"Mary Ball Washington, the Mother of George Washington," Michelle L. Hamilton
During an age when most
young widows either remarried or moved into a home with family members, the
mother of George Washington chose a much more independent lifestyle of living
on her own for approximately 46 years until her death.
“Mary Ball Washington
decides not to remarry at age 35 in order to protect her assets,” said
historian Michelle L. Hamilton at the March 28, 2018 meeting of the American
Revolution Round Table of Richmond. “She becomes the head of household and
collects the rent for her children on the property that they inherit from their
father.”
Hamilton is the author
of the recently published book entitled Mary Ball Washington: The Mother of George
Washington. Hamilton also serves as the manager of the Mary
Washington House Museum in Fredericksburg, VA.
When Augustine
Washington (Mary’s husband) died on April 12, 1743, he left her with five
children under the age of 12. In addition she lost approximately 60% of her
income upon Augustine’s death when his two sons from a previous marriage
inherited their father’s two largest properties.
By not remarrying, Mary
prevented her family assets and those of her five children (including George)
from coming under the control of a future husband. Instead of remarrying she
acted as trustee for all of her young children until they became old enough to
inherit property.
Mary Ball Washington had
a history of independent living long before the death of her husband Augustine.
She was the only child of Joseph Ball and Mary Johnson Ball, a widow with two
children from a previous marriage. Mary was born in 1708 and just three years
later her father died, leaving her an inheritance of slaves, cattle and 400 acres.
Mary’s mother remarried
shortly thereafter and then her stepfather died, leaving 600 acres to Mary’s
half-brother John Johnson and a plantation in Northumberland County called
Cherry Point to her half-sister Elizabeth Johnson. When Mary was 13 years old,
both her mother and her half-brother died, leaving the 600 acres to Mary. She
then went to live with her half-sister Elizabeth at Cherry Point. Thus as a
young teenage orphan, Mary Ball owned slaves, cattle and a total of 1,000 acres
from two inheritances.
George Eskridge, a
lawyer and close friend of the family, served as Mary’s legal guardian and
managed her land holdings. In a few years he would also introduce Mary to his
good friend named Augustine Washington, who had recently become a widower. The
two of them married on March 6, 1731. She was age 23 and he was 36 years old.
Augustine and Mary made
their home on his plantation at Pope’s Creek in Westmoreland County. On
February 22, 1732 Mary gave birth to their first child named George. One year later
she gave birth to a daughter named Betty, and the following year to a son named
Samuel.
In 1735 Augustine and
Mary moved their growing family to his plantation at Little Hunting Creek,
which would later be renamed Mount Vernon. The family lived there for three
years, where Mary gave birth in 1736 to a son named John Augustine and in 1738
to a son named Charles. Later in 1738 the family moved once again to a
plantation called Ferry Farm, across from Fredericksburg.
In 1739 Mary gave birth
to her last child named Mildred who died from a childhood disease 16 months
later. Tragedy continued for Mary at Ferry Farm when in 1743 her husband
Augustine died from a stomach disease after a very short illness.
“When her husband died,
Mary got back the 1,000 acres of her property that she brought into the
marriage,” said Hamilton. “Her sons and daughters got everything else.”
Mary and her young
children continued to live at Ferry Farm. She struggled financially to rear her
children and as a result, she couldn’t afford to send George and his younger
brothers to school in England as Augustine had done for his two sons from his
first marriage. Instead George and his younger brothers were tutored by the
Reverend James Marye in Fredericksburg.
After all of her
children reached adulthood and moved away, Mary continued to exercise her dower
rights and remained at Ferry Farm. In fact she continued to live on the
plantation until the early 1770s when she was in her 60s. However during the
Winter of 1771 she became very ill with influenza during horrible
weather, and became virtually isolated from her family, doctors and close
friends who lived across the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg.
She recovered but the
isolation during her serious illness convinced her to accept her family’s pleas
to move across the river into Fredericksburg. In 1772 her son George sold Ferry
Farm and used some of the proceeds to purchase a 1 1/2-story cottage for Mary
which was adjacent to the Kenmore plantation where Mary’s daughter Betty and
her son-in-law Fielding Lewis lived.
After the American
Revolution began in April 1775, Mary’s son George became the commander of the
Continental Army and left Virginia. Mary and George didn’t see each other between
1775-1784, and exchanged very few letters.
“Communication between
George Washington and his family in Fredericksburg was very difficult during
the war,” said Hamilton.
The war created
hardships for Mary and the rest of her Fredericksburg family. A smallpox
epidemic resulted in a very poor harvest in 1778, which caused both a food and
cash shortage for Mary. This forced her to write the man serving as George’s
overseer at Mount Vernon for assistance. In 1780 the government requisitioned a
large quantity of Mary’s bacon in order to feed Continental soldiers.
During April 1781, the
Marquis de Lafayette visited Mary in Fredericksburg while he was passing
through for military purposes. They had a very pleasant visit, and for years
afterward Lafayette made it a point in letters he wrote to Washington to extend
his best wishes to Mary.
When General Charles
Cornwallis moved his British army into Central Virginia and fairly close to
Fredericksburg, the local militia commander ordered Mary and the rest of the
Washington family to evacuate to a safer locality. Mary, her daughter Betty and
son-in-law Fielding Lewis moved to the Lewis’ home in Frederick County, VA
(near Winchester).
Fielding Lewis was
terminally ill with a lung disease, and the family’s financial conditions
sharply worsened. As a result, Mary attempted to receive additional income by
applying to the Virginia legislature for a military pension because her late
husband Augustine had served in the Virginia militia.
“Mary’s pension application
didn’t sit well with her son George,” said Hamilton. “It looked as if her son
couldn’t take care of his mother.”
Washington responded by
writing a lengthy letter to legislator Benjamin Harrison, asking the General
Assembly to stop or to deny Mary’s request for a pension.
When Washington and his
army marched through Fredericksburg in September 1781 on their way to Yorktown,
Mary was still living in the Winchester area and therefore missed seeing her
oldest son. In 1782 Mary returned to her cottage in Fredericksburg. Washington
returned to Mount Vernon in 1784, and the two of them saw each other for
several years on a regular basis.
However by the late
1780s Mary’s health steadily declined as a result of breast cancer. On March 8,
1789 Washington visited his mother for the last time. In a few weeks he would
travel to New York City to become the first president of the United States.
On August 25, 1789 Mary
Ball Washington lost her battle with breast cancer and died at her cottage in
Fredericksburg.
Michelle L. Hamilton is
the author or editor of three books in addition to Mary Ball Washington: The Mother
of George Washington. They are as follows:
1. I Would Still
Be Drowned In Tears: Spiritualism In Abraham Lincoln’s White House
2. My Heart Is In The Cause: The Civil War Diary Of James
Meyers---Hospital Steward 45th Pennsylvania 1863-1865
3. Manners During The Civil War: American Etiquette Or Customs
Adopted By The Polite Society Throughout The United States
Prior to the speaker’s
presentation ARRT-Richmond President Bill Welsch asked the audience to start
thinking about nominations for ARRT-Richmond’s 2018 Preservation Partner. Each
member may submit nominations via email to President Welsch or may do so in
person at the May 16 membership meeting.
--Bill Seward
