New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-05-11
TO WASHINGTON'S MOTHER.
THE MONUMENT AT FREDERICKSBURG
DEDICATED.

DEDICATED.
THE PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENT AND MOST OF
THE CABINET ATTEND THE CEREMONIES
SPEECHES BY MIR CLEVELAND. SENATOR
DANIEL. GOVERNOR o'FERRAIL AND
oTHERs-THE PRESIDENT MAKES A
SHORT ADDRESS AT DINNER.
tpr TELEGRAPH TRIBrxE.i
Fredericksburg Va, May 10-The tardily
erected shaft which marks the burial place OF
Mary Washington, the mother OF George Wash
ington. was unveiled here to-day with imposing
ceremonies. the President. Vice-President and
most Of the members Of the Cabinet lending their
presence to emphasize the broadly National and
highly patriotic character Of the occasion. The
monument itself is the result OF more than fifty
years of irregular effort for the cornerstone Of
a memorial to Washngton's mother laid
here by President jackson in 1S33 only to be
abandoned later. and TO fall into neglect and ruin
amid the crash of hostile arms OH the banks Of
the Rappahannock.
The newer and more stately shaft unveiled to-day
is the fruit Of the patient endeavors of the Mary
Washington Monument Associa ton. organiza-
ton of patriotic women which resolutely de-
termned to carry to completion the abortve
This association formed in 1889 in Washington
with Mrs Amelia c. Waite. widow Of the Chief
Justice as president and Mrs. Margaret Hetzel.
Of Virginia as secretary. has in five years col
lected enough money by means of popular sub
scrptions to purchase the handsome granite mon
oIith which is henceforth to distinguish the mod
est burial place of WashinEton's mother on one
Of the sub-crests north and west Of Fredericks-
burg stretching up toward the famous Marye
Heights.
MARY BALL. wAsTINGToNs MOTHER
Washington's mother. Mary Ball. an Eng
lish woman whom Augustine Washington mar
RED in England according to the best-established
family traditions. and though at the time her
famous son was born she lived at Wakefield. in
Westmoreland County on the Potomac River.
below its junction with the Rappahannock. II
was to Stafford Heights. just across the river
from Fredericksburg. that the family removed
while Washington a mere boy. and on this
neighborng plantation Mrs. Washington lived
until long after the rising surveyor and colonel
OF militia had himself married and settled in his
Mount Vernon home.
From I776. when Washington went to take
command of the Continental forces at Boston, I'M
I'll 1885, when he had just entered upon his first
term as President of the United States. his ven
whom Lafayette described as the "only surviv-
ing Roman matron" lived calm and indie
pendent life in a modest pine board home still
standing In this city. and on her death in August.
1889 she was buried unostentatiously in modest
corner OF the estate OF her son-in-law. Fielding
Lewis. just outside the present city limits
HER GRAVE NOT MARKED By HER son.
The hliai duty OF marking the grave was for
when
Cyrus Burrows OF Buffalo. undertook to repair
the neglect Of a generation by erecting an elab-
oratelv fantastic monument 10 Mary Ball. her
bones had lain unnoted and unhOnored In their
| solitary resting place. Mr.. Burrows's project.
| though begun with great energy and promise.
| collapsed suddenly. and the rocco shaft which
| was intended by him TO signalize the virtues OF
Washingtons mother Clipped 10 pieces by
| vandals during the disorders Of the Civil War.
The new monolith IS plain and graceful
| shaft Of granite, reproducing In miniature. eX-
cent for It's square base the outlines Of the great
| obelisk to Washingtons memory at Washington.
The column Is fifty feet In height and about
eleven feet square at the foundation. 1t bears
| on one face the inscription:
MARY. THE MOTHER OF WASHINGTON
| On the other:
ERECTED BY HER COUNTRYwOMEN.
According to Senator Daniel who delivered the
| chief Grafton at the unwilling today 1t is the
| first monument TO a woman built by women In
the worlds history. AS President Jackson had
helped 10 dedicate the futile memorial Of 1888.
II was only natural that President Cleveland
should be expected to take part in the more com
plete and successful ceremonies OF to-day.
THE PRESIDENTS PARTY
The Presidential party. whose presence lent
| an appreciate air Of Official dignity AND I'm
| portance TO the occasion. included. besides Mr..
| Cleveland himself Vice President Stevenson.
Secretaries Gresham. Carlisle Lamont and Nor
! ton; Postmaster General Bisse. Chief Justice
| Fuller and Associate Justice Harlan. Of the SUI
| prene Court, and Private Secretary Thurber.
| Governor O'Fcrrall came on from Richmond
with his stan to take part in the ceremony
bringing with him two companies or Virginia
militia. The United States Marine Band &C
companied the Presidents party from Washing
ton and in the special trains which ran from the
Capitol were two hundred members or the
Mary Washington Monument Association headed
by Mrs. Waite and an equal number Of repre-
sentatives OF the Society OF the Daughters OF
the American Revolution
The ceremonies which began about noon, were
| held In the shadow Of the beated but none The
less imposing shaft on the little hillock which
Mrs Washington chose for her modest burial
place One stand had been erected for the
orators. another for the band. and third for
the audi ,orG and 81 ectators who cared for seats
! Curiosity TO see and hear the President had
drawn a good-szed crowd to the unveiling or
| dedication-there being no unveng In the HI
| eral sense-and probably 5000 people hlled the
open space to tho from, Of the speakers pat
! form, when the ceremonies began. To the right
| on the very crest Of the HILL rose the glistenng
shaft Of granite and beyond lay the sleeper
| h.,gbts now fresh and green on whose slopes