something of an architect himself, with an eye to securing competent
workmen near home, is said to have persuaded George Coryell to move to
Alexandria. Here Coryell bought a lot on Duke Street in 1794 where he
lived for many years. That Coryell set up in the building and lumber
business and was very active is better documented, for this
advertisement appeared in the _Gazette_ for October 23, 1793:

George Coryell
Has for Sale
At His Board Yard on Mr. Mease's Wharf and
at his Dwelling House on Duke Street
Two-inch, Inch, and Half-Inch and
etc. Plank. House frames of different
sizes, Cypress shingles
Locust and Red Cedar Post
Scantling

Many houses in the town are perhaps his handiwork, but the statement
that he built Dr. Craik's house or the frame cottage next door, which
tradition says was his Alexandria home, is open to grave doubt. Recorded
deeds at Fairfax Court House testify that the house and lot east of Dr.
Craik were owned by Joseph Robinson, a sailmaker, in 1783, and used
descriptively in a deed dated 1795. Coryell's lot was two doors below
Dr. Craik's house (the lot now in possession of General Carl Spaatz)
which Coryell purchased from William and Sarah Lyles of Prince Georges
County, Maryland.

Coryell served for a time as clerk of the market and sealer of weights
and measures. He did some repair jobs on Washington's town house. At the
General's funeral, when Lieutenant Moss was unable to carry the heavy
weight of the casket, George Coryell took his place as one of the
pallbearers. He remained in Alexandria some fifty-odd years, returning
to Coryell's Ferry a few years previous to his death in 1850, at the
advanced age of ninety-one.

At the first auction of lots in Alexandria town in 1749, the lots
numbered 80 and 81 were sold to Anne West. The trustees upset this sale
in 1754, reselling lot No. 80 to George Mercer for L9 13_s._ 10_d._ and
lot No. 81 going to Daniel Wilson for L10 10_s._ By devious transactions
these parcels of land were divided and sold. The property of Dr. Craik
was in the ownership of John Short, a watchmaker, in 1783. Due to
inability to repay John Harper money advanced, Short, then of the
borough of Norfolk, sold his house and lot at auction on November 30,
1789 to John Murry for L234. This same property was sold by John B.
Murry and Patty, his wife, of the city and state of New York on October
26, 1795, along with another lot belong