William Ramsay
b. 1716 · d. 1785
Scottish-born merchant, one of the original trustees of Alexandria in 1749, and by local tradition the town’s first postmaster and first lord mayor. His frame house on King Street is generally accepted as the oldest extant house in Alexandria.
William Ramsay emigrated from Galloway, Scotland, and was established as a trading merchant at Belhaven by the mid-1740s. He was named in the 1749 act of the Virginia General Assembly that laid out Alexandria on sixty acres of land acquired from the Alexander family [1] Miller, Artisans and Merchants, 1991 Book . Ramsay served repeatedly on the town’s board of trustees and is described in nineteenth-century local accounts as its first lord mayor, though the title was honorary.
The small frame structure now known as the Ramsay House was moved to the corner of King and Fairfax streets sometime in the 1750s and altered repeatedly thereafter. The building now serving as the city’s visitor center incorporates fabric from the original dwelling [2] HABS Alexandria survey Government record . Ramsay died in 1785 and was buried in the Presbyterian Meeting House burying ground.
Associated places
- 1749–1785
William Ramsay owned and occupied the house from the town's founding until his death.
221 King Street — William Ramsay, Merchant
1755–1785Ramsay conducted his merchant business from the Fairfax Street corner.
- 1772–1785
William Ramsay was a member of the congregation and was buried in the yard in 1785.
- 1773–1785
Ramsay was among the original pewholders and is buried in the yard.
Sources
- 1.
T. Michael Miller, Artisans and Merchants of Alexandria, Virginia 1780-1820, Heritage Books, 1991.
Book
- 2.
Historic American Buildings Survey, Alexandria, Virginia records, National Park Service / Library of Congress.
Government record
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