Book Description

Excerpt from The Story of the Washington Coachee and of the Powel Coach Which Is Now at Mount Vernon A word of explanation seems necessary before present ing the story of the Washington coachee and the Powel coach, with the Documentary History relating to them. Searching for proof of the authenticity of the coachee, evidence cropped up on every hand of the Powel origin of the coach that superseded the coachee in the restored coach-house at Mount Vernon. If fire and the indifference of former owners have destroyed documentary evidence of the Washington origin of the coachee, the unique posi tion must be accorded it of being the only vehicle in exist ence whose claim to having originally belonged to Wash ington can not be disputed except as a matter of opinion, and against whose claim no proo f has ever been advanced. When diligent search had failed to discover any testi mony against the Washington origin of the coachee and much circumstantial evidence to substantiate its claim; and when an unbroken chronology had been established for the coach from its importation in 1789 for Mrs. Samuel Powel, down to the present time, Mr. R. L. Brownfield of Uniontown, Pa., asked permission to lay the facts before the Regent and vice-regents of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association. This privilege was accorded, and May 23, 1907, was appointed as the day. The Mount Vernon Association was represented by Mrs. Elizabeth B. A. Rathbone, vice-regent for Michi gan, and Mrs. Henry W. Rogers, vice-regent for Mary land. Mr. Brownfield was represented by his son Mr. R. L. Brownfield, J r., by Mr. Hugh T. Taggart, former United States Attorney, and by Mrs Mary Stevens Beall. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.