Daniel McLean (businessman)


Daniel McLean was a successful businessman in banking trade who owned one of the earliest sugar refineries in Alexandria, Virginia. He was also a chief benefactor of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia. McLean's father, Donald McLean, was born in Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland.
Daniel McLean married Lucretia Hodgkinson, daughter of Bethanath Hodgkinson and Catherine Zimmerman. Daniel and Lucretia McLean were the parents of several children, including Wilmer McLean whose house in Appomattox, Virginia the Civil-War Peace Treaty was signed under.

Biography

Not long after marrying, Daniel and his wife moved to Alexandria, Virginia, where Daniel soon established a bakery. They bought some property in the south side of Old Town. In 1804, Daniel was a vestry at Gen. George Washington's Christ Church, where Daniel owned the cemetery lot on the church's yard. It was not long and Daniel McLean became a well established businessman in Alexandria while owning one of the two sugar refineries in Alexandria, located on 111 - 123 North Alfred Street.
When Daniel died, his son-in-law, James D. Kerr, also of Scottish descent and who also had a business partnership with the McLeans, was the trustee of his estate. He later bought the Old Sugar House, where he and his family resided until 1847 when the house was finally auctioned. The refineries no longer exist.
On January 23, 1810, Daniel became the first vestry of the St. Paul's First Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Because he gave a deed of life of his property on Fairfax Street to St Paul's Episcopal Church and paying St. Paul's Church debt, at the time some $3,500, his family pew was preserved inside St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

Early Families of Alexandria, VA

Daniel and his wife, Lucretia McLean had several children, all born in Alexandria. Some died at young age before marrying while others married into other early families of the area.