By the turn of the century, the city of Alexandria boasted three fire companies whose membership rosters included the most responsible citizens. The year 1774, marking the formation of the Sun Fire Company, also saw the organization of the better-known Friendship Fire Company, claiming Washington as honorary member. The Star Fire Company was founded in 1799.
Alexandria property owners were quick to realize the advantages of membership in the Mutual Assurance Society, established in December 1794 and offering protection "Against FIRE on BUILDINGS in the State of Virginia." At the Alexandria office, leading citizens enthusiastically subscribed to a plan so soundly conceived and efficiently administered that the company which pioneered it is in operation to this day. The archives of the Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia constitute a mine of valuable information for the researcher. From General Washington's own files derives a broadside listing early subscribers throughout the state.[136] The Alexandria section includes a number of citizens whom we know to have been conscious of the ever-present danger of fire:
Name
Number Buildings Insured
Value
Name
Number Buildings Insured
Value
Wm. Hartshorne
3
7000
Wm. Brown
3
5500
John Potts
4
10000
Henry Stroman
1
300
Isaac McPherson
8
17700
Diedrich Schekle
2
3400
Rob. Hamilton
4
6000
E. Deneale
1
2000
J. B. Nickols
6
2000
Korn & Wisemiller
3
6000
Ch. Simms
4
3000
Rob. Lyle
4
7300
Lemuel Bent
1
400
Wm. Ramsay
2
2000
Thomas Rogerson
2
1000
Henry McCue
3
4000
R. T. Hooe
7
23500
Philip Wanton
1
800
John Dunlap
1
2000
Ephriam Evans
2
1600
Wm. Hodgson
3
10000
Dennis Foley
2
2000
Rob't Young & Co.
2
8000
Wm. Hartshorne
1
4000
Tho's Patten & Co.
12
14600
Philip G. Martsteller
2
3300
John R. Wheaton
2
3000
Joseph Thornton
1
2000
John Mandeville
10
15000
Stump, Ricketts & Co.
3
10000
Charles Lee
2
6000
Samual Davis
1
2000
Wm. Herbert
6
16000
Thomas Richards
5
15000
John Longden
3
3000
Adam Lynn
2
2000
Richard Weightman
4
4000
Mathew Robinson & Co.
2
3000
R. Weightman for the heirs
Wm. Hoye
1
1600
of Ray's Estate
3
1000
John Harper
4
8000
Wm. Summers
5
8000
Benjamin Shreve
3
9000
John Dundas
2
7000
John Fitzgerald
3
6000
Henry Walker
1
800
Thomas Forrell
1
800
John & Tho's Vowell
2
3000
Wm. Wright
3
2700
Ricketts & Newton
2
5000
James Kennedy
2
6000
George M. Munn
2
5000
Joseph Riddle & Co.
2
3500
Jonah Thompson
5
14000
Guy Atkinson
1
3000
Adam S. Swoope
1
2000
James Patton
2
6000
Mordecai Miller
1
3000
James Lawrason
1
1500
Wm. Bushby
2
4500
Shreve & Lawrason
7
12000
Philip Richard Fendall
7
10000
Geo. Hunter
3
3000
Wm. Hepburn
9
13500
Jacob Cox
4
3000
Tho's White
2
1600
Geo. Gilpin
3
6000
Richard Conway
8
15000
Isaac McPherson for N.
Wm. M. McKnight
1
3000
Elliot
4
12000
Charles McKnight
1
2000
George Slacum
3
3000
P. Marsteller
1
2000
Geo. Slacum for Gabriel
Adam Faw
1
2000
Slacum
1
2000
Wm. Halley
1
3000
Samuel Harper
1
1200
Jacob Schuch
3
1000
Jamieson
1
400
Peter Wise
3
9000
Chapin
2
2600
Chapter 13
Captain John Harper and His Houses
The streets of the old port of Alexandria bear royal names. Prince is one of those streets, shown in the first map of the town as surveyed in 1749. The 100 block is still paved with cobblestones "big as beer kegs" purportedly laid by Hessian prisoners during the Revolution.
