residence of the eminent architect, Ward Brown, until
his death in 1946.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Chapter 14

Dr. Elisha C. Dick and The Fawcett House

[507 Prince Street. Owners: The Fawcett Family.]

The dashing Dr. Dick first appeared in Alexandria fresh from the
tutelage of Drs. Benjamin Rush and William Shippen of Philadelphia. He
was just twenty-one and of a figure to set feminine hearts aflutter;
five feet ten inches, of commanding presence, very handsome, "playing
with much skill upon several musical instruments" and singing in a sweet
voice of great power; skilled and learned in his profession, "a strong
and cultivated intellect," a genial spirit, witty and charming.[141]

The son of Major Archibald Dick (Deputy Quartermaster General in the
Revolutionary Army in 1779) and his wife, Mary Barnard, Elisha Cullen
Dick was born on March 15, 1762, at his father's estate near Marcus
Hook, in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

His primary education was gained at the Philadelphia Academy, in the
home of the Rev. Robert Smith, D.D., at Pegnea, and in his father's
home, tutored by the Rev. Samuel Armor. In 1780 he began the study of
medicine, graduating on March 21, 1782. Two days later he lost his
father and came into his inheritance of half the estate. A year later he
disposed of his Pennsylvania interest to Isaac Dutton and started for
Charleston, South Carolina, with the expectation of settling there.

[Illustration: Floor plan of house]

Armed with letters of introduction to General Washington, Colonel
Fitzgerald, and Colonel Lyles, he stopped en route in Alexandria "to
call upon a female relative" and to present his letters. He got no
farther. "Influential persons" caused him to abandon his plans and
remain in Alexandria, where the recent death of old Dr. Rumney left an
opening which Dr. Dick filled for better than forty years. Alas, for the
belles of Alexandria! In October 1783, Dr. Dick married Miss Hannah
Harmon, the daughter of Jacob and Sarah Harmon of Darby in Chester
County, Pennsylvania.

Two years after beginning his professional life in Alexandria, he pulled
a tooth for one of the Mount Vernon house servants, and the following
entry taken from Washington's diary for February 6, 1785, tells the
results which do not seem to have been entirely satisfactory:

Sunday, 6th, Doctr. Brown was sent for to Frank (Waiter in the
house), who had been seized in the night with a bleeding