[Diary entry: 23 July 1786]

Sunday 23d. Mercury at 74 in the Morning—80 at Noon and 80 at Night.

Clear & pleasant till about 4 Oclock, when the wind whh. had been pretty fresh from the So. West died away and it turned warm.

Mr. Powell, Mr. Porter, and Miss Ramsay & Miss Craik came here to breakfast (from Alexa.) and returned again after Dinner.

Mr. Powell is probably William H. Powell (d. 1802), eldest son of GW’s old friend Col. Leven Powell of Loudoun County. Young Powell studied law with Charles Simms of Alexandria and in April 1786 had just opened a general merchandise store, William H. Powell & Co., on Fairfax Street. Powell moved back to a farm in Loudoun County a few years later and drowned in 1802 while crossing the Shenandoah River (POWELL [2] description begins Robert C. Powell, ed. A Biographical Sketch of Col. Leven Powell, including His Correspondence during the Revolutionary War. Alexandria, Va., 1877. description ends , 7; 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 , 107; Va. Journal, 20 April 1786).

Miss Ramsay is probably Sarah (Sally) Ramsay, daughter of William Ramsay. She and Thomas Porter were married in 1788.

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Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: [Diary entry: 23 July 1786]
Author: Washington, George
Date: 23 July 1786

Reference

Cite as: “[Diary entry: 23 July 1786],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/01-05-02-0001-0001-0023. [Original source: The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 5, 1 July 1786 – 31 December 1789, ed. Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1979, p. 14.]