The Washington herald., 1912-10-27
Turning Back Pages
In Life of Madison
Gaillard Hunt, of Congressional Library, Writes
Interestingly of Port Conway, Where Fourth
President of the United States Was Born.

but she was an intelligent girl. and must
have recognized in Madison a man Of
intelligence. She had lived in Orange
for sixteen months, when she returned
to Port Conway to be under her mother $
care when her first child was born
Choice Of Birthdays.
As has been said. the child was born
on April q. the hour being midnight by
Francis Conway's ciock.- and April .
had, therefore. a fair claim also to be-
ing the birthday Accordingly. the moth
e. gave the honor to the I'D occasionally
when II suited her to do so. and ii Is
related that once, after her son had
risen to high p!ace in the world, noisy
crowd Of political admirers called at
Montpelier on April q to celebrate his
birthday, and were turned back by his
mother with the disappointing intelfi-
gence that they had come day too
soon.
was born he was christened in the Con-
way house by the Rev. William Davis,
the Episcopal clergyman of the parish.
the sponsors being John Moore, Jona-
than Gibson Mrs. Rebecca Moore, and
Judith and Elizabeth Catlett. spinsters.
all neighbors and friends. and most OF
them relations of the mother. 4 few
day later she and the baby started back
for the new house. near the mountains.
A year before this second journey her
personal belongings and the household
goods which had come to her when she
was married had been sent on as far
as Fredericksburg by the river. which
was the usual commercial highway then
as 1t IS now. Sailing vessels worked
their way up slowly and laboriousiy. fo-
from Port Conway northwestwardly it
winds in and out, turning like the letter
So Such effects as his daughter had
Francis Conway had bought for her from
Edward Dixon, a merchant at Port Roy
al. whose books have been preserved
Among his customers were Augustine
Washington. John Spottswood. William
Short, Mai John Taliafer-o. and Miss
Peggy Strother, besides a hundred others.
He supplied them with sets Of table
knives, playing cards, beer. ale. rum. and
w,ne Bohea and Hyson tea powder and
shot. bottles of snuff, cambr.c, buckram.
osnaburgs, nuns thread, metal buttons.
shaIloon denim, hank thread. and almost
everything else necessary to country life
He computed the values in tobacco
pounds: he was paid in hogsheads OF to-
bacco and promissory notes of one plant
er on another. There was very little
money circulating.
But no one then used the water route
for travelling. for it might take week
to sail or drift from Port Conway to
Fredericksburg: so the young mother and
her baby were driven up to Federicks-
burg by the road which follows the
general direction Of the river. 1t was
the main line Of travel from the sea TO
the North, competing with other, impor-
tant highways at Fredericksburg. At
that CITY she was ferried over the Rap
pahannock and continued the journey to
Orange. 1t took her a day to get from
Port Conway to Fredericksburg. and
from Fredericksburg to Orange. a dis
tance of upward Of forty miles. probably
took two days more The road was bad
the whole way, but along the Kappa
hammock II was sandy for the most part,
and the humping was softer than 1t be-
came when she encountered the clay and
rocks Of Spottsylvania and Orange
Longlived Mother and Son.
1t seems to us OF the present day as
tonishing that she should have dared to
take so rough journey only a month
after her first child was born. She
was puny; but. apparently. the rough
ride did them no harm. The son never
became a lusty man, yet he lived to be
eighty-six years Of age. The health Of
the mother did not become permanently
good until the latter part Of her life.
but she was in her ninety-eighth year
when she died. She lived to see her son
serve his State and country in q dozen
different capacities. and retire from the
Presidency an old man. She died in
1s2s. only seven years before the sons
death.
There Is no record that she ever re-
turned to her fathers home on the Rap
pshannock during the seventy-nine years
Of his life after she left there with her
son. In the spring of 1751: nor did he
himself ever see the place with mature
eyes. The interest. therefore. of all stu
dents and admirers Of Madison is not
primarily In Port Conway. but in Mont
pelier. where he lived from the time
he was . month old, where he died. and