Wednesday 16th. Mercury at 26 in the morng.—27 at Noon and 33 at Night.
Ground very hard froze & air Sharp from the No. West all day which prevented any movement of Earth.
About 1 Oclock a Mr. Alexander Donald came here introduced by a letter from Govr. Henry.
Alexander Donald was a Richmond merchant who often acted for Robert Morris in business matters. He had been for many years an intimate friend of Thomas Jefferson (
, 12:132, 347). GW did business with Donald over a period of several years, probably on behalf of the Custis estate. For a brief time after 1789, Donald was in London as a partner in the firm of Donald & Burton, which failed in 1793 ( , 15:619, n.3).