Transcription
12
THE MANASSAS MESSENGER,
Friday, April 29, 1949
OLD LEDGER RICH IN HISTORY
OF HISTORIC DUMFRIES
The following account, by R.
W. Merchant, appeared in the
Richmond News Leader in 1910
- Editor's Note
At the head of Quantico Creek
in Prince William County, Va.,
is situated the town of Dumfries.
Replete with landmarks
and buildings of colonial days,
it claims to have been the first
incorporated town in the state,
and next in age of settlement to
Jamestown.
It was one of the original
ports of entry and the chief
tobacco mart of Northern Virginia
in the seventeenth century.
In the latter part of the
century, the town boasted of
a banking institution, a theatre
and numerous manufacturing
industries.
Quantico Creek, a tributary of
the Potomac, was at that time
navigable for vessels as far as
Quantico Mills, at which point
large quantities of grain from
the fertile fields of Virginia, into
flour for the English market.
The stream which bore large
vessels, with full sails to the
breeze to this mill, is now inadequate
for the navigation of
a small row boat.
From an old day book and
ledger of Richard Dunlop, ancestor
of the Dunlops of Richmond,
and which is now owned
and carefully preserved by L.
E. Merchant, a resident of the
old town, it is shown that considerable
business was done at
Dumfries with the towns of Alexandria
and Portsmouth.
In these books are also recorded
purchases of George Washington
before he became president
of the United States. Under
date of Jan. 19, 1787, are entered
to the debit of George
Washington: "Four yards superfine
black cloth, one-half dozen
large and two dozen small
leather-head buttons, four
keins of silk, four sticks of
[twist?], one fourth yard buckram
and three dozen thread, amounting
to [?]7. 2s.
It has been handed down from
generation to generation that
the foregoing articles of purchase
were converted into the
[?oat?] which General Washington
wore when he presided over
the constitutional convention in
Philadelphia in the month of
May following. In the same day
book are recorded purchases of
Henry Washington and Bailey
Washington. One entry against
the latter is for thirty gallons
of rum, amounting to [?]6 15s and
an extra charge of 7s 6d for
container.
The ledger referred to does
not show a single unsettled
account, and only one with a
debit of footing of 116 4s is
balanced by a loss [?]1 8s 8d.
The balance amount in the back
of the ledger shows a net gain
at the time of closing of [?]11,394
17s 4d.
In this ledger are recorded
amounts against John Farront,
Cedar Run; Richard Blow,
Portsmouth; Thomas Burroughs,
Freerick Couty; John and Har-
Alexandria; James Reid, William
Pickett, George Farrow,
Fredrick County; John and Harrison
Hooe and Landon Carter.
In the old church yard, on the
outskirts of the town, lie buried
the ancestors, no doubt, of those
who have risen to the highest
pinnacle of fame in managing
and conducting the affairs of
church and state. In this silent
and ancient city of the dead, and
in the shadow of the little Episcopal
church, erected upon the
foundation of the old colonial
church, in which Washington often
worshipped, were laid to
rest the ancestors of the Vanderbilts.
Upon one of the moss-covered
tomb-stones is inscribed
the name of Richard Dunlop,
Greek professor of Glasgow,
Scotland, who died Dec. 21, 1739,
at the age of eighty-two years.
This history reveals, was the
eminent father of the merchant
from whose books of account
we have quoted.
In 1822 the county seat was
removed from Dumfries to
Brentsville, and in the spring
of 1837 a fire swept over the
town, destroying the principal
places of business, the tobacco
warehouses, the theatre, bank
and Masonic Temple. This great
destruction was a blow from
which the town never recovered.
It marked the beginning of its
downward march to what is
now a small village, nestling at
the foot of neighboring hills; but
numbered in the population of
the old town and vicinity are
some of the best and most hospitable
people in the county.
DUMFRIES
NOTES
THE ORIGINAL Jail House
key from the old Dumfries Town
Jail is in the possession of Mrs.
Warfield Brawner, of Dumfries.
They key, now rusted, is over six
inches in length. Once owned
by Luther E. Merchant it survived
the disastrous fire which
wrecked much of the remains of
the old town on January 14,
1927.
THOUGH ONCE the chief port
in America, the Business half
of Dumfries now consists only
of six tourist homes and three
general stores.
BUT THE FUTURE looks
bright, with the new Virginia
Electric And Power Company's
multi-million dollar Possum
Point power plant situated nearby.
To house plant employees,
a 25-unit housing development
is under way in the "Rose Hill"
section of Dumfries.
THE SPEEDY decline of the
port of Dumfries from its glory
of the late eighteenth and early'
nineteenth centuries can be realized
by the fact that seventy
five years ago only three general
stores remained - the proprietors
being George M. Ratcliffe,
Luther E. Merchant and
Robert King.
We Salute
DUMFRIES
on its
200th
ANNIVERSARY
A MILESTONE IN
PRINCE WILLIAM
COUNTY HISTORY
NATIONWIDE
GROCERY
Sticks Bourne, Prop.
Quantico, Va.
Congratulations
TO DUMFRIES
ON ITS
BI-CENTENNIAL
TRIANGLE - DUMFRIES
VOLUNTEER
FIRE
DEPARTMENT
TRIANGLE - DUMFRIES
HOME
DEMONSTRATION
CLUB
Congratulation To Dumfries
(Site Of Possum Plant)
On Its
1749 Bi-Centennial 1949
MORE ELECTRIC POWER
FOR VEPCOLAND!
THE FIRST unit in the $100,000,000 five-year
construction program on the
Vepco System - the new 60,000 Kw. Possum Point power station, on the
Potomac River near Quantico, Va. - has just just been completed and is now "on
the line." This is one of six projects embraced
in the current construction
program. The others to follow are -
...An addition to the CHESTERFIELD
station, below Richmond, 60,000 Kw. capacity,
for completion in September, 1949;
...An addition to the BREMO station on
the James River above Richmond, 60,000
Kw. capacity, for completion in 1950;
...An addition to REEVES AVENUE
station in Norfolk, 40,000 Kw. capacity, for
completion in 1951; and
...An addition to the recently completed
POSSUM POINT station of identical capacity
as the original installation, 60,000
Kw., for completion in 1951, is now under
consideration.
Also, Vepco has applied for a Federal
license to construct a hydro-electric
station on the Roanoke River near Roanoke
Rapids, N. C., at a cost of approximately
$19,000,000. Construction is expected to
begin promptly and completion is scheduled
for 1952. The contract has already
been let, subject to the license being granted
by the Federal Power Commission. When
completed, this station should add an addi-
More electric power is bringing more industrial
progress and more prosperity and comfortable
living to more people throughout
Vepcoland.
VEPCO
VIRGINIA ELECTRIC
AND POWER COMPANYTranscriber
Adam KitchenLanguage
English