Meetings

Our meetings are held the first Saturday of each month at 1:00p, with the exception of our holiday party (2nd Saturday of December).   Meeting time varies in October and May for our annual field trip and year-end tea party, respectively.

Membership

The Dr. Elisha Dick Chapter has members from all walks of life and ages.  Chapter members are warm and welcoming to individuals interested in actively supporting the NSDAR goals of historic preservation, education and  patriotism throughout our community, schools and beyond.  The majority of our members live in the Washington Metro Area, though we have members and associate members through out the U.S. and several in Europe.   We welcome you to visit us at a chapter meeting, one of our field trips or local community events.  We invite you to consider joining the Dr. Elisha Dick  Chapter.

Our History

December 7, 1937, a group of local, patriotic, and service-minded women organized to form the Dr. Elisha Dick Chapter, NSDAR, named for the former Alexandria mayor and physician to George Washington. Naomi Anne Simmons Klipstein was the organizing Regent. Thecchapter works to support the continuing fulfillment of the Society’s important goals.

Behind the Name

Elisha Cullen Dick was born on March 15, 1762 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, to Major Archibald Dick, Quartermaster General in the Revolutionary Army, and May Bernard Dick. Major Dick was a wealthy farmer, horse breeder and philanthropist. He provided the best available classical education to his two sons, Elisha and Thomas, followed by professional training in medicine and the law, respectively. In his medical studies, Elisha was apprenticed to the very distinguished Drs. Benjamin Rush and William Shippen. He earned two degrees from the Medical College of the University of Pennsylvania.

In April 1783, Dr. Dick sold his one-half interest in his now late father’s estate and set out to locate a place to begin his medical practice with an eye toward Charleston, SC, a wealthy mecca of those days. He sojourned with a relative in Alexandria, VA, who, impressed by his references, persuaded him to make the acquaintance of Gen. George Washington, Col. Fitzgerald and wealthy local merchant Henry Lyles. They, in turn, shepherded the young physician among fellow Alexandrians who urged him to set up shop in their midst. One of the three local physicians happened to die at that time creating an opportunity for the twenty-year-old Elisha which he did not pass up. In that same year, Dr. Dick went home to Pennsylvania and, in October, married Hannah Harmon, also twenty, bringing her back to Alexandria.

As a student in Philadelphia, Elisha had joined the Mason’s fraternity. In Alexandria, he helped to found a Masonic society, becoming the new Lodge’s first Junior Warden. George Washington served as Worshipful Master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia until being elected President of the United States and leaving for New York in April 1789 to be inaugurated. Dr. Dick was then chosen to succeed the new President as Worshipful Master. As such, he presided over the setting of the southeast cornerstone of the District of Columbia (at Jones Point) on April 15, 1791. Then on September 28, 1793, he presided with President Washington over the laying of the southeast cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.

 In 1794, Dr. Dick led a cavalry company under “Light Horse Harry” Lee against the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania, and, in 1795, served by appointment of the Governor of Virginia as superintendent of quarantine during a yellow fever epidemic. During the yellow fever epidemic of 1803, Dr. Dick was Alexandria’s health officer, and, thanks to his inoculation program, only 300 people died. He held public offices in Alexandria and in the Federal Government including his 1804 election as mayor of Alexandria.

During George Washington’s last illness, Dr. Dick was called by the treating physician to consult on the case. He opposed “bleeding” the patient, saying, “He needs his strength; bleeding will only diminish it.” He also recommended a tracheotomy to ease the breathing inhibited by swelling of the tissues in the throat. Both suggestions were rejected. A month after Washington’s death on December 14, 1799, another of the attending physicians wrote that he regretted not having taken Dr. Dick’s advice. Dr. Dick conducted the Masonic “Lodge of Sorrow” for the loss of President Washington and presided at his funeral on December 18, 1799. At a memorial service for the first anniversary of the President’s passing, Dr. Dick held forth in part, “America has lost its first of patriots and best of men, its shield in war, in peace its highest ornament, the avenger of its wrongs, the oracle of its wisdom, the mirror of its perfection.”

From 1794 to 1796, Dr. Elisha Dick owned “The Fawcett House” at 517 Prince Street and, later, “The Dr. Dick House” at 209 Prince Street. Among his office locations over the course of his medical practice were the southeast corner of King and Royal Streets and 508 Queen Street.

In addition to practicing the medical arts, Dr. Dick also participated in the fine arts. He was an accomplished portraitist and singer/instrumental musician. His most notable portrait, of George Washington himself, hangs in the Mansion at Mount Vernon.

Dr. and Mrs. Dick retired to a small farm they owned in the Groveton neighborhood of Fairfax County. The called the place “Cottage Hill.” Dr. Dick died there on September 22, 1825. Having joined the Religious Society of Friends, his remains were interred in the old Quaker burial ground at 717 Queen Street (the present site of the Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library) without the ostentation of a marker as he had directed.