George Washington Papers

[Diary entry: 3 May 1762]

3. Mr. Daingerfields Negro Bricklayer Guy came here to work.

Three William Daingerfields were living in Virginia in 1762, all of whom GW knew. Col. William Daingerfield (d. 1769), of Greenfield, Essex County, whom GW had visited in 1752 as he was traveling home from Barbados, had a son and a nephew, both named William. The son William Daingerfield (d. 1781), of Coventry and Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, had served with GW as ensign and lieutenant in the Virginia Regiment and continued in service until the regiment was disbanded in 1762. The nephew William Daingerfield (d. 1783), of New Kent, was a first cousin to Burwell Bassett and lived in the Eltham neighborhood until about 1770, when he removed to Belvidera, just south of Fredericksburg (see RILEY [1] description begins Edward Miles Riley, ed. The Journal of John Harrower: An Indentured Servant in the Colony of Virginia, 1773-1776. Williamsburg, Va., 1963. description ends , 172). GW hired Guy for £30 per year plus room and board and billed Daingerfield for Guy’s clothing. Guy remained in GW’s service until Oct. 1763.

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