Wednesday 23d. Thermometer at 48 in the Morng. 54 at Noon and [ ] at Night.
Clear, warm, and pleasant, with the Wind at South.
Finished all the Brick work of my Ice House today.
Miss Kitty Washington, Genl. Lincoln, Colonels Hooe & Lyles, Mr. Porter, Captn. Goodwin, Doctr. Swift, Mr. Potts, Mr. Dalby, Mr. Monshur Mr. Williams, Mr. Philips & a Mr. Cramer or Cranmur came here to Dinner and all of them returned in the evening except Kitty Washington.
Sent Mr. Shaw through Alexandria, to agree for the Schooling & Board of my Nephews George & Lawrence Washington now at the Academy at George Town & thence to the latter place to conduct them to the former for the purpose of going to School at the Alexandria Academy.
William Lyles, a merchant from Charles County, Md., who had moved to Alexandria c.1782, had a distillery and a dry goods store there and rented the house formerly owned by George W. Fairfax on Prince Street (Va. Journal, 10 June 1784, 30 Nov. 1786; , 87–92).
Capt. Nash Goodwin of the ship Mary was a cousin of Thomas Porter and nephew of Josiah Watson. His ship was due to leave for Le Havre, France, on 10 Dec. (Va. Journal, 1 Dec. 1785; , 190).
Dr. Foster Swift, of Massachusetts, settled in Alexandria to practice medicine (Va. Journal, 7 July 1785). He later moved to New London, Conn., and eventually became resident physician on Governors Island in New York harbor ( , 128). Swift was the brother of the Alexandria merchant Jonathan Swift and a friend of Benjamin Lincoln, who introduced him to GW on this day ( , 92, 96).
Mr. Williams is probably Thomas Williams, an Englishman and a partner in the Alexandria firm of Williams, Cary & Williams, which sold European and East Indian goods. In 1784 the business moved from Capt. John Harper’s wharf to Fairfax Street, next to Robert Lyle’s store (Va. Journal, 3 June and 4 Nov. 1784).
, 191; , 19;The Alexandria academy was formed in 1785 through the efforts of Dr. William Brown and other Alexandria residents. In November, GW became a trustee of the academy.