The 1st Fire Engine Company in Virginia

Virginia may not have had the first fire engine in Alexandria, but it was the Sun Fire Company that opened for business in 1774 between August and December according to a damaged entry in an old, mutilated, leather-bound minute book wherein it was agreed to limit the number of the Company to 45 persons. The first clerk was John Dalton; members served as clerks in rotation. Absent members were fined one shilling and three pence.

Members were to be provided with two buckets, a brown linen or osnaburg bag containing at least four yards of material, and a wicker…