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| George Johnston and Robert Hanson Harrison. Alexandria Virginia |
| May 20,2008 |
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Alexandria Virginia History
According to tradition, parts of this house were built around 1757 by George Johnston, Sr. (c1700-c1766), and around 1772 by his son-in-law, Robert Hanson Harrison (1745-1790). However, tax records show that it was built after 1800.
George Washington’s attorney, George Johnston, Sr. was also a Fairfax County delegate in the Virginia House of Burgesses; and in 1765 he seconded Patrick Henry’s resolution against the Stamp Act. In addition, Johnston was a trustee of Alexandria. When Johnston died in 1766, George Washington succeeded him in the House of Burgesses and as a town trustee. Although Washington’s diary for February 7, 1770, states that he “rode to Alexandria to attend a trustee’s meeting,” there is no record that he actually attended that meeting or any other meeting of the trustees. Nevertheless, Washington was listed as a trustee of the town from 1766 until 1778.
Johnston’s son, George Johnston, Jr. (1750-1777), was as an aide to Washington from January 20, 1777, until his death from camp fever at Morristown, New Jersey, on May 19, 1777. Following the death of Johnston, the property was owned by Robert Hanson Harrison. Washington went hunting with Harrison in 1772 and found both a bear and a fox, but they were unable to shoot either of the animals. Harrison was clerk of the meeting, chaired by George Washington, at which the Fairfax Resolves were adopted on July 18, 1774.
On May 16, 1776, Harrison was appointed secretary to General Washington and served until the end of the war, when he became Chief Justice of the General Court of Maryland. Several times in 1789, President Washington offered to appoint him an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, but he declined because of his health and family responsibilities.
(Adapted from Robert Madison’s Walking with Washington, available in Alexandria museum gift shops.)
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