The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-02-07
MIR. w. w. CorcOran and His Rem!-
niscences OF Georgetown and of Some
Distinguished Virglnians.

From New York Daily Graphic Correspondence
lately had talk with the banker Mr. w.
w. Corcorau about Georgetown %. CO. mat
tiers In general. Mr.. Corcolan has given
this city gallery of art, cemetery,
widows home, and prepared park and en-
lowed a college. He is the richest citizen
we ever possessed, and his father was an
Irish mechanic.
lie was born in his fathers house, seventy
five wears ago, on Bridge street above High,
GEORGETOWN, and said that his father had
built this house soon after he settled in the
place in 1887. The house was still in his
possession. The business of old George
town was nearly all done below the bank,
and the Union Hotel had no equal in the
United States in its day. Rufus King and
other rich men had private table there; and
for their common parlor, separate bedrooms,
fire, and service, paid price then unheard Of,
and much denounced for its extravaganza OF
six dollars day per man, which was pre-
ciscly tLeir pay as congressman. John Ran,
dolph stopped there, and Georgetown dla
nearly all the business of the District OF
Columbia down TO 1ss,il6-'l7.
Iasked Mr. Corcoran what ne thought
would now be the rank of GeorsetoWn
as port and city had the capital mol peei
Ilacce. beside it.
auh." he said, cit would have been
great deal larger. 1t was nearly equai &c
Baltimore when my father arrived, and mac
some of the shrewdest Scotch merchants IL
the country. There were three or four iargt
tohoccn warehouses, and one OF them was
lniIt nearly as fur up Rock creek as e-Stree
br;dre II was the tobacco raised IN those
JavS which made our neighboring country
sn noor as It was not the habit to put any
fertilizer on the land"
Mr. Corcoran said that one row of house:
tive High street long went by the name O
s|Seo,.ch. Row." and young man with him
,,i,ono he called Mackay, said that there Were
1onses out Egh street which would no
hr,no $500 now AZ sale that formerly rented
for $500 wear. When the country trade
came in that way six cents pound was the
highest price asked for mountain venison in
the early part of the century. Bladensburg
never had any character or Importance in
MIR. Corcoran's life.
He remembered Mason's island when
General John Mason was 10 his prime. The
frame house which first stood there was
burnt about 1904. The succeeding house
was not remarkably spacious, but quite hos.
pitable; and Mrs. Mason had the most beau
tiful garden, covering nearly the whole in.
terror side of the island, and her gardener
wrote book on his craft, which was pub.
lished in Georgetown. Here were born the
five children Of John Mason. The elder
(John) was sent abroad to be educated, was
put in the care of Lafayette, and for some
time lived at La Grange with his fathers
friend. He was fond OF pleasure, however;
and died early, after being secretary to
Mexico with MIR. Poinsett. The second
son was James 81. Mason, afterward United
States senator and insurgent commits.
sioner 10 Great Britain, who married Miss
Chew, Of Germantown, Pa. One of the
daughters married the Confederate Adjutant
General Cooper; another, Mr. -, of Bal.
timore and a third, the insurgent Admiral
Lee. General Mason's estate stretched along
the south bank of the Potomac as far as
Little Falls. The old ferry-house opposite
the foot Of High street, which is still stand
ing 10 q dtlapidated condition, marks the
celebrated ferry which Mason leased out,
with its.large flatboat propelled by sweeps.
The csuseway connecting the island with
the Virginia shore was at times used by
everybody en- route TO the ferry. This
was the only great ferry OF its pc.
riod between the South and the North
General Mason was a Democrat Of posi-.
tive type, the son OF George Mason, Of Guns,
ton, and Mr.. Corcoran compared Mason's
influence with the Tayloes. The former
always had more power with Madison, Mon
roe, and with the great officials and with the
populace than the richer Tayloes, who were
severe Federalists. General Mason was
buried about three miles back of Alexan.
dria, on the road to Fairfax. He would
have been man OF Dati0nal fame had be
lived anywhere but in the District Of Co
lumbia. . Il. @ ..Is E
I asked Mr.. Corcoran II be did not miss
his familiar paintings at home "No,"
be said,. "my sight IL so bad that / can
neither read nor look at pictures, and
must take my enjoyment by what
ether people ssy.1 He eulogized Len.
faaRs deposition OF the almost ,nman-
agesble swamp which WAS selected for the
site OF Washington city, and spoke OF the
tulip, magnolia, gum, and alder trees which
g.sw aiang the IibeE and Slash ruu. Major
RE.Rnts the potter Of Washington city,
he oftsa say, and described bin with pre-
cision. HehWore o blue military surtout,
4uhoned csoAe 10 the throat; and . toll, black