I am, my dear Dennis, your most Affectionate Father,
Wm Ramsay[65]
Bill of Lading to William Ramsay at Bellehaven, dated 1751. (Ramsay Papers)
When war came, Denny Ramsay, like his brother, threw his lot with the cause of liberty and served with distinction in the army, reaching the rank of colonel.
Dennis Ramsay closely followed in the footsteps of his father. Both served as mayor of the town and it was the official duty of both to address General Washington upon commemorative occasions—William in 1781 after Yorktown, and Dennis in 1789 when the General paused in Alexandria on his way to be inaugurated as President of the new republic. Both father and son were Freemasons and members of the Sun Fire Company.
After the death of Martha Washington's little daughter, Patsy Custis, her empty heart sought solace in association with the young daughters of her friends. The girls of Alexandria kept the carriage wheels rolling to Mount Vernon, where they were joyfully received, and where they were nearly always numerous enough to make a gay evening. The young ladies from the houses of Carlyle, Dalton and Ramsay were near neighbors in Alexandria and frequenters of Mount Vernon, as were the Misses Craik, Herbert, Fitzhugh, Lee, and Fendall, whose presence brightened the mansion house with girlish laughter and confidences. At these gatherings none was held in more affection than the young daughter of William and Ann McCarty Ramsay. Where could a more charming letter be found than this written by the hand of Martha Washington one hundred and seventy-four years ago, within the sounds of the guns of Bunker Hill, to Mistress Betty Ramsay:
Cambridge
December the 30th 1775
Dear Miss
I now set down to tell you that I arrived hear safe, and our party all well—we were fortunate in our time of setting out as the weather proved fine all the time we were on the road—I did not reach Philad till the tuesday after I left home, we were so attended and the gentlemen so kind, that I am lade under obligations to them that I shall not for get soon. I dont dout but you have seen the Figuer our arrival made in the Philadelphia paper—and I left it in as great pomp as if I had been a very great some body.