, a bride went into deep retirement for a
week before the fateful day, not going out into the street at all, and
as for seeing the groom on the day until she met him at the altar, that
was simply unthinkable!

Margaret McVean was the daughter of the Reverend James McVean, who was
born near Johnstown, New York, in 1796. He was a graduate of Union
College in 1813, and of Princeton in 1819. It was said that he spoke
seven languages with fluency and that the chair of Greek at Princeton
was always open to him. He came to Georgetown about 1820 and married
Jane Maffitt Whann in 1828. For twenty years he was the principal of a
classical seminary for boys in Georgetown, the same one founded by Dr.
David Wiley. There a large number of young men were prepared for
college, who afterwards attained distinction in various professions or
government positions of trust and honor. He was for twenty-five years
superintendent of the Presbyterian Sabbath School. He died July 8, 1847,
and as a testimonial of respect, the Board of Common Council and
Aldermen, of which he was a member, suspended business for eight days,
and crepe was worn on the arm for thirty days.

Another of these letters of Mrs. Cassin's tells that her son, William
Deakins Cassin, has just become engaged to "that harumscarum Mittie
Tyler." She fears for their future. Mittie (Mary) Tyler was the daughter
of dear old Dr. Tyler across the street.

The mother-in-law's fears certainly did not materialize, for Mrs.
Cassin, junior, lived a long and honored life. I remember her faintly
when she was about eighty years old, with hair parted in the middle and
combed down over each ear as "coal black as a raven's wing," as the old
saying goes.

They all seemed to marry their neighbors in those days, for Sue, another
daughter of Dr. Tyler's married Granville Hyde across the street.

The Hyde's house was next door to the Cassin's on the south. One can see
that it is quite old, and it seems that it was built about 1798 by
Charles Beatty, one of our old friends of the early days of George Town.
He ran one of the ferries across the river to the Virginia shore. About
1806 he had sold the house to Nicholas Hedges; then it went to James
Belt in 1822, and to Joshua Stuart in 1832. Later, it was bought by Mr.
Thomas Hyde, one of the early merchants of Georgetown. His son, Anthony
continued to live there and was for many years secretary to Mr. W. W.
Corcoran. Anthony Hyde was very musical an