Sunday 22d. Mercury at 48 in the Morning—59 at Noon and 56 at Night.
Clear and pleasant with but little wind.
The Honble. Wm. Drayton and Mr. Walter Izard came here to dinner and stayed all Night. Mr. Rumney, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Wilson & Mr. Porter also came here to dinner all of whom except the first went away after it.
William Drayton (1732–1790), of Charleston, S.C., was the son of Thomas Drayton, prominent in political circles in that colony. Before the Revolution Drayton practiced law in South Carolina and was chief justice of East Florida. He spent part of the war in England. After his return to South Carolina in 1780, Drayton served as judge of the admiralty court, associate justice of the state supreme court, and in 1789 became the first judge of the United States court for the district of South Carolina.
Drayton began corresponding with GW on 23 Nov. 1785 when he informed GW that the South Carolina Society for Promoting and Improving Agriculture and Other Rural Concerns had elected him its first honorary member (DLC:GW). At the time of this visit to Mount Vernon, Drayton and Izard were en route to South Carolina from New York.
Walter Izard (c.1750–1788) was a son of Ralph Izard (1717–1761), of Berkeley County, S.C., and cousin of Ralph Izard (1742–1804), the revolutionary diplomat. During the Revolution Walter Izard served as a volunteer in the Continental Army. In 1779 he married Mary Fenwick, the second daughter of Edward Fenwick.