Presenting The Sun Fire Company
In the eighteenth century calamities visited Alexandria, and of these
nothing was more feared than fire. To prevent and control such
catastrophes the gentlemen of the town formed themselves into several
companies of fire fighters. How and with what means the raging
holocausts were controlled is revealed in an old, mutilated,
leather-bound minute book of the Sun Fire Company.[135] The first entry
in this treasure is part of the damaged record for the March meeting in
1775. The next page is numbered 9 and contains the minutes for the April
meeting. This is evidence that the Company was formed in 1774 between
August and December.
At this March 1775 meeting it was agreed to limit the number of the
Company to forty-five persons. The clerk for this meeting was John
Dalton; members served as clerks in rotation. Absent members were fined
one shilling three pence. Members were to be provided with two buckets,
a brown linen or oznaburg bag containing at least four yards of
material, and a wicker basket as soon as possible after admittance.
These were to be hung up in good order and always in place. There was a
forfeiture of money for any neglect. The Company took some several
months to acquire proper ladders and hooks. In April the "propriety of
purchasing an Engine" was discussed and at the June meeting it was
agreed to postpone the matter. Three ladders were then finished but most
of the buckets were at the painters being marked with owners' names and
numbers. By August the ladders had been completed by Thomas Flemming,
and John Dalton was ordered to procure locks with proper staples for
securing the ladders under the "piazza of the Court House."
As the Revolutionary War got under way many of the members were excused,
"being frequently abroad on the Servis of Their Country." Among these
were Captain Valentine Peirs, Captain John Allison, Colonel John
Fitzgerald and J. Windsor Brown.
Unfortunately the clerks took for granted that everybody knew when there
had been a fire and rarely are these important events mentioned in the
minutes. In January 1777, "William Wilson lost a bucket at the late
fire" and he was authorized to purchase another at the Company's
expense; Robert Adam, who was clerk, forgot to "warn the Company and was
fined Ten Shillings"; several members neglected to put up lights when
the late fire happened at Zael Cooper's and the fine was two shillings.
The next clerk was "desired to Enquire of the several members if they
had candles at their windows and to collect Fines from such of them as
had not."
The light begins to break--at the first hint of fire the Company member
must, at the fastest possible speed, put lighted candles in the front
windows of his dwelling. This was Alexandria's first alarm system! The
member then dashed for four yards of material in an oznaburg bag, two
leather fire buckets (they each weighed as much as a saddle) and a
wicker basket and, without stopping, he raced to the fire, where he
either pumped water, formed spectators in ranks for passing buckets,
removed goods from burning houses in his bag or basket, climbed ladders
or pulled down adjoining houses when necessary; and last but not least
watched to "prevent evil minded persons from plundering sufferers." The
only tranquil occupation was that of the "sentinels" who kept watch over
goods removed from the conflagration wherever such goods were deposited.
What a spectacular sight a fire in Alexandria presented when one
remembers the elegant dress of the day; short clothes, elaborate jackets
or vests, ruffled linen, full skirted coats, perukes, queues braided and
beribboned, powdered heads in three-cornered hats, silken and white
hose, buckled shoes; and that fires generally occurred in winter upon
the coldest days and in the worst weather, often at night, and that
these firemen were the elite of the town, the serious, responsible
merchants, doctors, masters, ship captains and owners.
There was some reward now and then for their efforts. At the April
meeting in 1777, the "Succeeding Clerk is desired to warn the Company to
meet next month at the _Ball Room_ and to Desire the Treasurer to
purchase Ten Gallons of Spirits, and one Loaf of Sugar Candles etc. The
Clerk to have the Ball Room cleaned and put in order." Alas, the members
were either not warned or invited for only six showed up. The next month
was worse, again no warning and only four came. The clerk was ordered to
warn again and provide what spirit, sugar and candles may be necessary
for the next meeting and "that the same be held in the Town House." The
clerk was reimbursed "one pound Two Shillings for white washing and
cleaning the Ball Room."
On February 22, 1779, a resolution was passed to fine the clerk refusing
or neglecting his duty forty-two shillings, and absent members three
shillings. There was a fine called the "Moreover Fine," which was
increased from five shillings to nine shillings, and the Company voted
to dispose of any sum not exceeding L5 "when less than 2/3 of the
members are met." Besides funds in cash, the Company had 1,000 pounds of
tobacco on hand. The following July the Company ordered the tobacco
sold.
On Monday, October 27, 1783, nine years after the founding of the
Company, the succeeding clerk is ordered to give notice that at the next
meeting a proposal will be made to dispose of the money in stock in the
purchase of an engine. Two months later, undaunted by the recent
unpleasantness, the treasurer was requested to "Import from London on
account of this Company a fire engine value from seventy to eighty
pounds sterling." It took two years for the engine to arrive.
Preparatory to its reception, officers were appointed for its direction.
Nine stalwart members were chosen, and they were ordered to serve nine
months. Six shillings each was collected from the members to help make
up the deficiency, and a committee was appointed to wait upon the county
court with a petition requesting ground sufficient for building an
enginehouse upon the courthouse lot. This was granted and the
enginehouse was built on Fairfax Street "adjoining the school House."
The members were called on for a dollar each for this purpose and it was
later necessary to borrow another dollar. Two keys were ordered labeled
"Sun Fire Company."
The April minutes in 1786 contain the invoice for the engine:
To a Fire Engine Imported from London with 2 dozen buckets
Amt p. invoice L 72.14
Commission on shipping D^o--5% 3.12. 8
Insurance on L76 @ 2-1/2pc 1.18
Freight from London 6. 6
----------
L 84.10. 8
Exchange 40 pc^1 33.16. 2
----------
118. 6.10
Freight from Baltimore 1. 4
----------
L119.10.10.
It was incorporated into the articles that the engine was to be worked
for two hours every Monday of the meeting, and anyone neglecting to
attend and work the engine was penalized nine pence. Moreover William
Herbert, Dennis Ramsay and Isaac Roberdeau were charged with getting the
engine to fires.
About this time (1788) the Virginia Assembly passed an act authorizing
the different towns in the state to elect fire companies.
In May 1789, Dr. William Brown was elected treasurer to succeed William
Hartshorne.
The first mention by the Sun of other fire companies in Alexandria is in
the minutes of February 28, 1791. In July specific reference is made to
the Friendship Fire Company and the Relief Fire Company.
In May 1793, the Sun Company was dissatisfied with the English engine,
and they began correspondence with a Mr. Mason of Philadelphia with the
intention of selling the old engine and acquiring a new one. Mason
manufactured three engines. They contained 190, 170 and 160 gallons of
water, respectively, which they discharged in one minute and a half and
they were worked by twenty-four, twenty-two and eighteen or twenty men,
respectively, and varied in price accordingly. The Sun Fire Company
purchased the smallest engine for L125. It seems to have arrived in
April 1794. Later the old engine "with the suction pipe" was thoroughly
repaired by Mason and returned to the Sun Fire Company.
By 1796 such confusion reigned at fires that the three companies
associated themselves together to make and sustain certain plans and
rules for the management of fires. It was decided to have three
directors or commanders, one chosen from each company, only one of whom
was to act at a time, who were to have control of the engines, fire
hooks, ladders and to be the judges of the expediency of pulling down
adjacent buildings. In order that these gentlemen be more conspicuous
(distinguished was the word) it was decided to "elevate their voices
above the ordinary clamour on such occasions," each of them in action
was ordered to carry in his hand a "_speaking trumpet, painted white,
and not less than three feet long_." Each company was to keep such an
affair in the enginehouse.
There were then chosen three subordinate directors who had immediate
charge of the engine under the commander, then four persons from each
Company, to be called regulators, who were to "_be diligent in searching
for the most convenient source of water_, in forming lanes for the
supply of the engines, and _preventing the use of dirty puddle water_."
Upon these gentlemen fell the unpleasant task of "noticing remisness in
the members and others and being obliged to give information to their
respective companies whenever such shameful instances occured to their
observation." Trustees were responsible for the removal of property, and
the entire company was obliged to wear "at times of fire" by way of
distinction, black caps with white fronts with letters thereon
designating their company. Moreover these companies pledged themselves
to "respect" the other companies when their property was in danger from
fire, "in preference to persons who are members of neither."
Doctor Dick stated that he lost his fire bucket at the fire at William
Herbert's house, then occupied by Edmund Edmunds, and the treasurer
reimbursed the good Doctor eighteen shillings on October 24, 1796.
In July 1797, Dennis Ramsay was ordered to lower and enlarge the engine
house to receive the old engine; the floor had given way in 1793. He
presented his bills the following February for a total of L43 9_s._
9_d._
In 1799 it was decided to hold meetings at the courthouse, from May to
October at half after seven o'clock, and from November to April at six
o'clock.
One of the last mentions of the engines was in 1800. The engines were
both worked at the January meeting, found to be in good order, except
that the old one leaked a little.
Governed by a set of "articles" framed by themselves, to which they
faithfully adhered, these firemen fined themselves and paid their fines,
cheerfully or otherwise (they were mostly Scotsmen) when neglectful of
their duty. A roster was kept each year, month by month, marking the
members present or absent. The A's predominate. It was from these fines,
plus others for neglect of duty that the Company's funds were formed.
Many of these rosters have been destroyed, but enough remain to give an
idea of the citizens who were members of the Sun Fire Company and lived
near each other within a certain radius of the water front.
* * * * *
List of members of the Sun Fire Company of Alexandria for January
1777--being the first intact roster in the minutes:
William Ramsay
John Dalton
Robert H. Harrison
James Hendricks
Thomas Fleming
Richard Conway
William Hartshorne
James Kirk
Patrick Murray
Mathew Campbell
James Buchannan
William Hunter
David Jackson (Doctor)
John Mills
John Carlyle
John Harper (Capt.)
George Gilpin
Robert Mease McCrea
William Rumney
Richard Harrison
William Wilson
Thomas Kirkpatrick
Andrew Steward
James Stewart
Josiah Watson
William Herbert
Robert Mease
John Finley
William Brown (Dr.)
William Hepburn
Cyrus Capper
Robert Allison
James Muir
Robert Adam
George Hunter
Edward Owens
_Added 1778_
Dennis Ramsay (Col.)
John Fitzgerald (Col.)
David Arrell
Valentine Piers
_Added 1780_
James Adam
William Hunter, Jr.
Colin MacIver
David Steward (Doctor)
Peter Dow
Daniel Roberdeau (Gen.)
_Added 1783_ [_Pages from 48 to 72 missing_]
William Bird
R. Hooe (Col. Robert T. Hooe)
William Lyles (Col. Committee of Safety)
Samuel Montgomery Brown
Joseph White Harrison
Jesse Taylor
Charles Simms
Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick
_Added 1784_
John Sutton
Henry Lyles
John Hendricks (Col.)
George Richards
John Oliphant
Michael Ryan (Col.)
John Allison
John Hawkins
Daniel McPherso
_Added 1785_
Thomas Williams
Jonathan Swift
Randle Mitchel
William Baker (Doctor)
William Lowry
Michael Madden
William Ramsay (Doctor)
Edward Harper
Jonah Thompson
_Added 1786_
James Woodward (Capt.)
W.H. Vowel
Philip Marsteller
Joseph Greenway
William H. Powell
Cleon Moore
John Rumney
John Potts
Robert Donaldson
_Added 1787_
Baldwin Dade
Francis Peyton
John Long
John Love
George Deneale
_Added 1789_
Joseph M. Perrin
Richard Harrison
John Gill
John Forster
_Added 1790_
Jonathan Mandeville
John Carson Seton
Bernard Ghequiere
James Lawrason
Gustavus Brown Campbell (Doc.)
Joseph Riddle
_Added 1793-4-6_
James Douglas
John D. Orr (Doc.)
Stephen Cook (Doc.)
Robert Young
Henry Rose (Doc.)
Leven Powell, Jr.
James McRea
Augustine J. Smith (Doc.)
Jesse Wherry
Robert Hamilton
John Dunlap
Charles R. Scott
Abraham Faw
_Added 1798_
William S. Thompson
Joseph Saul
James Russell
William Hodgson
Nicholas Voss
Amos Allison, Jr.
Charles I. Stur
John T. Ricketts
Cuthbert Powell
John Ramsay
William Byrd Page
Joseph Mandeville
Guy Atkinson
Jacob Hoofman
Antony Vanhavre
Peter Wise, Jr. (Doctor)
Thomas Magruder
James Bacon
John Watts
Alexander Kerr
Walter Jones
Thomas Swann
_Added 1799_
William Groverman
John Dunlap
_Added 1800_
Michael Flannery
(Note: _Not all members at the same time._)
By the turn of the century, the city of Alexandria boasted three fire
companies whose membership rosters included the most responsible
citizens. The year 1774, marking the formation of the Sun Fire Company,
also saw the organization of the better-known Friendship Fire Company,
claiming Washington as honorary member. The Star Fire Company was
founded in 1799.
Alexandria property owners were quick to realize the advantages of
membership in the Mutual Assurance Society, established in December 1794
and offering protection "Against FIRE on BUILDINGS in the State of
Virginia." At the Alexandria office, leading citizens enthusiastically
subscribed to a plan so soundly conceived and efficiently administered
that the company which pioneered it is in operation to this day. The
archives of the Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia constitute a mine
of valuable information for the researcher. From General Washington's
own files derives a broadside listing early subscribers throughout the
state.[136] The Alexandria section includes a number of citizens whom we
know to have been conscious of the ever-present danger of fire:
_Number_
_Buildings_
_Name_ _Insured_ _Value_
Wm. Hartshorne 3 7000
John Potts 4 10000
Isaac McPherson 8 17700
Rob. Hamilton 4 6000
J. B. Nickols 6 2000
Ch. Simms 4 3000
Lemuel Bent 1 400
Thomas Rogerson 2 1000
R. T. Hooe 7 23500
John Dunlap 1 2000
Wm. Hodgson 3 10000
Rob't Young & Co. 2 8000
Tho's Patten & Co. 12 14600
John R. Wheaton 2 3000
John Mandeville 10 15000
Charles Lee 2 6000
Wm. Herbert 6 16000
John Longden 3 3000
Richard Weightman 4 4000
R. Weightman for the heirs of Ray's Estate 3 1000
Wm. Summers 5 8000
Wm. Brown 3 5500
Henry Stroman 1 300
Diedrich Schekle 2 3400
E. Deneale 1 2000
Korn & Wisemiller 3 6000
Rob. Lyle 4 7300
Wm. Ramsay 2 2000
Henry McCue 3 4000
Philip Wanton 1 800
Ephriam Evans 2 1600
Dennis Foley 2 2000
Wm. Hartshorne 1 4000
Philip G. Martsteller 2 3300
Joseph Thornton 1 2000
Stump, Ricketts & Co. 3 10000
Samual Davis 1 2000
Thomas Richards 5 15000
Adam Lynn 2 2000
Mathew Robinson & Co. 2 3000
Wm. Hoye 1 1600
John Harper 4 8000
Benjamin Shreve 3 9000
John Dundas 2 7000
Henry Walker 1 800
John & Tho's Vowell 2 3000
Ricketts & Newton 2 5000
George M. Munn 2 5000
Jonah Thompson 5 14000
Adam S. Swoope 1 2000
Mordecai Miller 1 3000
Wm. Bushby 2 4500
Philip Richard Fendall 7 10000
Wm. Hepburn 9 13500
Tho's White 2 1600
Richard Conway 8 15000
Wm. M. McKnight 1 3000
Charles McKnight 1 2000
P. Marsteller 1 2000
Adam Faw 1 2000
Wm. Halley 1 3000
Jacob Schuch 3 1000
Peter Wise 3 9000
John Fitzgerald 3 6000
Thomas Forrell 1 800
Wm. Wright 3 2700
James Kennedy 2 6000
Joseph Riddle & Co. 2 3500
Guy Atkinson 1 3000
James Patton 2 6000
James Lawrason 1 1500
Shreve & Lawrason 7 12000
Geo. Hunter 5 2700
Jacob Cox 4 3000
Geo. Gilpin 3 6000
Isaac McPherson for N. Elliot 4 12000
George Slacum 3 3000
Geo. Slacum for Gabriel Slacum 1 2000
Samuel Harper 1 1200
Jamieson 1 400
Chapin 2 2600
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