Seaport in Virginia Part 25

Dr. Fairfax has returned to Alexandria, and is ready to resume the practice of his profession in the town and its neighborhood. His office is at the N.W. corner of Pitt and Cameron Streets.

Dr. Fairfax in his late absence of five months, has been constantly engaged at Philadelphia in increasing his medical acquirements.

[1831]

Dr. Fairfax has returned to Alexandria and is ready to resume the practice of his profession. He has, during his late absence from Alexandria, witnessed many cases of the epidemic cholera. [1832]

In 1829 Dr. Fairfax had married Mary Randolph Cary, daughter of Wilson Jefferson Cary. They had nine children.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Arch and staircase in the Yeaton-Fairfax House]

In a deed of April 14, 1864, the fact is revealed that this property was condemned according to an act of Congress in 1862 "to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion to seize and confiscate property of Rebels and for other purposes."[184] It further records that on the preceding day, April 13, 1864, Gouverneur Morris, attorney for Patsy J. Morris, of Westchester County, New York, purchased for four thousand dollars, he being the highest bidder therefor, all the right, t.i.tle, interest and estate of Dr. Orlando Fairfax.

Gouverneur Morris was a brother-in-law of Dr. Orlando Fairfax, and while living in France sent the Fairfaxes from the palace at Versailles a very large and elegant mirror which hung in the drawing room, filling one of the alcoves from floor to ceiling. This mirror is still in existence and in the possession of Dr. Fairfax's granddaughter, Mrs. Donald MacCrea.

Mrs. Burton Harrison in her _Recollections, Grave and Gay_, relates the wartime experiences of her uncle and his family who were forced to seek refuge in Richmond, of their sufferings and privations, and of the death of the young son of the family, Randolph, barely twenty, killed in action in mid-December 1862.

During the years of Fairfax occupancy, this mansion was one of the social and cultural centers of the town; the Fairfaxes were the important n.o.ble family of the "upper reaches of the Potomac." They intermarried with the Carlyles, Was.h.i.+ngtons, Herberts, and Carys. Their contribution to Alexandria cannot be overrated, for in their personal lives and public service, they set an example of chivalry and courage.

They have been distinguished by handsome men and beautiful women, by gentleness and courtly bearing. They have had great wealth and used it generously; have lost great wealth and borne it n.o.bly. The family is represented in England today by Thomas Brian, Thirteenth Lord Fairfax, great-great-grandson of Thomas, Ninth Lord Fairfax.

Let us return to William Yeaton, builder of the mansion on Cameron Street. It is of vital interest that he was the designer and contractor for the inclosure of the Tomb of the _Pater Patriae_.[185] The archives at Mount Vernon contribute a number of papers dealing with this construction. Here is the proposal which Yeaton addressed to Major Lawrence Lewis, of Woodlawn, General Was.h.i.+ngton's nephew and the executor who supervised the work:

Alex April 4th 1835.

Dear Sir

I have sent you a sketch of the wall & have antic.i.p.ated a _Gate_ way on one of the sides which I expect will be necessary.

If you wish the Gate, one something like the sketch will be appropriate, you may have the gate made solid--or open as you prefer, to releive the dead wall, between the arch and copen there may be placed a slab of stone 4 Feet long & one foot wide, or a pannell may be formed in the wall.

I will engage to have the wall erected and find all materials, say Forty Five Feet square, ten Feet high, from the bottom of the foundation, which is to be two Bricks thick 2 feet high, the peirs to continue the same thickness to the copen, the pannells between the piers to be one brick & one half thick, the copen to be formed with best Brick three courses above the square--the Gateway & Gate similar to the sketch the work to be well done, & materials of the best quality--For Six hundred dollars,--

Very respectfully Your Obed Servt

W. YEATON

This addition was completed by the end of the year at a cost just slightly in excess of the original six-hundred-dollar estimate. Designed primarily as a protective wall to inclose the burial vault built in 1831, it contributed an appropriate architectural character to the tomb lot. The Gothic arch of the completed entrance was in sympathy with a funereal scene enhanced by willowlike foliage observable in certain views of the period.

Alterations were made in 1837 which created a vestibule between the vault and the outer wall and gateway constructed by William Yeaton. It is not known whether Yeaton again partic.i.p.ated in the construction. It was in 1837 that the bodies of General and Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton were removed from this closed vault behind and permanently entombed in marble sarcophagi, which the visitor views today in the outer chamber at Mount Vernon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: William Yeaton, builder and "undertaker" (architect) of Alexandria. By Saint Memin. (_Courtesy Corcoran Gallery of Art_)]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Chapter 25

The La Fayette-Lawrason-Cazenove House

[301 South St. Asaph Street. Owners: Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Wallack.]

The presence of La Fayette was nothing new to Alexandria, yet his official visit in 1824, as the nation's guest, created a turmoil in the town. As soon as the news was received of his arrival in New York (it took two days to reach Alexandria) Captain A. William's company of artillery arose before dawn to fire a national salute at sunrise, and at noon the same company fired seventy-six rounds. During the day the harbor presented the spectacle of all s.h.i.+ps displaying their flags at masthead. When the Marquis reached Baltimore, on October 8, representatives from the Alexandria city council were on hand to extend an invitation (in the form of an address) to visit the town, which the distinguished visitor was pleased to accept.

He was met on the south side of the Potomac River on the 16th by that same Captain Williams and his company, firing a salvo in salute, and was addressed in a "neat and handsome" manner by General Jones and suite.

He "then entered a splendid barouche, drawn by four fine grays, with postilions dressed in white with blue sashes," and thus was escorted by a company of cavalry under the command of Captain Andrews and a civilian escort led by Captain James Carson, dressed in blue "with sashes of the same color." To this splendor add marines, fire companies, the Alexandria Battalion (1,500 men) all saluting, firing salvos, presenting arms--two bands playing, reception committees, constant alighting from and entering the barouche, and you have some idea of the excitement as the procession pa.s.sed under the triumphal arch spanning Was.h.i.+ngton Street.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Left_: Thomas Lawrason, builder, and the first owner of the La Fayette House.

_Right_: Mrs. Thomas Lawrason _nee_ Elizabeth Carson]

This arch was a masterpiece. It has been described by Benjamin Hallowell in his _Autobiography_ and by the _Alexandria Gazette_ at the time, and memories of it linger in old tales told in many homes. Built in three sections, a large arch spanned the street, with smaller ones the sidewalks. The columns were decorated with portraits of Was.h.i.+ngton and La Fayette. n.o.ble and patriotic sentiments were inscribed: "Welcome La Fayette--A Nation's Grat.i.tude Thy Due"--"For a Nation to be Free, it is Sufficient that she wills it." A fully rigged s.h.i.+p hung beneath the central span, and the whole was decorated with cedar, laurel and oak, set off by a Liberty cap and "a real mountain eagle which had been politely furnished by Mr. Timothy Mountford of the Museum." When the column pa.s.sed under the arch, the eagle "politely furnished" opened wide his wings and gave a mighty screech, produced, 'tis said, by a small boy and a pin placed in close proximity for this very purpose. From the windows of the houses ladies waved handkerchiefs and threw nosegays in fiesta fas.h.i.+on.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The doorway to the elegant house built by Thomas Lawrason and loaned by his widow to La Fayette]

When the parade reached Royal Street and Gadsby's Tavern, we are told that a ceremony took place there which, "in sublimity and moral effect surpa.s.sed all." "One hundred young girls and one hundred boys from seven to twelve years of age were arrayed in lines extending to the Reception Room." They were neatly dressed, the "females" in white with blue sashes and badges and leghorn bonnets, the boys in blue with pink sashes and badges. As the General approached, a little girl, Rosalie Taylor, stepped out and "spoke with becoming grace and manner" a poem several verses long that began:

Fayette, friend of Was.h.i.+ngton.

_Freedom's_ children greet thee here; Fame for _Thee_ our hearts has won Flows for thee the grateful tear.

Chorus Happiness today is ours; Strew, ye fair! his way with flowers!

After being wined and dined at Claggett's Hotel, formerly Gadsby's, the barouche was again brought forward and General La Fayette, escorted by the procession, "moved on to the house which had been procured for his accomodation."[186]

And so we arrive at the home of Mrs. Thomas Lawrason, the most elegant house of its day and time in Alexandria, lent by this charming Irish lady to the great Frenchman, thereby endowing it with imperishable fame as the La Fayette house.

On August 5, 1779, the executors of John Alexander sold to Thomas Wilkinson "a half acre lott lying and being upon the South side of Duke Street and the West Side of St. Asaph Street and described by the number 175," the ground rent of which was 14 _10s_. In September 1795, William Thornton Alexander, one of the heirs of John Alexander, released Benjamin Shreve and James Lawrason from this ground rent upon the payment of the sum of 300, and in this indenture of September 14, the fact is cited that this was the property sold by Thomas Wilkinson and that Shreve and Lawrason divided the property.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The hall]

On September 27, 1819, in an indenture between James Lawrason and Alice, his wife, and Elizabeth Lawrason, widow of Thomas Lawrason, son of the said James, lately deceased, and their five children, the fact is cited that Thomas Lawrason bought for five hundred dollars the lot at the intersection of St. Asaph and Duke Streets, described as running "West on Duke 120 feet to an alley 6 feet wide 10 inches to be held in common with the heirs of Benjamin Shreve, thence on said alley South 55 feet, thence East, parallel to Duke 120 feet to St. Asaph and thence on St.

Asaph North to the beginning." This same doc.u.ment further described that "the said Thomas entered on said lott and erected thereon a three story brick tenement and other buildings and improvements and afterwards departed this life intestate without having received a deed for the same," which deed James was at this time executing, conveying this property to his son's widow and orphans.

The three-story brick tenement, built by Thomas Lawrason for his young wife, is one of the important federal houses in this ancient seaport.

High upon the roof a white railing incloses the "Captain's Walk" from which point of vantage the Fowle & Lawrason s.h.i.+ps could be sighted far down the Potomac. The doorway is the outstanding feature of the house.

The fanlight over the door is a true fan in shape and design, and the lunettes on each side of the double doors are unique. The interior of the mansion is commodious and comfortable with well proportioned rooms of agreeable size and beautiful woodwork.

James Lawrason of Suss.e.x County, New Jersey, married Alice Levering.

Their son, Thomas Lawrason, builder of the house, was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1780. The Lawrasons lived for a while in Canada, where life for those with Tory sympathies was more agreeable, but after the Revolution, and prior to 1795, the family returned to Virginia and settled in Alexandria, where the senior Lawrason was a.s.sociated for a time with Benjamin Shreve.

Thomas Lawrason, a member of the important s.h.i.+pping firm of Lawrason & Fowle, married Elizabeth Carson, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Dr.

Samuel Carson of Armagh, Ireland, in October 1808. To them were born five children: Samuel Carson, October 18, 1809; James Thomas, July 28, 1811; William Wilson, 1814; George Carson, 1816; and Anne Carson, 1818.

Thomas Lawrason died on June 7, 1819, before he could enjoy his fine, new home, leaving Elizabeth to struggle with a house and family. She never remarried, remaining in Alexandria until her children were reared and settled in life. Then she followed her youngest son, George Carson Lawrason, to New Orleans. An entry in the family Bible reads: "Elizabeth Lawrason, consort of Thomas Lawrason died at the residence of her son George C. Lawrason in New Orleans on the 11th of April, 1851, aged 59 years." A curious and sad sequel to her death is that some years later her grave was washed away and swallowed by the Mississippi. When General Lee's body lay in state at Was.h.i.+ngton College (now Was.h.i.+ngton and Lee University) her grandson, Samuel McCutcheon Lawrason, then a student at Virginia Military Inst.i.tute, was one of the bodyguards at the bier.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The rear parlor. These rooms are s.p.a.cious and well proportioned, the woodwork in style of McIntire after Adam is worthy of the master builders]

The original portraits of Elizabeth and Thomas hang in the Lawrasons'

Louisiana plantation home at St. Francisville. Some of the family silver, made in Alexandria by I. Adam, belongs to her granddaughter, Mrs. Kirkpatrick.