John Carlyle
b. 1720 · d. 1780
Scottish-born merchant, one of the founding trustees of Alexandria in 1749, and builder of the stone Carlyle House at the head of what is now Fairfax Street. Carlyle was a commissary for the Virginia militia during the Braddock expedition of 1755.
John Carlyle arrived in Virginia from Dumfriesshire in 1741 and settled first at Belhaven, the small tobacco warehouse landing that would be reorganized as Alexandria in 1749 [1] Miller, Artisans and Merchants, 1991 Book . He was among the eleven trustees who laid out the town and one of its largest early landholders. In 1753 he completed his stone mansion overlooking the Potomac, the most substantial private dwelling in the Northern Neck at that date.
In April 1755 General Edward Braddock used the Carlyle House as his headquarters while meeting with the royal governors of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts to plan the opening campaign of the French and Indian War [2] Powell, History of Old Alexandria, 1928 Book . Carlyle’s own accounts from the period record the logistical difficulty of provisioning the expedition. He held enslaved persons throughout his adult life and his household inventory at death lists them by first name.
Associated places
- 1753–1780
John Carlyle built the house and occupied it with his family and household until his death in 1780.
121 North Fairfax Street — John Carlyle, Merchant
1753–1780Carlyle ran his merchant counting-house from the Fairfax Street property.
Sources
- 1.
T. Michael Miller, Artisans and Merchants of Alexandria, Virginia 1780-1820, Heritage Books, 1991.
Book
- 2.
Mary G. Powell, The History of Old Alexandria, Virginia, from July 13, 1749 to May 24, 1861, Richmond: William Byrd Press, 1928.
Book
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