my land there: This plot of about 1,200 acres on Four Mile Run, bought by GW in 1775, lay about four miles north of Alexandria on the road to Leesburg. It had been losing timber to trespassers for years, and GW particularly suspected the owners of adjoining lands, among whom were Capt. William Henry Terrett, Jr. (d. 1826), and John Luke (see entry for 27 Jan. 1775; STETSON [1] description begins Charles W. Stetson. Four Mile Run Land Grants. Washington, D.C., 1935. description ends , 57–59, 72–73, 78–79). Terrett was the son of William Henry and Margaret Pearson Terrett. Luke was the son of the John Luke who bought this 330–acre tract in 1773 from Mrs. Susanna Pearson Alexander, daughter of the original patentee, Simon Pearson (STETSON [1] description begins Charles W. Stetson. Four Mile Run Land Grants. Washington, D.C., 1935. description ends , 78–79).

Col. Charles Little and William Adams both owned land adjoining GW’s land being surveyed this day. William Adams (1723–1809), son of Gabriel Adams, Sr. (d. 1750), and Priscilla Pearson Adams, had served as a colonel of militia, vestryman of Truro Parish, justice of the peace, and sheriff of Fairfax County. His home, Church Hill, adjoined GW’s land on the southwest. Adams was an early Methodist convert, and his home was headquarters for Bishop Francis Asbury when he was traveling in the area (steadman [2], 223–24).

mrs. washington of h: Elizabeth Foote Washington of Hayfield.

Dr. Robert H. Wade had been to Mount Vernon three times during March and April to attend sick slaves (Wade’s account with GW, 13 Mar.—12 April 1799, PU: Early American Letters).

John Tayloe (1771–1828) was one of the most notable owners of racehorses in Virginia at the turn of the century. He divided his time between his family home, Mount Airy, in Richmond County and his town house—the Octagon House—built for him in the Federal City.

genl. o’donald: probably John O’Donnell (died c.1805), eldest son of John O’Donnell (1715–1780) of County Clare in Ireland. O’Donnell ran away from home as a young man and became bookkeeper to the captain of an East Indiaman. He later amassed a fortune while in the employment of the East India Company but was robbed of most of it on his way back to Europe. O’Donnell became master and owner of a merchant ship trading between Bombay and Baltimore and brought the first direct importation of goods from Canton to Baltimore in 1785. He settled in Baltimore probably about 1780 and became colonel of the 27th Regiment of militia and a member of the Maryland legislature. His estate, Canton, was near Baltimore (BURKE [1] description begins L. G. Pine, ed. Burke’s Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland. 4th ed. London, 1958. description ends , 533; Otho Holland Williams Papers description begins Maryland Historical Records Survey Project. Calendar of the General Otho Holland Williams Papers in the Maryland Historical Society. Baltimore, 1940. description ends , 135n; GW to O’Donnell, 4 Sept. 1797, NN: Washington Papers).

Mr. Oliver is probably either John Oliver or Robert Oliver (c.1757–1834), both of whom were merchants in Baltimore.

b. heppesley coxe: probably John Francis Buller Hippisley Coxe of Stone Easton, Somerset, Eng. He was the son of James Buller of Devon and his wife, Mary Hippisley Coxe Buller, of Somerset. In 1793 Young Buller by royal license had assumed the surnames of Hippisley Coxe (BURKE [2] description begins Peter Townend, ed. Burke’s Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry. 3 vols. London, 1965–72. description ends , 3:459).

mr. vanstapherst: probably a connection of the Amsterdam banking firm of Nicholaas and Jacob Van Staphorst. The Van Staphorst brothers, in connection with the Amsterdam firm of Jan and Wilhem Willink and a third partner, Nicholas Hubbard, had acted as the bankers of the United States in Amsterdam during the Confederation and early federal period. mr. lear: On 18 Mar. Dr. William Thornton wrote GW from the Federal City: “Col. Lear complained of one of his Legs very much. I examined & found it in a very bad state, but promised if he would stay with me for a week to attempt to render him some Service” (DLC: William Thornton Papers). On 24 April Thornton wrote GW: “we lament exceedingly the relapse of our Friend Colonel Lear and wish he could have staid a little longer with us; but I must own he is in some respects not a very patient Patient” (DLC:GW).

George Peter (1779–1861), youngest brother of Thomas Peter of Georgetown, had come to Mount Vernon soliciting a commission in the provisional army. GW wrote him a recommendation, describing “the young Gentleman . . . [as] likely, well grown, and of good behaviour,” and added, “all of the family of them are warm Federalists” (GW to James McHenry, 1 Feb. 1799 and 24 April 1799, DLC:GW). After participating in western exploration in the early years of the nineteenth century, Peter returned to Maryland, settling in Georgetown and Montgomery County, where he represented his district in Congress as a Democrat (Ecker, Old George Town description begins Grace Dunlop Ecker. A Portrait of Old George Town. Richmond, Va., 1951. description ends , 150–51).

from the district: GW voted for Henry (Light Horse Harry) Lee, who won election to the United States House of Representatives for the Sixth Congress, which was the only term he served. Three weeks after the first session opened, on 26 Dec. 1799, Lee spoke for the whole Congress on the death of GW and reminded his fellow Americans that while GW was “First in war—first in peace—and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life” (Annals of Congress description begins Joseph Gales, Sr., comp. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States; with an Appendix, Containing Important State Papers and Public Documents, and All the Laws of a Public Nature. 42 vols. Washington, D.C., 1834–56. description ends , 6th Cong., 1310). from the county: Richard Bland Lee and Thomas Swann were elected to the Virginia House of Delegates from Fairfax County.

Although GW mentions no one else as being present this day, he had met all of the major owners of the lands adjoining his Four Mile Run land at the election in Alexandria (24 April). At that meeting, GW later wrote, “all the parties . . . engaged to meet me at the beginning Corner . . . by nine o’clock” on this morning to “ascertain all the Corners and . . . re-mark any of the lines” around GW’s 1200–acre plot (GW to Ludwell Lee, 26 April 1799, DLC:GW; and see entry for 3 April 1799).