WASHINGTON, GEORGE (173 2-1 799), general, states man and first president of the United States, was born at Bridges Creek, near Fredericksburg, in Westmoreland county, Va., on Feb. 22 (old style Feb. II), 1732. His father was Augustine Washing ton, who had gone to school in England, had tasted seafaring life, and was now managing his large Virginia estates. On the paternal side the family traced its lineage to Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, England, from which Washington's great-grandfather, John Wash ington, had emigrated in 1657, settling at Bridges Creek and becoming a member of the Virginia house of burgesses. Little is known of any member of the family till the time of Washington's father, Augustine, who was a man of energy, at one time part owner of an iron mine and smelter near Fredericksburg, and active in managing lands both at Hunting Creek (now Mount Vernon) on the Potomac, and on the Rappahannock. Augustine was married twice, first to Jane Butler, who bore him four children, and after her death to Mary Ball, the first of whose six children was George. Childhood.—Little has been recorded of Washington's child hood in the small four-room farm house on the Rappahannock, a fact which invited Mason L. Weems's absurd fictions regarding the hatchet and cherry tree, and his repugnance to fighting. Till the fall of 1747 he irregularly attended school, first with the local church-sexton, and later with a schoolmaster named Williams. There is evidence that he studied a little Latin ; his copy-book, with the moral precepts or Rules of Civility which he transcribed at fourteen, was carefully preserved. At a later date he taught himself a good deal of mathematics. His chief education, how ever, was received from practical men and outdoor occupations, not from books. His father owned six different plantations, of which Washington knew best that at Bridges Creek. Here he rode, watched the slaves at labour, mastered the routine of tobacco growing and stock-raising. He early learned the elements of surveying, and at the age of 14 was able to plot and measure the fields of his brothers and neighbours.
Wishing to protect his lands, on which squatters from Pennsylvania were settling, he sent off to the Shenandoah in March, 1748, a surveying party which Washington accompanied as assistant surveyor. On this western journey Washington kept a disjointed, ill-spelt diary, which contains some lively touches. He describes the discomfort of sleep under "one thread Bear blanket with double its Weight of Vermin such as Lice Fleas &c"; an encounter with a war party of Indians bearing a scalp ; the Pennsylvania German emigrants, "as ignorant a set of people as the Indians they would never speak English but when spoken to they speak all Dutch"; and the serving of roast wild Turkey on "a Large Chip," while "as for dishes we had none." After his return, Washington was assisted by Lord Fairfax to obtain the position of public surveyor for Fairfax county, his commission from William and Mary college being dated July, 1749; and for more than two years he was kept almost constantly busy. His surveying trips carried him far beyond the Tidewater region into the western wilderness, taught him resourcefulness and endurance, and toughened his character. In addition, they gave him an interest in western lands, and an appreciation of the im portance of western development, which endured throughout his life. He was always disposed to speculate in western holdings, and to view favourably projects for opening and colonizing the west. Lord Fairfax shortly removed into the Shenandoah valley and built there a log mansion called Greenway court, after his English estate ; here Washington was frequently entertained, and had access to a large library, including contemporary English novels. Plantation Life.—The year 1752 marked a turning point in Washington's life, for that summer his half-brother Lawrence died at Mount Vernon of tuberculosis, making George the executor of his will and residuary heir of his estate in the event that his daughter Sarah died—as she did within two months —without issue. At the age of 20 Washington thus became manager of a large plantation. The previous year he had accompanied Lawrence on a trip for his health to the Barbados, and had there contracted smallpox, which left his face permanently pitted. This was the only occasion upon which Washington left the borders of the United States. For the next 20 years the main background of his life was the work and the social life of Mount Vernon. He was fond of riding, of fox-hunting, of dancing, of such theatrical per formances as offered themselves and, despite an unconquerable awkwardness with the fair sex, of flirtation. Being now fully 6 ft. tall, and heavily built, with hands and shoulders of unusual size, he excelled in all outdoor pursuits, from wrestling to horse-breaking. In 1752 he was made adjutant of one of Virginia's four military districts, with an annual salary of Iwo and not too onerous duties. He rapidly became prominent in community affairs, was an active member and later vestryman of the Episcopal Church, and was known as a strict and sagacious manager of his plantation. As early as 1748 he had begun patenting or buying lands, adding farm after farm to his holdings, till by 1757 he had more than 4,00o ac. to care for with white and slave labour.