Historic Shrines of America Part 26

The original contract called for the expenditure of 600. Colonel John Carlisle, who was bondsman for the contractor, James Parsons, in 1772, agreed to complete the building on payment of 220 additional, since Parsons failed to fulfil his agreement.

The church was built of brick, and was sixty by fifty feet long. The work was carefully done, but the structure was ready for the vestry to take possession early in 1773.

At the first sale of pews, of which there were fifty in all, Was.h.i.+ngton paid 36 10 s. for pew number five. He had already made a generous gift toward the building fund, but asked the privilege of giving the bra.s.s chandelier which still hangs from the ceiling.

When the Church and State were separated in Virginia, after the Revolution, Was.h.i.+ngton subscribed five pounds a year to the rector's salary. By act of the legislature the glebe lands of churches in the State were confiscated, but, through the influence of Was.h.i.+ngton and Charles Lee, Christ Church "and one other" (probably Falls Church) were allowed to retain their lands.

Many changes have been made in the building. The gallery was added in 1787, that twenty-five pews might be provided for the growing congregation. The west aisle was built in 1811, and the next year the chimneys were built, for stoves were placed in the church at that time. The bell was hung in 1816. The pews were later divided, including that which Was.h.i.+ngton occupied, but this pew has since been restored to its original condition. Since 1891 the high pulpit and sounding board have been replaced as they were at first.

Was.h.i.+ngton's diary tells of his attendance at service on Sunday, June 2, 1799. Perhaps it was of this Sunday a visitor to Alexandria wrote in a letter to a friend, which was quoted in "The Religious Opinions and Character of George Was.h.i.+ngton," published in 1836. The writer said:

"In the summer of 1799 I was in Alexandria on a visit to the family of Mr. H.... Whilst there, I expressed a wish to see General Was.h.i.+ngton, as I had never enjoyed that pleasure. My friend ... observed: 'You will certainly see him on Sunday, as he is never absent from church when he can get there; and as he often dines with us, we will ask him on that day, when you will have a better opportunity of seeing him.'

Accordingly, we all repaired to church on Sunday.... General Was.h.i.+ngton ... walked to his pew, at the upper part of the church, and demeaned himself throughout the service of the day with that gravity and propriety becoming the place and his own high character. After the services were concluded, we waited for him at the door, for his pew being near the pulpit he was among the last that came out--when Mrs. H. invited him to dine with us. He declined, however, the invitation, observing, as he looked at the sky, that he thought there were appearances of a thunderstorm in the afternoon, and he believed he would return home to dinner."

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARY WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S HOUSE, FREDERICKSBURG, VA.

_Photo by H. P. Cook_ See page 251]

LV

THE MARY WAs.h.i.+NGTON HOUSE, FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA

WHERE WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S MOTHER SPENT HER LAST YEARS

The first property mentioned in connection with the name of Mary Ball, who became the mother of George Was.h.i.+ngton, was on the tract of four hundred acres "in ye freshes of Rappa-h-n River," bequeathed to her in her father's will before she was six years old. Her father, Colonel Joseph Ball of Epping Forest, Lancaster County, thought he was about to die, but he lived some years longer.

Ten years later an unknown writer spoke of Mary Ball in pleasing terms:

"WmsBurg, ye 7th of Octr, 1722.

"Dear Sukey, Madam Ball of Lancaster and her sweet Molly have gone Hom. Mama thinks Molly the Comliest Maiden She Knows.

She is about 16 yrs old, is taller than Me, is verry Sensable, Modest and Loving. Her Hair is like unto Flax, Her Eyes are the color of Yours, and her Chekes are like May blossoms. I wish You could see Her."

This "Belle of the Northern Neck," as she came to be called, continued her conquests of young and old until, at twenty-two, an orphan, she left Epping Forest to live with her brother, Joseph Ball, at "Stratford-by-bow, Nigh London." There, on March 6, 1730, she became the second wife of Augustine Was.h.i.+ngton, the second son of Laurence Was.h.i.+ngton, who was visiting England at the time.

Less than two years later, at Wakefield, on the Potomac, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, George Was.h.i.+ngton was born. He was not three years old when the mansion was burned.

The new home was at Pine Grove, in Stafford County, on the Rappahannock River, opposite Fredericksburg. For eight years the family circle was unbroken, but on April 12, 1743, Augustine Was.h.i.+ngton died. Laurence Was.h.i.+ngton, Mary Was.h.i.+ngton's stepson, then became the owner of Mt. Vernon, while to George Was.h.i.+ngton was bequeathed Pine Grove, though the estate was to be managed by Mrs.

Was.h.i.+ngton until the son became twenty-one.

With wonderful skill Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton directed the plantation and with firm purpose she devoted herself to the care of her five fatherless children.

A picture of this capable woman at this period was recorded by Laurence Was.h.i.+ngton, a nephew of George Was.h.i.+ngton's father. He wrote:

"I was often there [at Pine Grove] with George, his playmate, schoolmate, and young man's companion. Of the mother, I was more afraid than of my own parents; she awed me in the midst of her kindness; and even now, when time has whitened my locks and I am the grandfather of a second generation, I could not behold that majestic woman without feelings it is impossible to describe."

The death, in 1752, of Laurence Was.h.i.+ngton of Mt. Vernon made George Was.h.i.+ngton the owner of that property. Thereafter the twenty-five hundred acre estate became known as the home of the eldest son, while Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton remained at Pine Grove with her younger children.

Only a few months later he stopped to see his mother, as he was on his way to the West to carry out a commission laid upon him by Governor Dinwiddie. As Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton bade her son good-bye, she urged him to "remember that G.o.d only is our sure trust." Then she added, "To Him I commend you."

Her words were remembered. In 1755, when General Braddock asked Colonel Was.h.i.+ngton to accompany him to Fort Pitt, Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton hurried to Mt. Vernon and urged him not to go. He considered her objections, but said:

"The G.o.d to whom you commended me, madam, when I set out on a more perilous errand, defended me from all harm, and I trust He will do so now; do you?"

One by one the children left Pine Grove. In 1750 Betty Was.h.i.+ngton was married to Colonel Fielding Lewis, who built for her the stately house Kenmore, not far from her mother's home, but across the river, on the edge of Fredericksburg. This house is still among the show places of the old town.

In the early days of the Revolution Colonel and Mrs. Lewis tried to persuade Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton that she was getting too old to live alone at Pine Grove, and urged her to make her home at Kenmore. At the same time Colonel Lewis offered to take over the management of the plantation. To both entreaties she turned a deaf ear; she said she felt entirely competent to take care of herself, and she would manage her own farm.

However, she consented to make her home in a house purchased for her in Fredericksburg, because "George thought it best." The dutiful son had time to help in the flitting to the new home before he hurried to the North. He was not to see her again for seven long years.

A member of the family described later the days of waiting when Mary Was.h.i.+ngton directed her household in the preparation of clothes, provisions, and other comforts for the General and his a.s.sociates: "During the trying years when her son was leading the Continental forces, the mother was watching and praying, following him with anxious eyes," the story is told. "But to the messenger who brought tidings, whether of victory or defeat, she turned a calm face, whatever tremor of feeling it might mask, and to her daughter she said, chiding her for undue excitement, 'The sister of the commanding general should be an example of fort.i.tude and faith.'"

It was November 11, 1781, when the victorious commander next saw Fredericksburg, on his way to Philadelphia from Yorktown. George Was.h.i.+ngton Parke Custis has described the meeting with his mother:

"She was alone, her aged hands employed in the works of domestic industry, when the good news was announced, and it was told that the victor was awaiting at the threshold. She bade him welcome by a warm embrace, and by the well-remembered and endearing name of George.... She inquired as to his health, for she marked the lines which mighty cares and toils had made in his manly countenance, and she spoke much of old times and old friends, but of his glory not one word."

When the Peace Ball was given in Fredericksburg she was an honored guest. Her son walked with her into the gaily decorated ballroom. She remained for a time, but after a while, from the seat where she had watched the dance, she called him to her side. When she was near she said, "Come, George, it is time for old folks to be at home."

Lafayette visited Fredericksburg in 1784, that he might pay his respects to Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton. He found her in her garden, dressed in a short linsey skirt, working among her flowers. After his visit he declared, "I have seen the only Roman matron living at this day."

She still went frequently to her plantation across the river, but as she became more feeble her son gave her a phaeton in which she could cross the ferry in comfort. Her great-granddaughter has written of her appearance when she rolled in the phaeton down the village street:

"In summer she wore a dark straw hat with broad brim and low crown, tied under her chin with black ribbon strings; but in winter a warm hood was subst.i.tuted, and she was wrapped in the purple cloth cloak lined with silk shang (a present from her son George) that is described in the bequests of her will. In her hand she carried her gold-headed cane, which feeble health now rendered necessary as a support."

One of the last visits paid by George Was.h.i.+ngton to his mother was on March 7, 1789. A Fredericksburg paper of March 12 said, "The object of his Excellency's visit was probably to take leave of his aged mother, sister, and friends, previous to his departure for the new Congress, over the councils of which, the united voice of America has called him to preside." On March 11 Was.h.i.+ngton's account book shows that the expenses of the trip were 1.8.0. He also noted that he advanced to his mother at the time "6 Guineas."

At New York, on September 1, 1789, President Was.h.i.+ngton was dining with friends when a messenger brought word of the death of Mrs.

Was.h.i.+ngton. The notice of her death, as given in the _Gazette of the United States_, on September 9, read:

"Fredericksburg, Virginia, August 27, 1789--On Tuesday, the 25th inst. died at her home in this town, Mrs. Mary Was.h.i.+ngton, aged 83 years, the venerable mother of the ill.u.s.trious President of the United States, after a long and painful indisposition, which she bore with uncommon patience. Though a pious tear of duty, affection, and esteem is due to the memory of so revered a character, yet our grief must be greatly alleviated from the consideration that she is relieved from the pitiable infirmities attendant on an extreme old age.--It is usual when virtuous and conspicuous persons quit this terrestrial abode, to publish an elaborate panegyric on their characters--suffice it to say, she conducted herself through this transitory life with virtue, prudence, and Christianity, worthy the mother of the grandest Hero that ever adorned the annals of history."

"O may kind heaven, propitious to our fate, Extend THAT HERO'S to her lengthen'd date; Through the long period, healthy, active, sage; Nor know the sad infirmities of age."

The house in Fredericksburg which was occupied after 1775 by Mrs.

Was.h.i.+ngton, is now the property of the a.s.sociation for the Preservation of Virginian Antiquities.

LVI

GREENWAY AND SHERWOOD FOREST, VIRGINIA

TWO OF THE HOMES OF JOHN TYLER

A little girl was responsible for the fact that John Tyler, who became the tenth president of the United States, was born, not at Marlie, but at Greenway. Marlie was the name chosen by Judge John Tyler for his James River estate, but his young daughter, Anne Contesse, as soon as she began to talk, insisted on calling it "Greenway," "because the gra.s.s grows so green there."

The fact that Anne's name displaced that chosen by her father is an indication of his great love for children. Greenway was "a bird's nest full of young," but at various times he added to his own flock one or another of twenty-one children, of whom he was made guardian, all of whom he guided through childhood to earnest manhood and womanhood.

These children must have enjoyed roaming about the estate, for, according to Judge Tyler's description, it was a delightful place. He said of it: