The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1913-02-28
WASHINGYON'S
Love AFFAIRS
sFather Of His County" Had
Many Courtships.
Married Widow GUSTS Week
After He Met
Her

wjU always be sorry for her because
q e l.'g&t have married George
ai1r2sastSu.
sc Wis, 50 far as known, his first
60. 7, @ dIuc,.or G, wealthy Nir-
lginia planter, she was at the time
only Ii years Of age. a mere child
one might say. But it should be re-
allied that in those days girls grew
ZIP more quickly than they do now
aud at IL and Is they were frequently
wed. Eighteen was an old maid.
II was love at first sight. George
was always precipitate in such mat
eers, and inside of a fortnight he
had proposed. What she thought OF
him is not recorded, but her fathers
WAS the deciding opinion-unfortu-
ma tely for the young man. He showed
Wash ington the door.
MAYORS Hold" the girls home
was called, on the banks of the lord
1y Potomac. 1t was not far from
Wakefield, where Washington was
born. To him, of course, the defeat OF
his hores was a dreadful blow, and
\ e did not get over it easily. In his
letters and in his diary also her
name is mentioned again and again
in terms of almost extravagant COM
pliment He calls her the "Lowland
Beauty" and Beautiful Betsy" But
she married another man, one
Thomas Adams.
AS a matter of fact, George Wash
Jngton, as a young man, was what
fashionable folks in these days would
call a detrimental" matrimonially
speaking. The mothers, who in those
times governed such affairs to a
much greater extent than now, look
ed npon him as an undesirable match,
and this was the chief reason why
ne remained unmarried SO long. For
the future of his country was ex-
tTenlely impressionable to feminine
charms, and authentic history records
that ne was refused by at least three,
and probably four, young women be-
fore he was finally picked UP by the
7gidow GUSTS, who, having a little
fortune of her own, was in a position
10 suit her individual and unrestrict-
eI taste in the choice OF husband
The records seem to show that it
WAS in i75l that Georges first pro-
pOsal Of marriage was rejected. He
Yas then 10 years old. A year later,
in q letter addressed to the girls ia
ther. he asks for reversal OF the
Cruel sentence" but, though Mr..
FRmtieroy's reply is not eXtant, it
was evidently unfavorable.
ioung Washington at that time,
physically speaking was fine speci-
zncn OF early American manhood. He
stood TWO inches over six feet in his
stockings. AS a friendly contempor-
AIRY describes him, he had "Well de-
Teloped muscles, large bones and
joints and wide shoulders" His nose
WAS large and straight. His chin was
HTm, and his hair, worn in a queue.
was dark brown. His mouth, large
and firmly closed, from time to time
disclosed few detective teeth.
Between the dates of his first and
second proposals for "beauteous Bet
esy's" hand, he had made voyage to
barbados with his invalid brother,
Lawrence. and there had caught the
smallpox, which impaired his good
looks to some extent for the rest of
mis- life.
Tradition, which is unwritten his
Lory, declares that the "Lowland
Beauty married Thomas Adams for
hx wealth, and that she lived to re-
Sret her mistake. Years afterward
ESQ the same authority avers), when,
after the triumph at Yorktown,
Washington passed through Williams
onrg. marching at the head of his
troops Last her residence, he looked
- y, anu NSpg ih6 l4tI Oi the balcony,
raised his sword in salute. She
tainted.
Very likely there is not a word of
truth in the story. Tradition is u.s.
tially a liar. But soon after his
second refusal by Betsy's father,
ne became much interested in a
young lady named Mary Carey, a
connection and at the time a house
guest of Lord Fairfax. His lordship
owned an estate of some 100000
acres in Virginia, granted to him
by the British crown, and George,
being employed to make a survey and
Enaps OF it, became, as a friend of
the family, temporarily a member
thereof. Receiving encouragement
grom the girl. he made bold to ask
her father, Coloney Wilson Carey.
for her hand. but was haughtily dis
RniHsed with a reminder that Mary
yzIH accustomed to ride in her own