[Diary entry: 1 January 1787]

[Monday 1st.] Mercury at 55 in the Morning—67 at Noon and 58 at Night.

But little wind and that southerly—very warm. Morning foggey—flying vapour rather than a standing fog.

Went to the Plantation of Jno. Robinson to have his Stock of Horses & Cattle appraised to me. Colo. McCarty on my part and Mr. Lund Washington on his valued them—as follow

A Black (or dark brown) Mare about 14 hands high—no white but a long switch tail and supposed to be 9 years old.

With a sorrel horsecolt of last spring—a long narrow blaze—a little white on the upper lip and 2 White hind feet

A Bla. Mare. No white except a few gray hairs on her nose abt. 13½ hands high 6 yrs. old

A bla. horse colt—last Spring no white but a small snip on the nose

A Sorrel Mare blazed face off hind foot white abt. 14 hands high 7 years old

A Sorrel Mare colt. 1 year old—blaze in the face

A Sorrel horse Colt of this Spring blaze in the face white rd. the hoofs both hers

A Sorrel Stallion—a blaze face—2 hind feet & off fore foot white—13½ hds. high & 6 years old

A Sorrel horse with a kd. of blaze & snip in one 2 hind feet white—Thin & badly made. 13½ hds. high and 7 years old

A Dark bay horse (Stallion) one hind foot near one white—4 next Spg. 13½ hands high.

A Sorrel two years old horse Colt—long Star & white Nose

11. in all amountg. to

£44

.10

—

Cattle

1 Brindle Bull. 3 yrs. next Sprg.

1 Red		Oxen
1 Brindle & pied

—

1 Brindle & White Steer unbroke

—

1 Bla. Cow—White Belly—& red Yearlg. Bull Calf

—

1 Bla. Cow & bla. Bull Calf

—

1 Brindle Cow & brind. B. Calf

—

1 Red Cow & pied bull Calf

—

1 Brindle Cow with white belly & red calf with wh. belly

—

1 Brindle hiefer with calf

—

15 head in all amt.

£42

.10

11 horses as above

.10

Total

£87

For the payment of the Sum on the other side viz. £87 I passed my Certificate payable to Mrs. French.

Besides the above 20 bushls. of Wheat sowed on the Plantation, and putting it in, was valued by the aforementioned Gentlemen at 7/6 pr. Bushel; for [ ] Bushels I am to pay Thos. Pool.

It being wet where James Lawson was ditching, I ordered him to quit & go to that part where he had left off the [ ] of Decr. last & to continue that ditch up to the road by the bridge.

Began to Plow in Field No. 1 at Dogue run to day 4 plows for Barley &ca. & to prepare the fencing for field No. 4. at the same place.

Also begun with the Muddy hole people to Hoe the ground on the right of the road (going out) at the Home House for Corn.

Colo. McCarty and Mr. Lund Washington came home with me to dinner. Found the wife of the latter & Colo. White and a Mr. West the two last of whom stayed all Night. The rest went away in the evening.

Jno. robinson: John Robertson. horses & cattle appraised to me: GW’s agreement with Robertson on 24 Oct. 1786 had specified that GW would buy Robertson’s horses and cattle at an appraised price and pay the sum to Mrs. French. Robertson in turn would be exonerated from part of the rent owed to her (DLC:GW). thos. pool: GW may mean Peter Pool, who had relinquished his tenant house to Robertson (see entry for 24 Oct. 1786). Both Thomas and Peter Pool appear in the 1785 Virginia tax census in the same Fairfax County tax list (HEADS OF FAMILIES, VA. description begins Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Virginia; Records of the State Enumerations, 1782 to 1785. 1908. Reprint. Baltimore, 1970. description ends , 85). GW’s opinion of the Pool family, which in 1794 was living on land near his mill, was that “a more worthless set are no where to be found” (GW to William Pearce, 14 Dec. 1794, DLC:GW).

Anthony Walton White (1750–1803), of New Jersey, often called Walton White, was the son of Anthony and Elizabeth Morris White, daughter of Gov. Lewis Morris of New Jersey. White was privately educated and before the Revolution assisted his father in the management of the family’s considerable estates. During the Revolution he served as a lieutenant colonel and colonel in various New Jersey regiments. From 1788 to 1793 White resided in New York and attempted to recoup his finances, depleted by wartime expenditures and unsuccessful business ventures, through applications for a government post (White to GW, 1 May and 22 Sept. 1789, DLC:GW). In 1793 he returned to New Jersey.

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Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: [Diary entry: 1 January 1787]
Author: Washington, George
Date: 1 January 1787

Reference

Cite as: “[Diary entry: 1 January 1787],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/01-05-02-0002-0001-0001. [Original source: The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 5, 1 July 1786 – 31 December 1789, ed. Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1979, pp. 87–89.]