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PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR "GEN. G. WASHINGTONS HAIR": A GOLD MEMORIAL RING, ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, 1799

the octagonal pink gold bezel containing braided brown hair beneath a crystal (fractured), plain hoop with commemorative inscription engraved in script behind bezel, apparently unmarked

CATALOGUE NOTE

The engraving reads:
Gen. G. Washingtons Hair.
1799.
C.P. McKnight.
Aex. Va.

This original owner of this ring was almost certainly Catherine Piercy McKnight of Alexandria (d. 1867). She was daughter of potter Christian Percy, originally from Philadelphia and a wounded veteran of the Revolution. "Kitty" Piercy married Captain John McKnight in Alexandria on October 22, 1799. Her husband was a fellow of Washington's at the Masonic Lodge at Alexandria, and attended the meeting December 16, 1799 to plan the arrangements for Washington's funeral; he is listed as a mourner from Lodge 22 at the event itself. Also, Catherine Piercy's uncle Henry Piercy was Senior Warden of the Lodge at the time of the funeral.

Captain John McKnight and George Washington were also fellow members of the First Presbyterian Church of Alexandria. It was in this church that Washington's funeral service was preached on December 29, 1799, and both Catherine and John McKnight are buried in the church's cemetery.

There are several possible makers for this ring among Alexandria silversmiths and jewelers. One possibility, Adam Lynn, had opened his shop in 1796, offering "in the neatest and most fashionable manner all kinds of gold and silver work;" and in 1806 he made two new officer's jewels for the Alexandria Masonic Lodge.