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• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 2870

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From FindaGrave:

Mother of George Washington.

"The Belle of Epping Forest" was born in 1708 or 1709 in Lancaster County, Virginia to a well-to-do family. Both of her parents had children from prior marriages, but she would be the only child born to Joseph and Mary Ball; her father would die when Mary was only a few years old. At the age of thirteen, her mother died as well.

Her early years were spent between the homes of her half-sister Elizabeth and her guardian Colonel George Eskridge, being educated in the "feminine arts" of sewing, cooking, running an estate and etiquette.

At the age of twenty, Mary traveled to London to visit her half-brother Joseph and there met Augustine Washington, who also lived in Virginia. They courted for two years before being married in 1731 and settling down at his estate, Pope's Creek, in Westmoreland County.

Augustine was much like her father, having three children from a prior marriage and sufficiently successful, owning an ironworks. The following year on February 22, their first son George was born. Six years and four more children later, the family moved to Ferry Farm to be closer to Augustine's ironworks. Mary was left alone with the children often, as her husband did a lot of traveling for his business; it was during these times that she handled the overseeing of the farm and personally educating all of her children in everything from studying the Bible to horsemanship.

In April of 1743, Augustine died unexpectedly and left Mary a widow at thirty-five with five children under twelve years old. She threw herself into managing the six hundred acre estate; while women were not allowed to own property at the time, Augustine had left Ferry Farm to George and she was allowed possession until he came of age.

Unable to send George to England to be educated as was the custom of the time, she sent him to Mount Vernon to study with his elder half-brother Lawrence. At the age of fourteen, George wanted to enlist in the British Navy, but Mary put her foot down - he was needed at home. To combat his disappointment, she let him have his father's old surveying equipment and hired a tutor to train him; within years he was buying up land with the money he earned as a surveyor.

Mary continued to live at Ferry Farm for forty-five years, never remarrying. Her land and her children were her life, there was no room for anything else. As she got older, however, she could not work as often as she liked and came to rely on some support from her children.

In 1772, when she was sixty-four, George bought her a house in Fredericksburg a few blocks from Kenmore, the estate of her daughter Betty and her husband Fielding Lewis.

The relationship between her and George was more strained than the one she had with the rest of her children, yet he was her main provider in her later years, even buying her a "riding chair" so that she could more easily visit her friends and neighbors.

During the War for Independence, she would walk or ride to an outcropping of rock on Betty's estate, now referred to as "Meditation Rock" where she would pray for her son and his success.

Mary lived to see her son George not only succeed in his drive to defeat the British in the War, but become the first President of the United States. He last visited her on his way to New York City for his inauguration in April 1789. Four months later, Mary Ball Washington died on August 26, 1789 at the age of eighty-one and was buried a few paces from Meditation Rock.

Bio by: Lysa

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2870

Mary married Augustine Washington in 1731. Augustine (son of Lawrence Washington and Mildred Warner) was born on 12 Nov 1694 in Westmoreland, Westmoreland County, Virginia; died on 12 Apr 1743 in Ferry Farm, Stafford County, Virginia; was buried after 12 Apr 1743 in George Washington Birthplace National Monument, Latanes, Westmoreland County, Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 22154

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From FindaGrave:

Betty Washington was the only sister of President George Washington that lived to adulthood. Betty married Fielding Lewis and together they lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Fielding built the Kenmore estate in Fredericksburg which became their new home. After her husband's death in 1781 Betty moved to Western View plantation in Culpeper, Virginia to live with her daughter. Betty Washington spent the remaining days of her life there until her death in 1797.

Bio by: Marvin Sport

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22154

Elizabeth married Fielding Lewis on 7 May 1750. Fielding was born on 7 Jul 1725 in Gloucester County, Virginia; died on 19 Oct 1781 in Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg (city) County, Virginia; was buried after 19 Oct 1781 in Saint Georges Episcopal Burial Ground, Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg (city) County, Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 111586373

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From FindaGrave:

Reference: Lewis of Warner Hall: The History of a Family, Including the Genealogy of ... by Sorley, 1935, p. 248-250. Available on google books.

Other siblings: Augustine Lewis 1752-1756, Warner Lewis 1755-1756, Mary Lewis 1759-1759, and Charles Lewis 1760-1793. [per Contributor: carolyn carter (49228752)]

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111586373

William married Ellen Hackley Pollard in 1795. Ellen was born on 7 Dec 1776 in Culpeper County, Virginia; died on 15 Jan 1855 in Marietta, Washington County, Ohio; was buried after 15 Jan 1855 in Mound Cemetery, Marietta, Washington County, Ohio. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 63669251

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FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63669251

Virginia married Robert Ammon Hereford on 6 Jan 1825 in Buffalo, Mason County, Virginia. Robert was born on 18 Feb 1796 in Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia; died on 30 Oct 1860 in Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri; was buried after 30 Oct 1860 in Hereford, Ashton, Mason County, West Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]