An invoice of goods of earlier date sent by the same firm for the use of
George Washington contained 194 items. Wearing garments, ornaments for
the chimney place, busts, drugs, sugar, carpenter's and plowman's tools,
candy, a case of pickles containing anchovies, capers, olives, "salid
oyl" and a bottle of India mangoes; tea, harness, saddles, corks, six
pounds of perfumed powder, three pounds of the best Scotch snuff,
ribbons, gloves, sword belt, nine dozen packages of playing cards, paint
and brushes, one and one-half dozen bell glasses for the garden; one
mahogany closet stool case in the newest taste, with place for chamber
pot, etc.; soap, garden seeds, nuts and condiments, locks and two dozen
H&L hinges and three pounds of bird lime, were but a few of the items
listed.
In addition to his own orders, the General supervised the shopping for
the two Custis children and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Dandridge. Not only
were clothes and materials ordered, fine ivory combs, stockings, etc.,
but toys. Here is a selection made by the Cary firm--a child's fiddle, a
coach and six in a box, a stable with six horses, a toy whip, a filigree
watch, a neat enameled watch box, a corner cupboard and a child's huzzit
[housewife].
General Washington was a Virginia gentleman who lived in a fashion
similar to his neighbors; like orders, we may be sure, went from
Alexandria, and like articles were bought and received into its homes.
Perhaps the system was not always so direct, for the average townsman
doubtless relied more upon local merchants as agents. Washington
followed this course at various times, but until the American
Revolution he rather steadfastly depended upon Robert Cary & Company of
London.
With the growth of trade and population came the necessity for expansion
of the town, and we see the Assembly approving the petition of the
trustees and sundry inhabitants of the town of Alexandria in 1762,
"Praying that an Act may pass to enlarge the Bounds of the said
Town."[36] All lots save those in the marsh were then built upon.
On May 9, 1763, the trustees proceeded to sell the new lots, which had
been added by act of Assembly. The town property was enhancing in value
and for that reason the lots were sold with a twelve-month credit,
hoping to increase the sale value. Forty-six lots were disposed of,
among the purchasers being George Johnston, Robert Adam, Francis Lee,
John Dalton, John Carlyle, and George Washington, who at thirty-one
years of age became a _bona fide_ citizen of Alexandria. The town which
he had honored returned the compliment four years later when the city
fathers meeting on December 16, 1766, "proceeded to elect as Trustee in
the room of George Johnston, decd, and have unanimously chosen George
Washington, Esq., as Trustee for the town aforesaid."[37]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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