7. Set out for home with Betcey Dandridge. Dined at King Wm. Court Ho. & lodgd at Mr. Wm. Ayletts.
betcey: Elizabeth Dandridge (b. 1749), the younger of Mrs. Washington’s two sisters who reached adulthood. In 1773 she married William Aylett’s brother John.
The “publick house” at King William Court House was described in 1777 as being “72 feet by 20 with a portico the whole length, there are 4 rooms below and 4 above, with 4 closets on a floor” (Va. Gaz., D&H, 26 Dec. 1777). The tavern was leased to various innkeepers by its owners, the Quarles family of King William County.
William Aylett (1743–c.1781) of Fairfield, King William County, which county he represented as a burgess 1772–75 and in all five of the Virginia Conventions 1774–76, was appointed in 1776 deputy commissary for the Continental Army, serving until his death.