Mary Ball Washington

Mary Washington (; 1707-1709 – August 25, 1789) was an American planter best known for being the mother of the first president of the United States, George Washington. The second wife of Augustine Washington, she became a prominent member of the Washington family. She spent a large part of her life in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where several monuments were erected in her honor and a university, along with other public buildings, bear her name.

Early life

Mary Ball was born between 1707 and 1709 at either Epping Forest, her family's slave plantation in Lancaster County, Virginia or at a plantation near the village of Simonson, Virginia. She was the only child of Col. Joseph Ball (1649–1711) and his second wife, Mary Johnson Ball (1672-1721). Her paternal grandfather was William Ball (1615 – c. 1680) who had left England for Virginia in the 1650s. His wife Hannah Atherold arrived later along with their four children, including Mary's father Joseph, who had been born in England. Her father died when she was three and after her mother's death, at the age of twelve Mary Ball was placed under the guardianship of Jane Washington's brother, the lawyer George Eskridge.

Married life
Augustine Washington had sailed to England on business (and to visit his sons who had been sent to school there) but on his return, he discovered that his first wife, Jane Butler Washington, had died in the interim. George Eskridge supposedly arranged an introduction between his friend, Washington, and his ward Mary Ball, with the two marrying on March 6, 1731 when she was 22. She was wealthy by the standards of the day and brought at least 1000 acres of inherited property to the marriage. The couple had the following children:

 George Washington (1732–1799)
 Elizabeth "Betty" Washington (1733–1797)
 Samuel Washington (1734–1781)
 John Augustine Washington (1736–1787)
 Charles Washington (1738–1799)
 Mildred Washington (1739-1740) 

Augustine died in 1743 when son George was 11 years old. Unlike most widows in Virginia at the time, Mary Ball Washington never remarried. When George was 14, his older half-brother Lawrence Washington, arranged for young George to become a midshipman in the Royal Navy. However, Mary's half-brother, Joseph Ball, wrote in reply to her letter requesting advice, that the Navy would "cut and staple him and use him like a negro, or rather, like a dog."

Mary managed the family estate and 276 acres of Ferry Farm (a plantation) with the help of others until her eldest son came of age and well beyond. She lived to see that her son, George Washington, commanded the Continental Army to independence and was inaugurated as the first president of the United States in 1789. After learning that he had been elected president in April 1789, George Washington traveled from Mount Vernon to visit his mother in Fredericksburg. He knew his mother was suffering from breast cancer, the disease to which she eventually succumbed.

It is said that Mrs. Washington informed her son of her poor health and expected to die soon. Further, the story continues, that her son George said that he would need to decline to serve as president. George's mother Mary responded, saying, "But go, George, fulfill the high destinies which Heaven appears to have intended for you for; go, my son, and may that Heaven's and a mother's blessing be with you always."

Death
After a lengthy illness, on August 25, 1789, Mary Ball Washington died of breast cancer at her home in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Beliefs
While there is a legend that Mrs. Washington was said to be openly opposed to her son's revolutionary politics and, according to French officers based in Virginia during the war, she was a Loyalist sympathizer, there is no credible source to support that legend. The facts are that other than her son George who was Commander in Chief of the Continental forces (Army and Navy), Mary's other three sons Samuel, John Augustine, and Charles, all served in the Virginia Militia. Her son-in-law Fielding Lewis (husband to her daughter Betty), was in charge of the Fredericksburg Gunnery or Gun Manufactory. The gunnery works made muskets for use by American Revolutionary forces, and ended up almost bankrupting Lewis in the process.

Mary Washington was by no means poor despite the fact that she petitioned the Government of Virginia claiming, in response to a Virginia government notice to citizens to do so, asking to be reimbursed for farm animals, horses and cattle that she gave to support the American war effort. George purchased a house for her in Fredericksburg, two blocks from Kenmore, where George's sister Betty (Mrs. Fielding Lewis) lived. Mary lived in her home nearby from 1772 until her death in 1789. She left George the majority of her lands and belongings, appointing him executor of her Will.

Descendants
Her third son, John Augustine Washington, was the father of Bushrod Washington, who was nominated by President John Adams to the U.S. Supreme Court, and confirmed by the Senate in 1798. Charles Town, West Virginia, is named for her fourth son, Charles Washington.

Legacy and honors
Several monuments have been erected to Mary Ball Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where she lived from 1772 until her death in 1789.
The Mary Washington House in Fredericksburg has been preserved by Preservation Virginia (formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities) who, in mid-2012, signed an agreement passing ownership to the "Washington Heritage Museums." The residence is open to the public and operated as a historic house museum. It contains a fine collection of antique furnishings, some with Washington family provenance.
Mary Ball Washington is buried on the grounds of Kenmore, the former home of her daughter and son-in-law Fielding and Betty Lewis. Kenmore is operated as a house museum and is open regularly for public tours.
A monument to Mary Ball Washington was erected in 1833 and dedicated by President Andrew Jackson. It was left unfinished until the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, a women's organization formed in the late nineteenth century raised money for the monument. The Mary Washington Memorial Association used social events and balls to raise money for the cause. The new memorial was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland in 1894 at her grave site. 
The University of Mary Washington, a public university in Fredericksburg, Virginia, was named for her.
The Mary Washington Hospital, located in Fredericksburg, is named for her.
In November 2019, the Fredericksburg Nationals minor league baseball team introduced a Mary Washington logo at an event at the Mary Washington House on her 311th birthday, describing the logo as "the first female logo in baseball history to be a part of a team's permanent and original branding."

See also
 Mary Washington House
 St. Mary's, Whitechapel
 Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library
 The SS Mary Ball was a World War II Liberty ship.
 Washington family

Notes

Further reading

External links

His "Revered Mother" at HistoryPoint.org
The Mary Washington House on the APVA Preservation Virginia website
The Life and Legacy of the "Grandmother of our Country"

1700s births
1789 deaths
18th-century American Episcopalians
British North American Anglicans
Colonial American women
Mothers of presidents of the United States
People from Fredericksburg, Virginia
People from Lancaster County, Virginia
People from Spotsylvania County, Virginia
Virginia colonial people
Mary Ball
American people of English descent