William Hunter, Jr. (1731–1792), a Scottish-born merchant of Alexandria, carried on extensive trade with London and Liverpool. He was a member of GW’s Masonic lodge and mayor of the city 1788–90 (BROCKETT description begins F. L. Brockett. The Lodge of Washington. A History of the Alexandria Washington Lodge, No. 22, A.F. and A.M. of Alexandria, Va., 1783-1876. Alexandria, Va., 1876. description ends , 95; POWELL description begins Mary G. Powell. The History of Old Alexandria, Virginia: From July 13, 1749 to May 24, 1861. Richmond, 1928. description ends , 237, 361).

Joseph Hadfield (1759–1851), a member of the Manchester firm of Hadfield & Co., was one of a host of British agents who came to America after the Revolution to try to collect pre-Revolutionary debts owed to their firms by American merchants (HADFIELD description begins Douglas S. Robertson, ed. An Englishman in America, 1785: Being the Diary of Joseph Hadfield. Toronto, 1933. description ends , v—vii).

Samuel Smith (1752–1839) served in the Continental Army 1775–79 and was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 4th Maryland Regiment in 1777. After the war, Smith returned to his father’s mercantile house in Baltimore, becoming a prosperous trader and land speculator.

Mr. Dawson was possibly George Dawson, a friend of Hadfield who had served under Banastre Tarleton during the Revolution as a captain in the King’s Orange Rangers, a Loyalist company. He accompanied Hadfield on some of his travels through the colonies (SABINE description begins Lorenzo Sabine. Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution. 2 vols. 1864. Reprint. Baltimore, 1979. description ends , 2:504; WRIGHT description begins Louis B. Wright and Marion Tinling, eds. Quebec to Carolina in 1785–1786: Being the Travel Diary and Observations of Robert Hunter, Jr., a Young Merchant of London. San Marino, Calif., 1943. description ends , 131, 137).