ensed
lavish hospitality until his death in 1817. Thomas Plater also had moved
out from George Town and lived near by. He was the executor for Philip
Barton Key. After Mr. Key's death, his widow went back into town and
took up her residence on the corner of Gay (N) and Congress (31st)
Streets.

After Colonel Forrest left the house on Bridge (M) Street, it was bought
by William Marbury, who had come to Georgetown from Annapolis. He was a
justice of the peace, a very responsible and honorable office in those
days. It was in connection with his reappointment to the office that the
controversy arose which resulted in the famous law case of MARBURY
_versus_ MADISON, as James Madison, in his capacity as Secretary of
State to Thomas Jefferson, was the Madison involved. The prominence of
the case was because it was the first of those great opinions handed
down by Chief Justice John Marshall in which he decided that the Supreme
Court has the power to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional.

[Illustration: PHILIP BARTON KEY]

[Illustration: MRS. PHILIP BARTON KEY (ELIZABETH PLATER)]

In 1814 Mr. Marbury became the first president of the Farmers and
Mechanics Bank when it was organized; its cashier being Clement Smith,
who, after the presidency of Thomas B. Beall, from 1817-1821, became the
third president, and the only one in the history of that institution to
be promoted to that office. Not many years ago, Mr. Marbury's picture,
in his old-fashioned costume, was printed on the bank checks to impress
the public with the antiquity of the institution.

He was a very imposing looking gentleman, as was his son, John Marbury,
who was eight years old when the family moved to Georgetown. Some years
ago, one of his great-grandsons heard the family talking about
"Grandfather's Bourbon nose." A little later he was found standing,
gazing intently at the portrait of the old gentleman, and when asked,
"Why such sudden interest?" he replied, "Where is the 'burb' on his
nose?"

John Marbury married and lived for some years on Gay (N) Street, near
Market (33rd) Street. After his father's death, he moved to the old
house on Bridge (M) Street in order to keep his mother company. He had a
very large family, seven sons and six daughters. All of the daughters
attended Miss English's Seminary, walking to and from school all winter
wearing low-necked and short-sleeved dresses, covered only by a little
cape. Not a case of poverty, I assure y