the statute for transferring uses into
possessions to have and to hold the said lands tenements and all and
singular other premises with them and every of their appurtenances
together with the aforesaid slaves unto the said John Dixon, his heirs
and assigns forever,"[113] provided always that if William Ramsay shall
pay or cause paid to John Dixon of the town of White Haven, England, the
just sum of L810 7_s._ with interest at five per cent per annum on the
first day of July next, he will again come into possession of this vast
property.

[Illustration: The Great Room]

In the following August, Dixon appointed Harry Piper of Alexandria his
true and lawful attorney to collect and receive for him all sums of
money or tobacco which might become due, "and furthermore for as much as
I have taken a Deed of Mortgage from Mr. William Ramsay of the town of
Alexandria in the Colony of Virginia, Merchant, for sundrie lotts or
half acres of land in the town of Alexandria with ye houses, gardens and
other improvements thereon, together with sundrie slaves as also one
tract or parcel of land...."[114]

In 1757 by a letter of attorney, dated August 8, John Dixon, merchant,
of the town of White Haven in the Kingdom of Great Britain, authorized
and empowered his attorney, Harry Piper of Alexandria, to take all legal
means of foreclosure to receive the sum of L810 from William Ramsay who
had mortgaged certain part of lots Nos. 64 and 65 with sundry slaves to
secure that amount.

John Dixon in turn sold this property to the Scottish firm of shipping
merchants, Robert McCrea, Robert Mease, & John Boyd in 1774, and in 1778
Boyd released his part of the property to McCrea and Mease for the sum
of L253, with all houses, alleys, profits, commodities, and so on.

That William Ramsay built at least a part of this house seems almost
indisputable. First, Augustine Washington had forfeited the property by
not complying with the law to build thereon, and it seems hardly
possible that Ramsay should have owned the property from 1754 to 1757
without complying with this act of the assembly. Furthermore, in the
appointment of Piper as Dixon's attorney on August 16, 1757, the
property is referred to as consisting of houses, gardens, and other
improvements thereon. Dixon disposed of the property in 1774 to McCrea,
Mease & Boyd, and four years later Boyd released his part for L253, with
all houses, alleys, and so on. Little construction was done in
Al