Monday 13th. Mercury at 39 in the morning—47 at Noon and 46 at Night.
Morning clear and cool, the Wind being fresh at No. West. Towards the afternoon the wind veered round (backed) to the Southward and in the evening lulled.
Rid to all the Plantations—getting up Hogs for feeding at all. Finished sowing and harrowing in Rye at Dogue run & began to gather Corn in the Neck and at the Ferry for lofting.
Agreed to let the Widow Alton have the House used for a School by my Mill if the School should be discontinued and
Told James Bloxham, my Farmer, who was about to write to England for his Wife & family, and who proposed the measure that he might write to one Caleb Hall a Neighbour of his in Gloucestershire (who had expressed a desire to come to this Country, and who he said was a compleat Wheel Wright, Waggon builder, and Plow & Hurdle maker) that I wd. give him 25 Guineas a year for his Services (if he paid his own passage to this Country) the first year, and if I found he answered my purposes, & we liked each other, that I might give him 30 guineas the next yr. and held out encouragemt. if he chose to work for himself, that I would provide him with some place to live at—Whilst with me that he should be found in Provisions, Washing & lodging.
widow alton: Mrs. Elizabeth Alton was the widow of GW’s old servant John Alton, who had died the previous year (see entry for 4 Dec. 1785).
James Bloxham noted, in a letter of 12 Nov. 1786 to his former employer William Peacey, that he had sent for his wife and two daughters to join him at Mount Vernon, while his two sons were to remain in England to obtain an education. Bloxham’s former neighbor, Caleb Hall, eventually decided against emigrating (Peacey to GW, 2 Feb. 1787, DLC:GW; GW to Peacey, 16 Nov. 1786, PHi, and 7 Jan. 1788, ViMtvL).