The letters of Washington show that the builder of Mount Airy was an ardent patriot, and his friend and associate. These two men were joint executors of the estate of one of the Lees. From his headquarters in the Craigie House at Cambridge the General wrote to Mount Airy a letter about the estate, asking Tayloe to become sole executor. The varied interests of Colonel Tayloe were indicated by his remarkable will, which asked, among other things, that one part of his estate in Prince William County, Virginia, and Baltimore County, Maryland, be kept intact and worked for the making of pig iron. Not only did he own a number of other plantations, but he was a large shipowner, and reaped unusual profits from trade. Perhaps the best known owner of Mount Airy was John Tayloe, III, who was born in 1771, and was the only son in a family of twelve. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, England. Before going abroad he had learned patriotism from his father, and on his return he was ready to administer his estate for the benefit of the country as well as his own family. When his inheritance was turned over to him the income was sixty thousand dollars. Within a few years he increased this to seventy-five thousand dollars. His father's iron- and ship-building interests were conserved and enlarged. His master ship-builder at Occoquon was his slave Reuben. During his residence at Mount Airy the splendor of the mansion was increased. Among his guests were men who had stood shoulder to shoulder with Washington during the Revolution, and those who later became prominent as associates of Hamilton, Jay, Marshall, and Pinckney. He married the daughter of Governor Ogle of Maryland, and had fifteen children. The memorial by one of his sons, Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, says that "his manners were refined and elegant. He was distinguished for his nice sense of honor, and a scrupulous regard to his word at all times. His wife was esteemed for sincerity and kindness of heart, graceful and dignified manners, and true and unaffected piety." He took time for the services of his country. As Captain of Dragoons he went to Western Pennsylvania, to help put down the whiskey insurrection. When President Adams made him a Major of Dragoons, General Washington wrote to him a warm letter of congratulation, but Tayloe hesitated to accept the commission. He had just been elected as a Federalist to the Virginia Senate, and he feared, as he wrote to Washington, that if he resigned his seat the place would be filled by an opponent of the administration. On February 12, 1799, Washington replied that he was inclined to believe his civil service would be more important than military service, but he asked that decision be delayed until they could have a personal interview. Later, on the breaking out of the War of 1812, he was made commander of the cavalry of the District of Columbia, and saw active service.