Washington family

“ Washington was thus left a young widow with a large family of young children, whom it now became her duty to provide for and educate in a manner becoming a Christian mother; and how well and faithfully and lovingly she discharged this sacred trust, is most beautifully set forth in the life and character of her great son. She was a woman of uncommon strength and clearness of understanding, and her heart was the home of every pure and noble virtue. ”

“ The saving of Washington’s Birthplace was the work of many individuals and organizations, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Wakefield National Memorial Association, and the United States Government.
In 1859 John E. Wilson, owner of most of the Popes Creek-Bridges Creek land, deeded to the Commonwealth of Virginia a right-of-way through his farm to the birthsite and the Washington family burying ground, together with one-half acre of land near the latter place and about 1 acre near the birthsite. ”

“ BUILDING THE BIRTHPLACE HOME.
Some time between 1723 and 1725 Augustine Washington hired David Jones, a local carpenter and undertaker, to build a house on his Popes Creek property for 5,000 pounds of tobacco with extra amounts in cash for incidentals. The late Charles A. Hoppin, authority on the Washington family, believed that George’s father had the brick for his new home made on the plantation grounds, the foundations built, and many timbers hewed for the building before Jones began construction of the house. ”

“ Washington was a most cheerful, companionable man at home, yet always dignified. “General Washington is, I believe,” said Mr. Lear, after two years residence in his family, “almost the only man of an exalted character, who does not lose some part of his respectability by an intimate acquaintance. I have never found a single thing that could lessen my respect for him. A complete knowledge of his honesty, uprightness, and candor in all his private transactions, has sometimes led me to think him more than a man.” ”

“ He was to fight America's battles, to share in her victory, to help make of her a great Nation, and to weave his name into the web of her history so that as long as the United States of America shall be remembered, so long also shall be remembered the name of Alexander Hamilton.
What General Washington called his "family" usually consisted of sixteen men. These were his aides, and more than that, his counselors and friends. In Washington's frequent use of that expression, "my family," there is a touch of affection that we do not expect to find in the tents of war. ”

“ We see that he was truly hospitable; kind; devoted to his kindred whom he gathers around him, interesting himself in their education and welfare; cheering them with a welcome at Mount Vernon, and soothing them in sickness and sorrow. The kindred of Mrs. Washington alike share his solicitudes, paternal care, and constant kindness. All this is discernible from the facts that drop out in these letters. They point to a heart affectionately alive to the best social and family feelings. We see his attention to the comfort of his servants, slaves, and others. ”

“ Genealogists do well in giving a realization of the importance of the family, but they err if they base this teaching altogether on the family's pride in some remote ancestor who, even though he bore the family name and was a prodigy of virtues, probably counts for very little in the individual's make-up to-day. To take a concrete though wholly imaginary illustration: what man would not feel a certain satisfaction in being a lineal descendant of George Washington? ”

“ When only the family were at dinner, the fact was written down in the diary with great care as an unusual event, for Washington was the soul of hospitality, and although he kept early hours, he loved society and a houseful of people. Profoundly reserved and silent as to himself, a lover of solitude so far as his own thoughts and feelings were concerned, he was far from being a solitary man in the ordinary acceptation of the word. ”

“ During that time the plantation between Bridges Creek and Popes Creek grew; successive members of the Washington family became prosperous planters, acquired large landholdings, and attained important civic and political offices in their county and colony. The climactic year of this first period was 1732—the 6th year in the reign of King George II and the 125th year in the history of the colony—when George, the son of Augustine and Mary Ball Washington, was born. ”

“ On the next page of our album is our great-great-grand and good mother Mrs. Martha Washington. We love so much to look at her sweet, handsome face, full of a large, generous, grandmotherly nature as a wide and deep bowl heaped with ripe strawberries laughing through unstinted masses of rich yellow, unwatered cream. We feel at once that there is amply enough to go round the largest old-fashioned family, and no fear, if visitors come in, of its not holding out, or of a scarcity for the kitchen. She was called Lady Washington, because they could not help it ”

“ Washington as affected and priggish people, given to cheap moralizing, and, what is far worse, they have served to place Washington himself in a ridiculous light to an age which has outgrown the educational foibles of seventy-five years ago. Augustine Washington and his wife were a gentleman and lady of the eighteenth century, living in Virginia. So far as we know without guessing or conjecture, they were simple, honest, and straight-forward, devoted to the care of their family and estate, and doing their duty sensibly and after the fashion of their time. ”

“ John Washington, a descendant of this family, had been a loyal cavalier, standing staunchly by his King, Charles I. When Cromwell and the Roundheads came into power, the Royalist Washington emigrated, in 1657, to Virginia, bringing out his family, and with them his family shield, on which are shown three stars, above alternate stripes of red and white. Having settled upon considerable estates, he and his descendants kept up the old ways, and maintained the style and country standards of their English forefathers. ”

“ Washington bequeathed to him a square in the City of Washington and twelve hundred acres on Four Mile Run in the vicinity of Alexandria. Upon land near by inherited from his father Custis built the famous Arlington mansion, almost ruining himself financially in doing so. Upon his death the estate fell to his [pg 229] daughter, Mrs. Robert E. Lee, and it is now our greatest national cemetery.
Mrs. Washington not only managed the Mount Vernon household, but she looked after the spinning of yarn, the weaving of cloth and the making of clothing for the family and for the great horde of slaves. ”

“ THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON
I
FAMILY RELATIONS
Although Washington wrote that the history of his ancestors was, in his opinion, “of very little moment,” and “a subject to which I confess I have paid very little attention,” few Americans can prove a better pedigree. The earliest of his forebears yet discovered was described as “gentleman,” the family were granted lands by Henry the Eighth, held various offices of honor, married into good families, and under the Stuarts two were knighted and a third served as page to Prince Charles. ”

“ This gallant and accomplished young gentleman had entered into the military family of Washington at an early period of the war and had always shared a large portion of his esteem. Brave to excess, he sought every occasion to render service to his country and to acquire that military fame which he pursued with the ardor of a young soldier, whose courage seems to have partaken largely of that romantic spirit which youth and enthusiasm produce in a fearless mind. ”

“ Having a spark of the old military fire of the family, we find him, as Colonel Washington, leading the Virginia forces, in co-operation with those of Maryland, against a band of Seneca Indians, who were ravaging the settlements along the Potomac. In honor of his public services and private virtues the parish in which he resided was called after him, and still bears the name of Washington. He lies buried in a vault on Bridges Creek, which, for generations, was the family place of sepulture. ”

“ Lafayette proceeded to rehearse the patriotic deeds of Washington for his country, growing more and more enthusiastic in his praise as he continued, until finally Mrs. Washington remarked:
"I am not surprised at what George has done, for he was always a good boy."
Washington retired to his home at Mount Vernon at the close of the war, and earnestly entreated his mother to take up her abode with him.
"You are too aged and infirm to live alone," he said, "and I can have no greater pleasure than to have you in my family." ”

“ Lawrence Washington had married Ann Fairfax, and through his influence his brother George was taken into the employment of Lord Fairfax, half as clerk and half as surveyor of his great tract of land, “the northern neck,” which he had obtained by marriage with a daughter of Lord Culpeper, who in turn had obtained it from the “Merrie Monarch” by means so disreputable that they are best left unstated. From that time till his death Washington corresponded with several of the family and was a constant visitor at Belvoir, as the Fairfaxes were at Mount Vernon. ”

“ Washington, at the General's house in Virginia, where she appeared to me one of the best women in the world, and beloved by all about her. She has no family by the General, but was surrounded by her grandchildren and Mrs. Custis, her son's widow. The family were then in mourning for Mr. Custis, whose premature death was a subject of public and private regret."
After the close of 1783, General Washington had leisure for the superintendence of improvements in the building and grounds at Mount Vernon. This old mansion was always crowded with visitors. ”

“ Augustine Washington left his estate on the river Potomac, in Fairfax county, to his eldest son, Lawrence, who called it Mount Vernon, in honor of Admiral Vernon. He left his estate at Pope’s Creek to his second son, Augustine. Mrs. Augustine Washington and her family continued to reside on the farm near Fredericksburg.—Upon her now devolved the care of the plantation. Her first born son, George, continued to live with her some months after his father’s death. ”

“ Poor Washington gradually woke up to the fact that he too was an intellectual marvel as well as his gifted sister. He could not conceive how it had come about (it did not occur to him that the gossip about his family's great wealth had anything to do with it) . ”

“ The Bridges Creek Farm
John Washington (George’s great-grandfather) purchased 100 acres of land here in 1664 and established his second home in Virginia, where he lived for 15 years—until his death in 1677. Here Lawrence Washington (George’s grandfather) lived as a boy. George’s father, Augustine Washington, acquired the land in 1742. Here John Washington, the emigrant, established the family burying ground; and in the cemetery are buried George’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. ”

“ Fairfax, were occasionally guests at Mount Vernon, as Washington's diaries show. I am inclined to believe that while it is true that Washington entertained a high regard for the Cary family and particularly the ladies, there is nothing but the lightest gossip to create an inference that there ever was even an incipient affair of the heart between either of the Misses Cary and Washington. ”

“ Washington’s family government was steady and reasonable; his treatment of his children was kind and affectionate. George was an intelligent boy and a dutiful son. Never were parent and child more strongly attached. But, in the providence of God, only a few years more were to be allowed them for the enjoyment of each other’s society, on earth.
About the year 1739, when George was about seven years old, his father removed from his estate on Pope’s Creek to a farm which he owned in Stafford county, on the Rappahannock river, directly opposite to Fredericksburg. ”

“ Among his occasional visitors and associates were Captain Hugh Mercer and Dr. Craik; the former, after his narrow escapes from the tomahawk and scalping-knife, was quietly settled at Fredericksburg; the latter, after the campaigns on the frontier were over, had taken up his residence at Alexandria, and was now Washington's family physician. Both were drawn to him by campaigning ties and recollections, and were ever welcome at Mount Vernon.
A style of living prevailed among the opulent Virginian families in those days that has long since faded away. ”

“ As we shall observe presently, Lawrence Lewis triumphed in his suit over all competitors, and the beautiful Nelly Custis became his bride.
Without the least suspicion that his sweet dream of repose in the bosom of his family, amid the quiet scenes of rural life, would ever be disturbed while he lived, Washington now applied himself to the repairs of his buildings, and the general improvement of his estate. ”

“ Every one of the name who could be discovered anywhere has been dragged forth into the light, and has had all that was known about him duly recorded and set down. By scanning family trees and pedigrees, and picking up stray bits of information here and there, we can learn in a rude and general fashion what manner of men those were who claimed descent from William of Hertburn, and who bore the name of Washington in the mother-country. ”