a house on Congress (31st) Street below Bridge (M) from Robert Peter, and started a business in leath

s on the north si

ordon's Inspection House, and just west of here in 1791 were three large tobacco sheds co

aird. It was after his death in 1833 tha

mes Maccub

min S

h Fo

of the Capitol; the Octagon House, built by John Tayloe; of Tudor Place, and also

a market. Its upper stories used to be where the m

s the home of Pay

(M) Street, General James Maccubbin Lingan had a large piece of property. I wonder if t

wash house, meat house, carriage house, a stable for five horses, likewise a large and well cultivated garden and clover lot. He will also s

. Li

ative. In 1776 he was commissioned a lieutenant in the army. After the victory of the Battle of Long Island, he was captured at Fort Washington on November 16, 1776, his breast being pierced by a bayonet at that time. He was sent as a prisoner aboard the Jersey-the "Hell," as she was called. The conditions on boa

rank in the British Army if he would return to his former allegiance. Lingan's answer was, "I'll rot here first!" And he almost did! He was cooped up in a space so short that he cou

nd his cousin, Zachariah Hood was persona gratia at the Court of St. James. Also, the affiliations and connections of his family in Maryland made his defection greatl

named after battles in which he had participated-Harlem and Middlebrook. He also was appointed collector of

friends, and all was going well with him until the election year of 1812. General Lingan was a Federalist in politics. The party organ was The Feder

e a match set to a powder train. On Sunday, public meetings were held advocating the suppression of the paper, and on Monday, three or four

. This time the mob that gathered brought arms and ammunition. The twenty-seven gentlemen assembled in the office were also armed, "to defend the rights of person, and property, and the liberty of the press." At first only stones were used by the assailants, answered by volleys of blank cartridges. After scenes almost fantastic in fury, the gentlemen were finally overcome and marched to gaol for safety. But after dark another mob gathered round the gaol, and overcoming the guard, broke in. Mr. Gwynn pushed his way

h more like a stately home than a bank, and part of it was used as his home by William Whann, the cashier. Set far back on the hill, with columns on its fa?ade and a Gr

funds, and wanted a loan with which to dispatch General Andrew Jackson to New Orleans. Mr. Monroe pledged his own private fortune that the debt would be paid, and the money was tur

peace had come-for a Treaty of Peace had been signed on Christmas Eve,

the oldest houses in Georgetown and one of the most notable, for here Colonel Uriah Forrest was living in 1791 when on March 29th he gave that memor

ith shoulders of mutton and all the vegetables and hot breads and other delectable foods for which Maryland is famous-for Uriah Forrest, h

ntually retired for his permanent home. His descendants, the Greens, lived on at Rosedale until not so very many years ago. One of them, Mr. George Green, sold to President Cleveland, in his first administration, a stone c

am Ma

t had been a part of the Rosedale tract, and the house was built by Philip Barto

Plater also had moved out from George Town and lived near by. He was the executor for Philip Barton Key. After Mr. Key

nnection with his reappointment to the office that the controversy arose which resulted in the famous law case of Marbury versus Madison, as James Madison, in his capacity as Secretary of State to Thomas Jefferson, was the Madison inv

p Bar

ilip Ba

beth p

ency of Thomas B. Beall, from 1817-1821, became the third president, and the only one in the history of that institution to be promoted to that office. Not ma

ears ago, one of his great-grandsons heard the family talking about "Grandfather's Bourbon nose." A little later he was found standing, gaz

ns and six daughters. All of the daughters attended Miss English's Seminary, walking to and from school all winter wearing low-necked and short-sleeved dresses, covered only by a little cape. Not a case of poverty, I assure you, but of fa

upon playing a bass viol, a cello, a violin, and a flute; a few of the company standing near by with curls and puffed coiffures, and among them a tiny man, side-whiskered, so short that he barely reached the shoulders

baron immediately knocked Prince Iturbide down. The little prince sprang onto a sofa and bounced up and down, shouting over and over again, "He knocked an Iturbide down; he knocked an Iturbide down!" as if he e

ian wished to adopt her son, to which she gave her consent, but finding later tha

er the nearby bridge from Virginia at a dog-trot and dropped from exhaustion on the steps of this house and

e was, soldiers were sent to search the house. Mrs. Marbury had some letters from her nephews in the Confederate Army, and she hurriedly sewed them up in a chair, for she said the boys might be killed and she hated

state of preservation. Now it has gone! It was the home of the author of our National Anthem. Here Francis Scott Key lived for twenty

812, Mr. Key made the trip to Baltimore to see what he could do to help the old gentleman, who had done some very rash

ry, but was told by the captain that he would have to spend the night on board as a bombardment was about to take place. Imagine his sensations all th

Francis

days of his life at his profession or vocation, and some avocation, like verse-making, may carry his name down t

land at sunset, every day, troops stand immovable at attention while the emblem of their country is being lowered for the night, and the strains

d his dozen slaves in a terrible manner. His great-grandson has just come out with a refutation of such treatment and said that Mr. Key freed all of his slaves before his death in 1843 and that he was one of the founders of the America

is Sc

built about 1880, and before that, there was a bridge which carried the canal across the river to continue on its way to Alexandria. I cannot remember it, but I have been told that, looking across from t