11. A thick heavy fog all day but no rain till night, when it began to rain very fast. Mer. at 50. Mr. Keith &ca. went away & Mrs. Ratcliff & Son came to Dinner.
mrs. ratcliff: may be either Louisiana (Lucian) Bowling Ratcliff, wife of Richard Ratcliff (Ratcliffe; c.1750–1825), or her daughter-in-law, the wife of Richard’s son John Ratcliff (b. 1766). Richard Ratcliff was a justice and coroner of Fairfax County, served as a commissioner of the tax, and was deputy sheriff for Fairfax. John Ratcliff was a merchant in Alexandria.