On a late summer day in 1855 workmen began todismantle a small one-and-a-half story frame dwellinghouse on Cameron Street in Alexandria, Virginia. As oneearly neighborhood resident subsequently described it,“The house was not imposing nor, indeed, a handsomestructure. A steep, outside flight of wooden steps led tothe parlor floor. A rough stone half-story formed thekitchen, which had a brick floor and a wide outside chim-ney. There were narrow inside stairs also leading to theparlor floor. Above the stone foundation the house wasof wood. The two rooms on the parlor floor were ofmoderate size and a narrow hall and staircase led to tworooms above. The mantel in the parlor was high and sim-ply carved. There were two small dormer windows onthe roof, and a crude, board fence around the entire lot,with a gate on Cameron Street, near the house.”1

The property, located on the south side of Cameronstreet between Pitt and St. Asaph Streets, was owned byMr. Benjamin Waters a local business man who residednext door in the three-story brick house that would be-come 506 Cameron Street.2 For many years prior to thisSeptember 5th, Waters had rented out the lower stonebasement portion of the house to “poor pensioners,” eventhough he knew the upper frame portion was in a dan-gerous condition. City officials eventually declared theentire structure unsafe for habitation and gave Waters no-tice to make necessary structural repairs or tear it down.Apparently in financial distress and unable to find any-one else to finance the repairs, he decided to demolish

the house for its salvage value.3 As a favor to friendswho knew the history of the house, Waters allowed themto remove samples of the structure’s frame work as sou-venirs “... for preservation or to be manufactured intocases and other articles of ornament and use.”4 “Whenthe demolition was completed, regrading of the site con-tributed to the almost complete obliteration of any struc-tural remains.”5

THE MYSTERY HOUSE ON CAMERONSTREET

For over one hundred years this lot of ground re-mained vacant, except for the planting of a garden by theowner of the property next door. The history of the smallframe house that once stood there, as well as why it wastorn down, soon faded into Alexandria’s historic past.Only a few historians were aware of the site. None how-ever, knew exactly what the house had looked like.Sometime in the early 20th century, a small bronze plate,sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce, wasplaced on the fence bordering the garden, identifying theformer site of General George Washington’s town house.

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S TOWN HOUSEIn his will dated July 9, 1799, George Washington

wrote: “ To my dearly beloved wife, Martha Washington,...my improved lot in the Town of Alexandria, situatedon Pitt & Cameron Streets, I give to her and her heirsforever...” This “improved lot,” comprising a half acre

1

TheAlexandria Chronicle

A publication of monographs about historical Alexandria, Virginia.

ALEXANDRIAAA HISTORICAL SOCIETY,YY INC. 201 South Washington Street • Alexandria, Virginia 22314

Editor: Linda Greenberg Fall 2013

Miss Mary Jane Stewart: Eye Witness to History

by Richard Klingenmaier

in all, essentially covered a quarter of the block at the

southwest corner of Cameron and Pitt streets. The lot

was listed as #118 when he purchased it in 1763 for

about 30 pounds.

By the fall of 1769, Washington was making regular

monthly trips to Alexandria to check on the status of his

“new house,” then under construction on the Cameron

Street property. His ledger A entry for January 17, 1770

reflects a payment of 22 pounds, 5 shillings, 2 pence to

Richard Lake “...for Work done on my House in Alexan-

dria...” Additional payments to other laborers followed

in April, June, and August. By January 1771, the interior

walls had been plastered and the exterior painted. It ap-

pears that by March 18, 1771, the house was ready for

occupancy, as Washington noted in his diary that he

“...went to Court” (Fairfax County Courthouse in Alexan-

dria) and “...stayd all Night.” The lack of a housing ex-

pense in his account book or any reference in his diary

to residing with friends, would indicate he occupied his

new town house.

A careful study of Washington’s diary and ledger en-

tries, as well as his correspondence for the following

twenty some years, provides a more detailed picture of

his town house property.6 Besides the small stone and

frame dwelling house that stood adjacent to the western

end of the lot, there was also a stable with “a Rack &

manager...” and “...ye Necessary...” constructed of

“weatherboarding.” By 1794, in preparation for renting

the property to Mrs. Fanny Washington, the widow of

his nephew, Washington had directed that the entire lot

be enclosed by “...White Oak Posts and Rails well exe-

cuted” in preparation for a garden, and “...to secure her

wood from being pilfered.” For work done inside the

house, he was subsequently billed for: “...digging well

in cellar, ... carrying sand in cellar & paving one of ye

rooms...”. Of particular note is Washington’s purchase

of expensive “Prusian (sic) blue” paint pigment at 2

pounds, 6 shillings for the interior trim of the house, as

well as wall paper “for the two lower Rooms...”, i.e., the

parlor and the hall/bedroom on the main level. When the

town house was first constructed, “...it stood on the brow

of a hill...” with the front entrance nearly level with the

ground. However, when Alexandria’s streets were graded

after the American revolution, most of the stone founda-

tion, originally below grade, was exposed. This necessi-

tated the subsequent construction of wooden stairs and a

high porch at the street entrance, as well as “...digging

down [the] bank at ye Road to go in to (the) yard.”7

A LONG LOST SKETCH

In July, 1932, an article entitled “A Mystery House

in Alexandria” appeared in Daughters of American Rev-

olution Magazine.8 The author revealed for the first time

the existence of a long lost pencil sketch of Washington’s

town house. The woman who drew the sketch from

memory, long after the house’s demolition, lived for

many years diagonally across the street from the site. She

subsequently gave the sketch and a written description of

the house to Mrs. Martha Harrison Chatham, then resid-

ing in the three story brick dwelling house at 506

Cameron street, adjacent to the vacant lot. Mrs. Chatham

placed the sketch in an envelope for safe keeping and it

too “disappeared” for nearly 50 years. The rough pencil

sketch and accompanying written description were dis-

covered in 1932 by Mrs. Chatham’s grandson then resid-

ing at 506 Cameron Street. The woman who drew that

sketch was identified as Miss Mary Jane Stewart.9

THE JOHN A. STEWART FAMILY OF

ALEXANDRIA

Mary Jane Stewart was born in Alexandria, Virginia

in 1832. She was the daughter of Irish immigrants. Her

maternal grandparents, William and Ann Greer, née

Crawford Dunlap, born 1771 and 1774, respectively, em-

igrated to the United States in 1801, landing in

Charleston, South Carolina, and subsequently settling in

Alexandria, Virginia by 1808. They arrived in the

United States with their four children, all born in Ireland

-- Esther Ann (died 1858); James (died 1842); John

(died 1835); and Elizabeth, aka “Eliza.” Eliza Dunlap

was destined to become Mary Jane Stewart’s mother.10

On November 9, 1824, Eliza Dunlap married John

Ainsworth Stewart, a forty-six year old bookseller and

stationer, who had a small shop in Alexandria. John A.

Stewart was also of Irish birth, born in Belfast, Ireland in

1778. He emigrated to the United States sometime prior

to 1799. By then he was serving as a twenty-one year

old Lieutenant of the 106th Virginia Militia and Adjutant

to the unit’s commanding officer, Colonel George De-

neale.11 On Tuesday, 17 December 1799, General Wash-

ington’s secretary, Tobias Lear, mentioned Lt. Stewart in

his diary as ensuring that the snow covered grounds at

Mount Vernon were cleared for General Washington’s

burial procession the following day. It was Stewart’s mil-

itary unit that played a prominent role in Washington’s

burial service on December 18th.

John Stewart may have been employed as early as

1797 by Peter Cottom, an Alexandria merchant who

owned a book and stationary store on Royal Street and

later on the north side of King Street between Royal and

Pitt Streets. Cottom was a member of the Alexandria

Washington Masonic Lodge and also attended George

Washington’s burial. Stewart may have completed his

apprendiceship under Cottom’s tutelage. By 1798, Stew-

art had joined Cottom as a partner in the firm Cottom and

2

Stewart.12 He was to eventually take over this business

as sole proprietor after their partnership was dissolved in

1813.13 Cottom subsequently moved to Richmond, Vir-

ginia, where he died on June 8, 1849.14

As would be expected, Washington’s untimely death

had a pronounced effect on his home town of Alexandria.

It was here that memorials to his special place in Amer-

ica’s history were among the first to appear. In February

1800, an advertisment in the local Alexandria Gazette ad-

vised: “...just published and for sale at Messrs. Cottom

and Stewart’s bookstore music, a march played by the

Alexandria band at the funeral of George

Washington...adapted to the harpsichord.”

Cottom and Stewart, for many years the sole station-

ary shop in town, sold a large variety of items from their

Royal and King Street stores; these included books,

primers, spelling books, note books, 22,000 English

quills, black lead pencils, “paper hangings and borders”

(wall paper), “hot pressed playing cards,” razors and pen

knives, German and Virginia almanacs, “Roman prayer

books,” writing paper, school books and stationary.15

One Alexandria school girl, Mary Louisa Slacum, born

in 1802, described Cottom and Stewart’s store on King

Street in 1811 as a “little one story frame magazine.”

“This store...was the armory where we gathered the util-

ities for preparation of mental work.” There “I found my

slate clumsily and heavily bound in board, my motto

stamps, ... large sticks of stamped London red sealing

wax, ...[and] my copy books (containing] words... and

...attractive moral phrases and sentences in copper plate

printing, to be copied by the learner.”16

As a young businessman, Stewart recognized the

importance of not only establishing his business creden-

tials, but his place in Alexandria’s social order. He was

among the first members to join The Washington Society

in January 1800, an elite social organization formed to

pay homage to the memory of George Washington.

Among his esteemed fellow members were George De-

neale, William Herbert, Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, Charles

Simms, Reverend James Muir, Edmund Jennings Lee,

George Washington Parke Custis, and Chief Justice John

Marshall, all prominent in Alexandria society.17

The Alexandria city tax register for 1803 shows that

Stewart, only 25 years old, was already well on the way

to acquiring investment properties that were to figure

prominently in his financial future. He was taxed for four

(4) tithable properties that year.

By 1816, Stewart had joined the Relief Fire Com-

pany, serving through at least 1818.18 Alexandria’s fire

companies were both functional as well as social in na-

ture. Their membership roles contained both the political

and business elite of the community. Clearly, Stewart

was intent on doing more then simply selling books; he

sought both wealth and reputation.

In 1810, he was listed as “Stationer, King Street,

Head of Household.” Whether Head of Household indi-

cated he was married at this time remains unclear; al-

though at the time of his marriage to Eliza Dunlap in

1824, he was already 46 years of age, which would sug-

gest the liklihood of an earlier marriage. Interestingly,

“The First Presbyterian Church Register of Baptisms,

Marriages and Funerals” for October 2, 1797 does record

the marriage of a “John Stewart” to a “Mary ‘Polly’

Dougherty.” However, whether that John Stewart was

in fact Mary Jane’s future father cannot be substantiated,

as there were several John Stewarts residing in Alexan-

dria at that time and additional information regarding

Polly Dougherty is so far unavailable.

By July, 1815, Stewart was renting a two-story brick

dwelling house and kitchen on the north side of Prince

Street, between Royal and Pitt Streets.19 He was now the

sole proprietor of the the nearby J.A. Stewart stationary

store on King Street, near the intersection with Pitt.

Given his Irish immigrant background, it is not sur-

prising that he was also active within that community as

a member of the Hibernian Society. Founded in Alexan-

dria in 1823, the society offered aid and assistance to

needy Irish immigrants. He served on its governing

board as manager in 1826 and 1836, respectively. He

was also active in his church, serving on a Presbyterian

Meeting House Committee in 1821 that prepared an ap-

propriate inscription for the marble slab over the grave

of the Rev. Dr. James Muir, the former well-known pastor

of the Meeting House.

THE STEWART FAMILY ON PRINCE

STREET

By 1834, John and Eliza Stewart were residing on

the north side of Prince Street, between Water (now Lee)

and Fairfax Streets, renting a three-story brick house

owned by one Thomas Sanford, at what is now 209

Prince.20 By this time they had two children, a son,

William Dunlap Stewart, born in 1825, and a two year

old daughter, Mary Jane. Sea Captain John Harper had

constructed this house among several others on this block

in the late eighteenth century. Dr. James Craik, personal

physican to George Washington, resided at this location

briefly from 1789-90, and possibly to as late as 1796.

Mary Jane’s childhood and young adult years were

spent in this large commodious home, along a section of

Street today referred to as Gentry Row. In the late eigh-

teenth century, this was the neighborhood of sea captains,

wealthy merchants, and tradesmen. Many of these indi-

viduals not only lived in these stately dwellings but also

3

conducted their business there as well. In early American

towns, residential and commercial areas were really one

in the same. It was not unusual for the owners to rent out

portions of the building, usually the ground floor or cel-

lar, to a variety of business ventures, to include brewers,

bakers, and candle maker., etc. This commingling of res-

idential and commercial use meant that street noises from

draymen dragging their carts over the cobblestone streets

and from many unpleasant smells were daily aspects of

domestic life regardless of the wealth of the residents

above or next to these shops. One fairly well-to-do

Philadelphia woman, Elizabeth Drinker, commented on

24 June 1806 that “We have a Windsor chairmaker next

door to us, who I think, by the smell, is boiling varnish

this day.”21 In addition, Alexandria’s waterfront, a mere

one block away, contributed its own share of unpleasant

odors, including the ever-present smell of steaming pine

tar.

As a child, Mary Jane’s world evolved around the

cobblestone streets of Prince, Royal, and Water Streets,

and perhaps included visits to her father’s book store, as

well as to musical performances at a local theater on

Cameron Street. She would have accompanied her

mother on shopping trips to the nearby market house lo-

cated north of King Street between Fairfax and Royal

Streets. There her mother would purchase fresh meats,

fish, and seasonal fruits and vegetables brought to town

each morning by local farmers. Here, too, Mary Jane

would have been captivated by the hourly chimes of the

large clock in the tower high above the market house. As

described by one early traveler, the market house “ was

the greatest piece of architecture in the town, character-

ized by a splendid cupola of hexagon figure, ornamented

with a lofty steeple. The squares of the cupola present

six faces of a single clock, which shows the hour of the

day to vast distances.”22 The clock mechanism and “a

bell weighing 1500 pounds.”23 in the cupola “strikes so

loud as to be heard over the town.”24

As she grew into early adulthood, Mary Jane likely

enjoyed an active social life that included patriotic ob-

servances such as the Fourth of July and George Wash-

ington Birthday parades, two very important holiday

celebrations for Alexandrians. Among other antebellum

activities, Alexandrians of all social classes and both

sexes enjoyed picnics, excursions, and other events or-

ganized by numerous social and religious societies.25 In

1851, the Masons sponsored an excursion to Mount Ver-

non as part of their celebration of St. John the Baptist

Day. Commercial amusements such as circuses and road

shows offered additional entertainment for both children

and their parents.26

Mary Jane’s formative years were influenced by her

presbyterian upbringing. As one writer has noted, the in-

fluence of Presbyterian Church clergy “...extended far be-

yond the church walls”, wielding “...a powerful

influence on the community’s moral, social, patriotic, and

educational affairs.”27 The 1856 Washington birthday

celebration was particularly impressive with artillery

salutes, a massive parade, and a special address at the

Lyceum by the Reverend Dr. Elias Harrison of the First

Presbyterian Church. As would be said of her many

years later, Mary Jane Stewart was a “consistent member

of the Presbyterian Church.”28 It is very likely that she,

along with her parents and brother, regularly participated

in church-related activities. She probably attended the

“Sabbath school” (Sunday school) of the Meeting House

which, besides providing regular Bible studies, also of-

fered children access to books and literature unavailable

elsewhere. With this attendence also came the opportur-

nity to meet children of different social classes where the

sons or daughters of prominent Alexandria families “...

could rub elbows with the child of a mill worker.”29

As a young girl, though, she would not have been

aware that the once very prosperous seaport town she

called home was in slow economic decline, its reliance

on foreign trade suffering “sporadic ups and downs” be-

ginning in the late 1780s with a post-war recession, and

further exacerbated by President Jefferson’s trade em-

bargo of 1807. By the late 1830s only twenty to thirty

foreign vessels a year were entering and clearing the port,

compared with 1,000 foreign vessels prior to 1800.30

Coastal shipping, fortunately, remained somewhat stable,

thereby off-setting to some degree what would have been

an even more serious decline.31 As one observer noted

by 1840, “The people here call it a dull place.” Many

Alexandrians remembered a far different city, “as almost

the queen city of the south, as the busy, bustling, beauti-

ful, crowded, fashionable city, where were congregated

the men of wealth, of leisure and business.”32 Clearly,

the latter image -- whether exaggerated or not -- was no

longer accurate. The nearby, booming port of Baltimore

was rapidly surpassing Alexandria as its chief commer-

cial rival. By the 1840s, Baltimore siphoned off the lu-

crative flour trade of the Shenadoah Valley by

construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad through

Virginia to Winchester.”33 Flour had been one of Alexan-

dria’s most important foreign exports. Between 1801 and

1810 alone, Alexandria had shipped 613,895 barrels of

flour to foreign countries such as Portugal (Madeira Is-

lands), Spain, and the West Indies.34

Alexandria’s status as part of the District of Columbia

at this time was also working against its best interests.

Both Georgetown and the capital city were becoming

economic competitors. To encourage growth within the

4

capital itself, restrictions were imposed on development

across the river in Alexandria. While administratively

part of the District of Columbia, Alexandria did not ben-

efit from this arrangement. Beginning as early as 1820,

it took twenty-six years for supporters of retrocession to

convince the U.S. Congress to authorize a change. On

September 2, 1846, the citizens of Alexandria began a

three day celebration with “... parades, oratory, bonfires,

and illuminations” as the city voted to rejoin the Com-

monwealth of Virginia.35 But even this change was too

little, too late; civil war and four years of military occu-

pation were soon to arrive on the city’s door step, further

contributing to the port city’s economic decline and its

gradual transition to a quiet southern town by the end of

the century.

But for Mary Jane, her brother William, and their

childhood friends, the sporadic activity along the Po-

tomac River wharfs still conjured thoughts of far-flung

places they could only imagine. The realities of an adult

world were still beyond the horizon.

Mary Jane probably received a typical female edu-

cation at one of the many private schools or academies

in Alexandria during the pre-civil war era. As was quite

common for the time, her education likely did not exceed

a couple years of formal schooling. While presumably

the daughter of an Alexandria merchant would have at-

tended one of the better private academies for young

ladies, family finances, following her father’s death, may

have dictated otherwise. Unfortunately, details of Mary

Jane’s early life were not recorded; therefore, we can only

presume the level of education she may have received,

as well as where she obtained it, based upon what was

offered to other young ladies in antebellum Alexandria.

As one researcher has pointed out, “Young women

living in Alexandria during the antebellum period expe-

rienced a range of educational opportunities.”36 While

“reform and change in female education came slowly and

unevenly to Alexandria,” by the 1830s, parents began to

find broader opportunities available for their daughters

that did not involve sending them to boarding schools in

the north. A few private schools, such as The Alexandria

Female Seminary, offered “...fully illustrated lectures in

natural philosophy, chemistry, and astronomy.”37 How-

ever, in many cases, the earlier prejudices still prevailed

when it came to providing female students as broad an

education in “the higher branches” of learning as pro-

vided to young gentlemen. The “concern” was that a

young woman educated on a par with her male counter-

part, “might forsake...the tranquil enjoyment of the

home.”38

For most young ladies from families of the middle

class, “a finished education” included reading, writing,

sewing, and basic mathematics that “prepared them for

motherhood and household management.”39 Alexandria

newspapers in the early 19th century carried many ad-

vertisements for ladies’ academies, seminaries, and “in

home” tutoring services offering this level of curriculum.

The importance of a moral upbringing for young

women was not restricted to the home. Early educators

recognized the critical role females played in educating

their future children. Local churches often provided ed-

ucational opportunities for the children of their parish-

ioners. The Reverend James Muir of the Presbyterian

Meeting House in Alexandria was also the principal of a

female academy that operated from 1790 until his death

in 1820. The academy continued to be maintained by his

three daughters well into the 1830s.40 Mary Jane may

have benefited from a similar church-sponsored program.

In light of Miss Stewart’s later profession as “a

teacher of drawing and painting,” her education most cer-

tainly included some specific training in the arts. The

quality of her surviving art work clearly suggests some

formal training. This training may have been received as

part of her “finished education” or perhaps, it involved

private tutoring at her home.

While the Dames schools of the eighteenth century

focused heavily on “...fancy needlework as a desirable

female accomplishment,” by the early 19th century

drawing and painting took on a greater prominence in fe-

male education. Landscape drawing and flower painting

by many amateur female artists served to record scenes

of everyday life that would have been otherwise lost to

history. 41 As Erasmus Darwin, a British educator, noted

in his A Plan for the Conduct of Female Education in

Boarding Schools, Private Families, and Public Semi-

naries,

“Drawing as an elegant art belongs to

the education of young ladies, and

generally facilitates the acquirement

of Taste. Drawing...consists in using

the pencil as language to express the

forms of all visible objects...which can-

not in words alone be conveyed to others

with sufficient accuracy.”42

By the late 1830s , a number of advertisements began

to appear in local newspapers offering specialized classes

in drawing and painting. The Alexandria Gazette of

March 16, 1835 carried the following advertisement:

“Mr. Seager, Artist from England, working

to obtain Classes in DRAWING, in this City

and neighborhood, will be happy to take

charge of any Ladies or Gentlemen, in

5

all the several branches of DRAWING,

water or oil coloring, either singly or in

classes, by attending them at their homes.

For terms apply to him at Miss Ashton’s,

Fairfax street.”

Other institutions such as the Alexandria High School

for Young Ladies, the Alexandria Academy, and the

Alexandria Female Academy operated by teacher James

S. Hallowell, offered a curriculum, that included “Draw-

ing and Painting,” sometimes as an extra charge. In Au-

gust 1856, the Pitt Street Academy for Young Ladies,

operated by S. King Shay in his residence on south Pitt

street, offered the “...usual branches of an English edu-

cation by Mrs. and Miss Shay. Music and Painting and

drawing by professors.”43

“DEATH IN THE FAMILY’

Family life for the Stewarts took a drastic turn when

Mary Jane was only five years old. On March 14, 1837,

her father died at the age of 59 after a “painful and pro-

tracted illness.” His obituary in the Alexandria Gazette

on March 15th announced his “...funeral [to take place]

this evening at 3’o’clock from his late residence on

Prince Street, below Fairfax street.”

There is more than sufficient evidence to suggest that

Mary Jane’s father had financial difficulties in the years

before his death. Like his contemporaries in the business

community, Stewart acquired a substantial number of in-

vestment properties in Alexandria during his life time. A

notice in the Alexandria Gazette in May 1836 announced

a “Marshal’s sale” of several of these properties that in-

cluded a wheelwright’s shop, blacksmith shop and

dwelling house. This “forced” sale would indicate he

owed money to creditors or was in need of money to sup-

port his family. A subsequent notice in October of that

same year announced the further sale of Stewart’s book

bindery on King Street between Royal and Pitt streets.

The sale included “...tools of presses, ruling machine,

hand letters and types, rolls, blank and gilding stamps,

etc..” It does not appear, however, that the “book

bindery” was his actual book and stationary store, since

the sale was limited to equipment used in the bindery

business. The bindery function may have been carried

on in a separate, adjoining or nearby structure. Its sale a

full half year before his death clearly suggests serious fi-

nancial troubles. In fact, his protracted illness may have

been instrumental in this “forced” sale. If he could no

longer attend to his business, then perhaps he could no

longer afford to support his family or pay his creditors.

Just how long he may have been unable to effectively

operate his business due to illness is not known. A series

of additional forced sales of his real estate holdings were

to occur over the following four years, long after his

death.

In April 1840, Robert J. Taylor, a practicing attorney

in Alexandria since 1798 as well as a member of the City

Council, “and others, forced a (final) sale of Stewart’s es-

tate.”44 The holdings included “... a tenement and lot of

ground on the north side of King Street, between Royal

and Pitt; a lot of ground and buildings on the south side

of Prince street and the east side of Pitt; and a 2 story

brick dwelling house and lot on the north side of

Cameron st., between Pitt and St. Asaph sts.”* How

much the liquidation of these investment properties ac-

tually benefited John’s widow and his children is specu-

lation. Given later events it would appear that most if

not all of the proceeds went to creditors. (*This latter

property on Cameron street appears to be what is now

509 Cameron. Land tax records as early as 1826 show

John A. Stewart as owner of this property, with a renter

named Page.)

The Stewart family’s financial difficulties may have

resulted partly from the economic crisis of1834 which

led to a panic and recession throughout the country by

1837. President Jackson’s war against the Second Na-

tional Bank, “...which he considered too powerful and

anti-democratic...,” involved his ordered withdrawal of

some $10 million from the National Bank and its transfer

to several state banks. The National Bank responded by

calling in commercial loans. One of the casualties may

have been the Bank of Alexandria, which failed in 1834.45

This bank may have been one of Stewart’s major credi-

tors.

THE STEWART FAMILY ON CAMERON

STREET

Eliza Stewart continued to reside on Prince Street

with her daughter Mary Jane following her husband’s

death. Her son William had moved out of the family

home by 1847. He is shown on Land Tax Ledgers for

that year renting a two-story frame dwelling house on the

north side of what is now the 500 block of Cameron

Street from owner Elizabeth Kennedy.* (*Note: Site of

what would be 503 Cameron Street. Street numbering

did not begin until the 1870s. At that time, the Cameron

Street house was numbered 105; by the 1880s, the same

property was re-numbered 503, as it would be today.)

This frame house, built prior to 1810, probably by one

William Gardner, was small compared to its neighbors to

the east and west. The main block of William Stewart’s

residence was only one room deep, although likely three

bays wide. It was attached to a one-story frame structure

behind it containing both a sitting room and a kitchen

6

with a large chimney stack probably serving as a fire

place in each room. While the lot in earlier years must

have contained several outbuildings to accommodate at

least some of the six horses, one cow, and three two-

wheel carriages owned by renter Thomas Flowers as

early as 1815, by 1885 these structures had disappeared.

The 1896 Sanborn city map, however, depicts a rela-

tively small frame, shed-like structure at the rear of the

lot bordering the alley that may have served as a stable

or a privy, or possibly both. (See Illustration 1.)

Adjoining the Stewart residence on the east, and sit-

uated on the immediate northwest corner of Pitt and

Cameron Streets, was a towering, three-and-a-half story

brick dwelling house built about 1816, probably by

William Wright (currently 501 Cameron). In the 1820s,

it was the residence of Colonel Humphrey Peake, Col-

lector of the Port of Alexandria, and by 1831 the home

and office of Dr. Orlando Fairfax, a local physician. For

many years afterwards and well into the second half of

the twentieth century, it served as a boarding house and

was subsequently converted into apartments. It is once

again a private residence.

On the west side of the Stewarts’ small frame house

and separated by a narrow walkway, stood a Federal,

two-and-a-half story, brick, three bay, side hall, dwelling

house. The front entrance opened into separate entry and

stair halls providing access to two adjoining parlors on

the ground level, two chambers on the second level, and

a small garret above. This main block, fronting the street,

was built by Dr. John Richards, a physician of Irish birth,

in 1804. He and his wife Jane resided

there for over twenty years. A small,

two story brick flounder of earlier con-

struction, probably on the site by 1796,

was attached to the rear. It contained

the kitchen and what was likely origi-

nally a small bedroom on the first

floor, as well as two small unheated

chambers above. Attached to the rear

of the flounder and completing the

structure’s overall foot print, were two

frame, one-story lean-to structures.

The smaller of the two probably served

as a kitchen larder and scullery, provid-

ing both additional work space as well

as storage for kitchen equipment and

perhaps fire wood. The larger of the

two lean-tos served as a stable.46 (See

Illustration 2.) Dr. Richards owned

both a horse and a cow, and subse-

quent residents no doubt had similar

needs.47 While a privy would normally

have been located at the rear of the lot,

as was typical in an urban environ-

ment, late nineteenth century city maps

do not show such a feature. This raises

the possibility that the necessary may

have been located within one of the two

frame lean-tos.

This house, now 505 Cameron street, is known today

as the Ramsay-Snowden House. The lot on which this

dwelling house stands was given in trust to Hannah Ram-

say by her father William Ramsay in 1765. William was

one of the original founders and trustees of the town

in 1749. Hannah married Michael Madden, a local mer-

chant in 1784.48 and they most likely constructed the ear-

lier flounder portion of the house before selling the

property in 1796. Both died in 1799. In 1940, Miss Edith

Ashby Snowden, born in Alexandria in1888 at the Snow-

den family residence at 611 South Lee Street, purchased

the Cameron Street house and resided there until her

death on October 4, 1983, at the age of 95. She was the

last direct decendent of Samuel Snowden, founder of the

Alexandria Gazette.49

Eliza Stewart and her daughter Mary Jane moved

7

Illustration 1: Note Martha Chatham’s three-story townhouse, left arrow, next to

“508” lot where George Washngton’s home was once located.

from their Prince Street residence about1850 to join

William Stewart in his home on the north side of

Cameron Street.50 All three would reside there for the

next ten years. On July 11, 1860, Eliza Stewart died and

was buried in the Stewart family plot next to her husband

in the 1809 Presbyterian Cemetery.

Mary Jane and her brother William would continue

to reside at the Cameron Street address for the next 36

years. Neither married. Whether Mary Jane was actively

teaching drawing and painting in a local school or acad-

emy at this time remains unclear. If unemployed, she and

her brother were, in all likelihood, relying entirely on his

income for rent and living expenses.

William Dunlap Stewart, as his father before him,

was in the merchantile business. There is no evidence

however, that he owned a business, or in fact had real es-

tate holdings like his father. He is listed in city docu-

ments as a “Clerk, Dry goods Merchant.” He would have

been employed by one of the many merchants in town,

perhaps even by the very prominent James Muir Stewart

(no known family connection) who had more than one

retail shop along King Street. The United States Census

for 1880 lists William’s occupation simply as “Clerk At

Store,” which would suggest a modest income at best.

William, as were many of the Scots-Irish in Alexan-

dria, was a long time member of the Alexandria Wash-

ington Masonic Lodge #22 where he served two terms as

Worshipful Master of the Lodge, 1873-1876 and 1894-

1896.

While William continued to rent the two-story

frame house on Cameron Street after his mother died, tax

records by 1870 show that he had become part owner of

the house with one George Burton. This collaborative

ownership may have been intended to make full owner-

ship possible at some point for William Stewart. Indeed,

by1890, Burton is no longer listed as co-owner. William

8

Illustration 2: 1891 Alexandria City Map

is identified as the sole owner, with his sister Mary Jane

as co-occupant.

Identifying where Mary Jane may have been em-

ployed as an art teacher during the antebellum years im-

mediately prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, if in fact

she was, has been particularly frustrating. Teaching in-

stitutions at that time usually identified only key teaching

staff by name. Others were identified only by their par-

ticular teaching skill, as illustrated by the 1856 advertise-

ment for the Pitt Street Academy for Young Ladies:

“...Painting and Drawing by professors.” Local newspa-

pers and city directories for the pre-war years are equally

devoid of any mention of Mary Jane Stewart as an artist

and/or teacher.

A MILITARY OCCUPIED CITY 1861-1865

During the Civil War years, and throughout Alexan-

dria’s occupation by Union military forces, the Stewarts

probably remained in their Cameron Street residence, un-

like many other families who felt they, and particularly

female members, would be safer in the countryside. Life

in occupied Alexandria must have been uncertain for the

Stewarts, as it was for others who chose to remain in the

city. Presumably William was able to maintain his em-

ployment as a store clerk. Perhaps his employer even

benefited from the war time economy.

There is no indication that the Stewarts were of in-

terest to federal authorities because of loyalty concerns.

This was not the case for others considered active sym-

pathizers or supporters of the southern confederacy. As

one visitor from England observed as early as the spring

of 1862, “...the citizens of Alexandria showed their dis-

like of the Federal Army of Occupation by every means

in their power.”51 This open hostility led Brigadier Gen-

eral John P. Slough, the military governor, to declare

Alexandria a “...city in rebellion.”52 Determined to bring

about stability in the face of an increasingly hostile pop-

ulation, by mid-1863 he was recommending that certain

“disloyal persons,” along with their family members, be

deported to City Point, Virginia. On July 9, 1863, 120

men, women and children “huddled in the rain at the

Prince Street wharf” awaiting deportation. All the adults

had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the federal

government. Among those placed on the disloyalty list,

though apparently not among those on the Prince Street

wharf, was Edgar Snowden Jr., editor of the Alexandria

Gazette. For reasons never fully explained, the order for

evacuation was countermanded at the eleventh hour by

Secretary of War, E.M. Stanton. All those on the wharf

were allowed to return to their homes.53

Among those citizens who signed an oath of alle-

giance to the Union between 1862 and 1865 was “Stew-

art, Mary Jane” ...of... “Alexandria, Virginia.”54

A TEACHER OF DRAWING & PAINTING

Mary Jane Stewart is listed in the United States Cen-

sus for 1880 as a “Teacher of Drawing & Painting.” This

title would seem to confirm her status as a teacher in the

local academy/school system, or at minimum, her em-

ployment as a private tutor as further suggested by her

listing in the City of Alexandria Directory for 1881:

“Stewart, Mary J Miss, Artist, h n s Cameron 1 w Pitt”

(house north side of Cameron one lot west of Pitt).

During this post-war period, she appears to have fo-

cused her talents as a landscape artist, although very little

of her art work so far has been identified. It was during

this time frame that she completed several surviving pen-

cil sketches of particular importance to Alexandria’s early

history.

Around 1880, Mary Jane drew the first and likely,

most accurate sketch of what the original First Presbyte-

rian Meeting House, located on south Fairfax Street, may

have looked like prior to a destructive fire in July 1835.

(See Illustration 3.)

At least one other similar sketch of the original meet-

ing house appeared in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine

in 1880; the artist of that sketch is not identified. While

there appears to be some simularity between these two

versions, as one source points out though, “the Harper’s

9

Illustration 3: First Presbyterian Church. Original

pencil sketch by Mary Jane Stewart about 1880.

print shows doorways with what appear to be arched fan-

lights, taller window frames in the second story, a six bay

front, and corbeled cornices. The Stewart sketch shows

flat arches over the doorway, three bays on the front and

sides, and simple overhanging eaves.”55 Differences in

the cupola and belfry also are evident. These significant

variations in detail would strongly suggest that Mary Jane

was not the artist of the Harper sketch. In both pencil

sketches, the Meeting House is depicted with a hipped

roof topped by a cupola and belfry containing a bell, the

very bell that announced the death of George Washington

in December 1799. Today’s structure, as reconstructed

in 1837, again assumes a Georgian style, but no longer

has a hipped roof topped by a cupola. Instead, the meet-

ing house has a straight roof, with a bell tower, con-

structed in 1843, attached to the western end of the

meeting house adjacent to the burial ground.

Mary Jane was too young to have remembered the

appearance of the original meeting house. If as tradition

records, Mary Jane did not make the sketch until the

1880s, she likely relied on other early Presbyterian

church members who were still living at that time. In any

event, Mary Jane’s pencil sketch, if completely accurate,

also reveals the still “semi-pastoral setting” of the church-

yard’s location in the 300 block of south Fairfax Street,

“long considered to be...at the end of the Street’s built-

up portion” in the 1830s.56

Two additional sketches, and perhaps the most no-

table of her known, historically relevant art work, were

those she drew of George Washington’s town house on

Cameron Street, as she personally remembered it prior to

its demolition in 1855. At the time she drew the first

sketch, she was residing across the street at what would

be 503 Cameron Street. (See Illustration 4.)

Next door to the former site of Washington’s town

house (now 508 Cameron), lived part of the Chatham

family of Alexandria. Their three-story brick home (now

506 Cameron) was built about 1840 -1850. The Chatham

brothers, Henry and James, were very active in Alexan-

dria’s real estate development, acquiring lots in the area

of Queen, Pitt and Cameron Streets and constructing

houses on those lots in the years prior to the Civil War.

The Chatham family owned seven of the fourteen homes

in the 300 block of Queen Street.57 Henry was also the

proprietor of a livery stable on the southeast corner of

Pitt and Cameron Streets. His residence was also there.

James Chatham owned nearly a quarter-block at the

southwest corner of Pitt and Cameron Streets that in-

cluded the sites of 506 and 508 Cameron, and in fact, in-

corporated nearly all of George Washington’s original

property at that intersection. James resided with his wife

Martha at 506 Cameron Street until his death on April 7,

1885.

Henry Chatham died a wealthy man. At the time of

his death at age 85 in December 1865, he owned at least

15 properties; these were held in trust for his three daugh-

ters -- Mary, Jane, and Fanny. Mary eventually married

Scottish sea captain John Graham. Her trust included

five houses and lots, of which only 505 Cameron Street

stands today.58 (Note: In a subsequent deed transaction,

505 Cameron was transferred to her sister Fanny). Jane

married Nathaniel Bousch; her inheritance included sev-

eral houses and lots, including the family home and sta-

bles on the corner of Pitt and Cameron Streets. Daughter

Fanny married John A. Dixon, who like his in-laws, was

involved in real estate and construction. Fanny’s trust in-

cluded several houses and lots, as well as a warehouse.59

It would appear Mary Jane Stewart and Martha Har-

rison Chatham, the wife and subsequent widow of James

Chatham, were close friends as well as Cameron Street

neighbors. It was this friendship that likely led Mary

Jane to give to Martha a sketch of George Washington’s

town house, possibly at Martha’s request, as a keepsake.

The vacant lot, formerly occupied by the town house, was

owned by the Chathams at that time. It is not absolutely

certain when Mary Jane drew the initial sketch; it is gen-

erally thought to have been made during the 1880s.

Martha Chatham’s death in 1889 would dictate a time

prior to that date. A brief comment in the Alexandria

Gazette on September 25, 1889 advised: “Mrs. Martha

Chatham continues extremely ill at her home on Cameron

Street.” She died within days.

The sketch given to Martha Harrison Chatham was

10

Illustration 4: Sketch of George Washington’s town house

by Mary Jane Stewart. This crude drawing was rediscov-

ered in 1932.

a very crude pencil drawing. (See Illustration 4.) Its sim-

plicity would appear to contradict any Stewart attribution.

We can only assume that the sketch, if in fact drawn by

Mary Jane, was created on the spur-of-the-moment for a

friend and neighbor, and certainly without any thought

given to future publication. Indeed, it wasn’t until about

fifty years later in 1932, that this original crude sketch

reappeared, as noted earlier.

However, in 1899, a refined, finished sketch of

George Washington’s town house was published by the

Alexandria Washington Masonic Lodge as an illustration

in a new lodge publication entitled: The Lodge of Wash-

ington - A History of the Alexandria Washington Lodge,

No. 22, A.F. & A.M. of Alexandria, Virginia, 1783-1876

by F.L. Brockett. Included in an appendix, embracing

the period 1876 to 1900, was “A Half-Tone of Washing-

ton’s Town House, Sketched by Miss Mary Jane Stewart,

Sister of Our Late Brother, William Dunlap Stewart,”

confirming that in deed Mary Jane was the creator of this

historically important sketch.60

Mary Jane had been commissioned to create the

sketch by Alfred G. Uhler a senior member of the Alexan-

dria Washington Lodge. He was serving as a Master

Mason by 1879. Uhler was a partner in the Lumber

Company of S.H. Wimsatt and A.G. Uhler, founded in

1874, with headquarters, lumber yard and

mill in Washington, D.C., though he

resided in Alexandria, Virginia.61 He was

also an active member in the Presbyterian

Church General Assemby where he served

on the Committee of Ministerial Educa-

tion and Relief as late as 1907.

This same finished sketch was subse-

quently illustrated in a documentary study

of the reconstructed Washington town

house prepared by the Historic American

Buildings Survey (HABS) in 1961.62 The

sketch is labeled “Washington’s Town

House Or Office, Copyrighted 1899, by A.

G. Uhler.” (See Illustration 5.) According

to the HABS author, Worth Bailey, the

copyrighted sketch was identical to an

original, hand colored pencil sketch in the

collection of the George Washington Na-

tional Masonic Memorial Museum in

Alexandria, Virginia. Indeed, that origi-

nal, hand-colored sketch, minus any copy-

right notation, remains to this day on

permanent exhibit in the museum and can

be viewed in the fourth floor exhibit hall.

It measures approximately 3” x 4,” it is

matted, and is enclosed in a simple gilded

wood frame. It is attributed to artist Mary

Jane Stewart.

“DEATH IN ITS WAKE”

Mary Jane and her brother William were still resid-

ing at 503 Cameron Street in 1895, where according to

the Alexandria City Directory she continued her career

as an “artist.” By late September of the following year

though, their home for over forty years would suddenly

disappear.

Alexandria, Virginia has experienced epidemics,

floods, and disastrous fires in the years since its founding

in 1749, but perhaps none of these disasters were as dev-

astating as the storm that hit the city on September

29,1896. The late evening storm, accompanied by very

strong winds and heavy rain, soon developed into a me-

teorological disturbance of horrendous velocity. Before

the storm subsided early the following morning, it had

left a wide path of destruction as “fully two hundred

buildings,” many of them private homes, were damaged

or destroyed. Two residents were killed. As the Alexan-

dria Gazette of September 30th further reported,

“Alexandria passed through an experience last night

which will be remembered so long as the present gener-

ation lives - - a midnight scene creating consternation and

11

Illustration5: Miss Mary Jane Stewart’s original hand-colored pencil

sketch of George Washington’s town house in Alexandria, Virginia, as pub-

lished by the Alexandria Washington Lodge No. 22 in 1899.

panic which threw women into hysterics, caused children

to cry out in alarm and strong men to stand aghast at the

devastation.” As the wind changed directions from north-

east to east and then southeast to south, “the work of de-

struction began.” Chimneys were falling, roofs were

being carried from houses, tin was being rolled up as

scrolls, walls crushed, debris sailing through the streets,

shutters twisted from their fastenings, window sash

blown in, trees uprooted, and power lines downed. “It

was a midnight storm with death in its wake.”

While many inhabitants of Alexandria had already

retired for the evening before the worst of the storm hit,

Mary Jane and her brother were still in their back sitting

room, William reading the Bible, according to one

source.63 Around midnight, as a very heavy rain contin-

ued to fall and the winds changed direction and increased

in velocity, suddenly and without warning, their old

frame dwelling house began to collapsed on top of them.

The hurricane force winds striking the windward, east

side of the adjoining three-story brick building at 501

Cameron shattered the upper windows, aided no doubt

by wind-borne debris, causing a rapid increase in internal

pressurization of the upper part of the building. This dra-

matic breach effectively doubled the interior pressure

causing the roof and the upper portion of the west gable

end to literally explode. The wall of falling bricks and

debris coming into contact with the large chimney of the

Stewart house below cast tons of brick and mortar on the

old frame structure, “...crushing it as an egg shell and in-

stantly killing Mr. Stewart...”64 Mary Jane, who had just

stepped out of the room, was knocked to the floor and

covered by debris. Although injured, she was able to pull

herself free from the rubble and seek help from her neigh-

bors. With the storm still raging about them, the neigh-

bors were able to locate and remove William Stewart’s

lifeless body. He had suffered an horrific blow to the

back of his head, crushing his skull. Although no specific

account of Mary Jane’s injuries and any subsequent hos-

pitalization has survived, according to her later obituary,

she never fully recovered from the event, and apparently

was hospitalized on several occasions in the years ahead.

Her home of nearly 46 years damaged beyond repair,

Mary Jane moved next door to 505 Cameron Street

where she would spend at least four of the remaining thir-

teen years of her life.65 In her new residence she contin-

ued her career as an artist, and it was here in1899 that she

produced the surviving hand-colored sketch of George

Washington’s town house. Due to her age, she probably

was no longer teaching drawing and painting in private

or public schools, but perhaps still giving private lessons.

John A. Dixon, husband of Fanny Chatham Dixon,

was the listed owner of 505 Cameron Street in 1895.

Fanny had inherited the house from her sister Mary, as

previously noted. The house had long been a rental prop-

erty, dating back to approximately the last decade of Dr.

John Richards’ ownership. Dr. Richards died in 1843.

The tenants in 1895 were Miss Mary Stewart (not Mary

Jane) and Miss Sarah Stewart. Mary Stewart was one of

three daughters of James Muir Stewart,* a prominent

Alexandria dry goods merchant, land developer and

builder until he retired and moved to Washington, DC

sometime around 1885. He died in 1890.66 Sarah Stewart

was his sister. By 1896, Mary Stewart had become the

owner of 505 Cameron Street. Sarah no longer appears

as a tenant; she may have died. ( *Note: The two Stewart

families do not seem to have been related. Mary Jane’s

father, John Ainsworth Stewart emigrated to the United

States from Ireland just prior to 1799, while James

“Muir” Stewart’s grand father, James Stewart, was al-

ready a resident of Alexandria by 1776, when in Decem-

b e r

o f

that

year, he married Elizabeth “Betty” Ramsay, daughter of

William and Ann McCarty Ramsay. They had two sons,

12

Illustration 6: Author’s conjectural drawing of

the interior of George Washington’s town house.

William Ramsay Stewart and James Montgomery Stew-

art, both born in Alexandria prior to 1785. James Mont-

gomery Stewart and his wife Elizabeth were

subsequently the parents of son James Muir Stewart, born

in 1810, and daughter, Sarah Stewart.)

Mary Jane Stewart never owned her new residence

at 505 Cameron Street. Now that she could no longer

rely on any support from her brother, and in all likelihood

inherited little from his estate, her financial resources

were likely quite limited. She probably rented one room

and shared the kitchen and other common areas of the

house with owner Mary Stewart. Both women were re-

siding there as late as 1900. After 1900, neither city di-

rectories nor property tax records listed Mary Jane

Stewart at 505 Cameron, or for that matter, anywhere else

in town.

Ownership of the Cameron Street house once again

changed hands by 1905. A year later the new owner, Gor-

don Thomas, was residing there with three male tenant.67

Where Mary Jane spent the remaining few years of her

life is not recorded. Her health was probably declining

by this time, perhaps partly the result of lingering injuries

suffered in September 1896. She may have spent a good

portion of that unaccounted for time in the hospital.

Since she no longer had any surviving family members

to take care of her, perhaps she had moved in with

friends.

Mary Jane Stewart died in the Alexandria Hospital,

then located at the southeast corner of Pitt and Wolfe

Streets,68 on Thursday, November 18, 1909 after a long

illness. She was 77 years of age. Her obituary described

her as “...a gentlewoman of the old school - unselfish,

considerate, courteous and lovable.”69

EPILOGUE

In 1960, Governor and Mrs. Richard B. Lowe recon-

structed George Washington’s town house on its original

site at 508 Cameron Street.70 Governor Lowe, 1902 -

1972, had served as the 42nd Governor of American

Samoa (1953-1956), and the 8th Governor of Guam

(1956-1959). Upon his retirement from public life, Lowe

and his wife began restoring homes in the Washington,

DC area. George Washington’s town house was one of

their first projects.

Employing the results of on-site archeological re-

search, information contained in George Washington’s

diary, letters, and accounts ledger, and Miss Stewart’s fin-

ished sketch, Lowe reconstructed the exterior of the

house as accurately as possible utilizing new building

materials, except for a few period bricks and other debris

uncovered on the property and presumed to have origi-

nated from the long demolished dwelling house. Exterior

paint colors, red for the wooden roof shingles and “stone”

for the frame siding, conformed to Washington’s diary

account. The interior, however, was redesigned for “20th

century living” and incorporated an open first floor plan

to accommodate formal entertaining. The original nar-

row entry hall was eliminated and the staircase giving ac-

cess to both the attic spaces and the basement kitchen

level, was placed parallel to the back wall. The three fire-

places, one per floor, were installed on the west end of

the building as originally designed by George Washing-

ton in 1763.

Illustration 6 is the author’s conjectural drawing of

what the original town house interior may have looked

like, based on Washington’s diary entries and Mary Jane

Stewart’s written description of the house.

* * * * * *

The author, Richard Klingenmaier, has an M.A. in In-

ternational Relations and has served abroad in the For-

eign Service with the U. S. Department of State. He is a

life-long student of early American history and has pub-

lished two previous articles in the Alexandria Chronicle:

“Catherine’s Ring” and “The Burial of General George

Washington.” He and his wife Trish reside in Alexan-

dria’s historic district where he serves on the Board of

Directors of the Alexandria Association.

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13

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tions, Alexandria Library, Alexandria, Virginia. 68Kaye, Ruth Lincoln. “The History of the Alexandria

Hospital. Alexandria Chronicle, Alexandria Historical

Society. Fall 1995.69Alexandria Gazette, November 19, 1909.70Bailey, Worth.

The Alexandria Historical Society

President, Bill Dickinson

Vice President, Program, Debbie Ackerman

Secretary, Ted Pulliam

Treasurer, Lisa Adamo

Directors

Katy Cannady

Dave Cavanaugh, Publicity

Jackie Cohan, Newsletter Editor

Sarah Coster, Web Master

Audrey Davis

Tal Day,

Paul Friedman, Membership

Linda Greenberg, Editor, Alexandria Chronicle

Julie Randle

Adrienne Washington

15

“ DEATH OF MISS STEWART.

Miss Mary Jane Stewart, an old and much

respected resident of this city, died about 5

o’clock yesterday afternoon at the Alexan-

dria Hospital after a long illness.

Miss Stewart lived for many years with

her brother, William D. Stewart, on

Cameron street, near Pitt street, and had just

left him reading in the dining room when a

chimney crashed through the roof during

the tornado on September 29, 1896, and

killed him. Miss Stewart was only slightly

injured,but never fully recovered from the

shock and had been at the hospital during

recent years.

She was a gentlewoman of the old school

– unselfish, considerate,courteous and lov-

able. She was a consistent member of the

Presbyterian Church.” The Alexandria

Gazette, Friday, November 19, 1909.

TheAlexandria Chronicle

A publication of monographs about historical Alexandria, Virginia.

ALEXANDRIAAA HISTORICAL SOCIETY,YY INC. 201 South Washington Street • Alexandria, Virginia 22314

This issue of the Alexandria Chronicle tells

the story of Mary Jane Stewart, a “gentle-

woman of the old school -- unselfish, consid-

erate, courteous and lovable” - and her sketch

of the home built by George Washington in

Alexandria.

The mission of the Alexandria Historical So-

ciety is to promote an active interest in Amer-

ican history and particularly in the history of

Alexandria and Virginia. For information

about activities of the Historical Society and

for past issues of the Alexandria Chronicle

please visit the society’s web site:

www.alexandriahistorical.org. The Chronicle

is published through the support of the J.

Patten Abshire Memorial Fund.

In the next issue of the Chronicle Catherine

Miliaras documents the evolution of the

Parker-Gray Historic District in Alexandria. It

will be published in February 2014.