Elisha C . Dick Elisha Cullen Dick , M . D . ( 15 March 1762 – 22 September 1825 ) was a mayor of Alexandria , Virginia , and attending physician at George Washington ' s death . Family . His father was Archibald Dick ( b . 1715 Edinburgh – 1782 ) , who was a Major in the Revolutionary army , under Assistant Quartermaster General Frazer . Archibald married Mary Barnard and they had two children : Elisha Cullen Dick , and Thomas Barnard Dick . Elisha Dick had a son Archibald B . , and a daughter Julia , Archibald married Sarah S . Hamersley ( d . 1848 ) . Julia married Gideon Pearce , and they had two children , James Alfred Pearce ( 1805 – 1862 ) , and Ann Ophelia ( 1807 – 1866 ) , who married Dabney M . Wharton . Thomas Barnard Dick had a son Archibald Thomas Dick , and grandson Franklin Archibald Dick . Life . Elisha Dick studied with Benjamin Rush , and William Shippen , and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1782 , and in October 1793 , he married Hannah Harmon ( 1763 – 1843 ) , the daughter of Jacob and Sarah Harmon of Marcus Hook , Chester County , Pennsylvania , reported to have been Quakers . Soon afterwards Dr . Dick settled in Alexandria , where he took over the practice of the ailing Dr William Rumney . Thomas Semmes read medicine with him . He sold his half of his father ' s legacy , " Marcus Hook " property for " ₤ " 985 , to Isaac Dutton on April 29 , 1783 . In 1794 , he commanded a cavalry company during the Whiskey Rebellion . On July 24 , 1794 , he was among the founders of the Alexandria Library Company . He lived at 408 Duke Street , Alexandria , Virginia , which he bought from Elizabeth Muir Donaldson for " ₤ " 2 , 169 . On June 8 , 1796 , he insured the home , with the Mutual Assurance Society . The house was brick , 32 by , and one story high ; the house stood between his vacant ground on the east and the west . Outbuildings consisted of a wood kitchen , a wood stable , and a brick smokehouse , the whole valued at $ 3 , 700 . He used a trust on the home for loans totaling $ 6 , 082 . Political career . He was Superintendent of yellow fever Quarantine at Alexandria , and corresponded with Governor James Wood , on October 10 , 1798 . He was appointed to the Republican Party Committee of Correspondence , in Virginia 1800 , along with Roger West , Francis Peyton , Thompson Mason , and Walter Jones , Jr , and he escorted Thomas Jefferson to an election celebration at Gadsby ' s Tavern , at March 1801 . In the wake of Gabriel ' s Rebellion , Elisha C . Dick said abolition societies tended to produce " the most serious calamities . " Writing to Governor James Monroe , Dick called for : immediate legislative measures . . . to restrain if not entirely suppress the schools supported by [ antislavery advocates , who ] are constantly inculcating natural equality among the blacks of every description [ ; ] they are teaching them with great assiduity the only means by which they can at any time be enabled to concert and execute a plan of general insurrection . At the time of the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 , he was chairman of a local committee , petitioning the Congress about local government of the District of Columbia . Elisha Dick was a fine doctor , but speculated too much in real estate investments . In 1801 , he went bankrupt and lost his home at Duke Street in Alexandria . He rented a house at 211 Prince Street from the widow Mary Harper . Despite his financial woes , the town considered him a worthy citizen , and he was chosen justice of the peace and coroner in 1802 . From 1804 to 1805 , he was Mayor of Alexandria , D . C . , ( now Va . ) In 1804 , he wrote the speaker of the House of Representatives , opposing retrocession . On 10 Apr 1807 , he was appointed Magistrate of the Alexandria Court , along with Cathbert Powell by Jonah Thompson , Mayor of Alexandria . Ferdinando Fairfax left him $ 1 , 000 , and his son Archibald $ 500 , in his will . Although raised as an Anglican , he joined the Society of Friends , Alexandria Meeting on 20 February 1812 . Following Quaker precepts , he manumitted a slave . In 1814 , he was among the Alexandria delegation to Admiral Cockburn , after the Burning of Washington , during the War of 1812 . " Cottage Farm " . Dick retired to " Cottage Farm " , on the Columbia Turnpike ( now Lincolnia Road Route 613 ) , west of Alexandria , along the Little River Turnpike . In 1814 , he bought for $ 1 . 26 per acre from Thomas Summers ; in 1817 , he bought 90 acres for $ 1 . 26 per acre from Thomas Wilson . In 1820 , the tax rolls show he had 80 acres ( cleared ) worth $ 20 per acre , and a house worth $ 2 , 060 . The house was torn down in 1952 . Death . In July 1825 he resigned from the Quakers . There had been some controversy regarding his non - attendance at Meeting . At this time he was living at Cottage Farm and perhaps too ill — just two months before his death — to travel to town . Elisha Cullen Dick died 22 September 1825 , at his property " Cottage Farm " . His casket was placed on a funeral wagon and carried to Alexandria , where he was buried in an unmarked grave in the Friends Burying Ground on Queen Street . His passing was reported in the " Alexandria Herald " on 30 September 1825 . Masonic membership . He was a Mason , founding member of the Alexandria Va lodge . In 1789 , Dick succeeded General Washington , as Worshipful Master of the Masonic Lodge No . 22 , and as such laid the cornerstone of the District of Columbia , at Jones Point in Alexandria , in 1791 . With his Lodge as Escort of Honor , he accompanied General Washington , and assisted in laying the cornerstone of the National Capitol in 1793 . His duelling pistols are on display in the archives of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria . Dinner invitation . A celebrated dinner invitation written in Rhyme by Dr . Elisha Cullen Dick : If you can eat a good fat duck < br > Come up with us and take pot luck , < br > Of whitebacks we have got a pair < br > So plump , so round , so fat , & fair < br > A London Alderman would fight < br > Through pies and tarts to get one bite . < br > Moreover , we have beef or pork < br > That you may use your knife and fork . < br > Come up precisely at two o ’ clock < br > The door shall open at your knock . < br > The day tho ’ wet , the streets tho ’ muddy < br > To keep out the cold we ’ ll have some toddy . < br > And if , perchance , you should get sick , < br > You ’ ll have at hand < br > Yours E . C . Dick This unusual missive was addressed to Philip Wanton , Dr . Dick ’ s good friend , who lived at 216 Prince Street . The original invitation turned up some years ago in a treasure trunk in an old Alexandria attic . It is now on exhibit in the museum of the Stabler - Leadbeater Apothecary Shop . Washington ' s death . On December 12 , 1799 , George Washington spent several hours inspecting his farms on horseback , in snow and later hail and freezing rain . He sat down to dine that evening without changing his wet clothes . The next morning , he awoke with a bad cold , fever , and a throat infection called quinsy that turned into acute laryngitis and pneumonia . Washington died on the evening of December 14 , 1799 , at his home aged 67 , while attended by Dr . James Craik , one of his closest friends , and Tobias Lear V , Washington ' s personal secretary . Lear would record the account in his journal , writing that Washington ' s last words were " " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > Tis well . " " Discovering the case to be highly alarming , and foreseeing the fatal tendency of the disease , two consulting physicians were immediately sent for , Elisha Dick who arrived , at half after three , and Gustavus Richard Brown , at four o ' clock in the afternoon : in the mean time were employed two pretty copious bleedings , a blister was applied to the part affected , two moderate doses of calomel were administered , which operated on the lower intestines , but all without any perceptible advantage , the respiration becoming still more difficult and distressing . Upon the arrival of the first of the consulting physicians , it was agreed , as there were yet no signs of accumulation in the bronchial vessels of the lungs , to try the result of another bleeding , when about thirty - two ounces of blood were drawn , without the smallest apparent alleviation of the disease . Vapours of vinegar and water were frequently inhaled , ten grains of calomel were given , succeeded by repeated doses of emetic tartar , amounting in all to five or six grains , with no other effect than a copious discharge from the bowels . I pronounced decisively that death was inevitable , unless it could be arrested by the operation of tracheotomy , to which I strenuously recommended an immediate resort , as the only expedient that could possibly preserve the life of a man , whose loss every virtuous man in the community would deplore . " ( Then Dr Dick goes on to discuss the unfavorable opinion of Drs . Craik and Brown . ) " I know not what might have been the result and it would be presumption to pronounce upon it ; but I shall never cease to regret that the operation was not performed . " Dr . Gustavus Brown later wrote to Dr . James Cralk , January 21 , 1800 : Sir : I have lately met Dr . Dick again in consultation and high opinion that I formed of him when we were in conference last month , concerning the situation Of our Illustrious friend , has been confirmed . You remember how , by his clear reasoning and evident knowledge of the cause of certain symptoms after the examination of the General , he assured us that it was not really quinsy , which we supposed it to be , but a violent inflammation of the membranes of the throat , which it had almost closed , and which if not immediately arrested would result in his death . You must remember he was averse to bleeding the General , and I have often thought that if we had acted accordingly to his suggestion , when he said , " he needs all his strength - bleeding will diminish it " , and taken no more blood from him , our good friend might have been alive now . But we were governed by the best light we had : we thought we were right , and so we were justified .