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 AUTHENTICATED COPY 
 
 q 
 
 LAST W I L TJ AND TESTA M I : X T 
 
 GEORGE] WASHINGTON, 
 
 OF MT. VERNON, 
 
 EMBRACING A SCHEDULE OF HIS REAL ESTATE 
 AND NOTES THERETO BY THE TESTATOR. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 HISTORICAL NOTES AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 
 
 I!V THE PUBLISHER. 
 
 A. JACKSON, PUBLISHER, 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 1868.
 
 AUTHENTICATED COPY 
 
 OF THB 
 
 LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
 
 OF MT. VEENON, 
 
 EMBEACING- A SCHEDULE OF HIS EEAL ESTATE 
 AND NOTES THEEETO BY THE TESTATOR 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 HISTORICAL NOTES AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 
 
 BY THE PUBLISHER. 
 
 A. JACKSON, PUBLISHER, 
 WASHINGTON, Di 0. 
 
 1803. 
 
 SAM'L FOLXISUQRN, PRINTER ,
 
 TO 
 
 W. W. CORCORAN, Esq.; 
 
 OF 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 Thit Volume is respectfully Dedicated by the 
 
 PUBLISHER. 
 
 Entered according to Act of onfctesa, A- D., 1868, ty 
 
 A. JACKSON, / 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
 
 
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 STATE OF VIRGINIA,) 
 
 FAIRFAX COUNTY, j J 
 
 I Ferdinand D Richardson 
 Clerk of the County Court of said County, 
 do hereby Certify that, this Copy of the 
 Last Will and Testament of General 
 George Washington with the Schedule 
 and his notes thereto attached, has 
 been carefully examined and compared 
 with the Original now on file in my 
 Office among the Records of the said 
 Court, and further, that, I find the 
 same to be in all respects a correct 
 copy of the same. 
 
 wi 
 
 In Testimony whereof 
 I have hereunto subscribed 
 my name and affixed the 
 seal of the said Court this 
 14 day of April A D 1868, 
 and in the 92 year of the 
 Commonwealth. 
 
 F. D. RICHARDSON c c
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The last Will and Testament of Washington, never befora published entire, 
 is contained in this vo.lume. It would be useless to enter into an explanation 
 of the motives which have induced its publication but it may be remarked 
 that the design was conceived during the late war, and was suggested by the 
 declaration in the public journals, oft repeated and seldom contradicted that, 
 "the will had been abstracted from the clerks office of Fairfax County Court, by 
 the Rebel clerk, sold and was on exhibition in the British museum." A recent 
 perusal, inspection and facilities for copying the same, have enabled the publish- 
 er to reproduce it here. The mutilated condition of the manuscript from fre- 
 quent handling, rendered it impracticable to take a lithographic copy; but the 
 pages given in this volume present the same number of lines to the page, the 
 same words upon each line, and the same quaint orthography as the original, and 
 at the bottom of each page a fac simile of the signature of the Testator as it 
 appears in the manuscript Will. 
 
 Apart from the interest which must attach to the will of Washington as a 
 portion of his private history, the reader will not fail to remark its appropriate 
 teachings in regard to the great social and political problem which is yet but 
 half solved, and which for years to come, will continue to tax the sagacity, the 
 forbearance, and the patriotism of the whole people. 
 
 FAIRFAX C. H., VA., May, 1868. 
 
 THE PUBLISHER.
 
 IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN! 
 
 I GEORGE WASHINGTON 1 of Mount 
 Vernon, 8 a citizen of the United States 
 and lately President of the same 
 do make ordain and declare this 
 Instrument, which is written with 
 my own hand and every page 3 there- 
 -of subscribed with my name to be 
 my last Will & Testament, 4 revo- 
 -kjng all others. 
 
 . Imprimus All my debts, of which there 
 are but few, and none of magnitude, 
 are to be punctually and speedily paid, 
 and the legacies hereinafter bequeathed 
 are to be discharged as soon as cir- 
 -cumstances will permit, and in the 
 manner directed. 
 
 ITEM To my dearly beloved wife, Mar- 
 -tha Washington 5 I give and bequeath 
 the use profit and benefit of my whole 
 Estate, real and personal, fer the term 
 of her natural life, except such parts 
 thereof as are specially disposed 
 of hereafter, My improved lot in 
 the Town of Alexandria, situated on 
 Pitt and Cameron Streets, I give to her & 
 her heirs forever, as I also do my
 
 household and kitchen furniture of 
 every sort and kind with the liquors and 
 groceries which may be on hand at 
 the time of my decease, to be used and 
 disposed of as she may think proper 
 
 ITEM Upon the decease of my wife it is 
 my will and desire, that all the slaves 
 which I hold in my own right shall 
 receive their freedom 6 To emanci- 
 -pate them during her life, would tho 
 earnestly wished by me, be attended 
 with such insuperable difficulties, on 
 account of their intermixture by mar- 
 -riages with the Dower negroes 7 as to 
 excite the most painful sensations, 
 if not disagreeable consequences from 
 the latter while both descriptions are 
 in the occupancy of the same propri- 
 -etor, it not being in my power under 
 the tenure by which the dower Negroes 
 
 are held to manumit them And 
 
 whereas among those who will re- 
 ceive freedom according to this de- 
 -vise there may be some who from 
 old age, or bodily infirmities & others 
 who on account of their infancy, that 
 will be unable to support themselves, 8 
 it is my will and desire that all who 
 come under the first and second descrip- 
 tion shall be comfortably clothed and 
 fed by my heirs while they live and
 
 that such of the latter description as 
 have no parents living, or if living 
 are unable, or unwilling to provide *" 
 for them, shall be bound by the Court * 
 until they shall arrive at the age of 
 twenty five years, and in cases where 
 no record can be produced whereby 
 their ages can be ascertained, the Judg- 
 -ment of the Court upon it's own view 
 of the subject shall be adequate and 
 
 final. The negroes thus bound are 
 
 (by their masters or mistresses) to be 
 taught to read and write 9 and to be brought 
 up to some useful occupation, agree- 
 -ably to the laws of the Commonwealth 
 of Virginia, providing for the support 
 of orphans and other poor children 
 and I do hereby expressly forbid 
 the sale or transportation out of the 
 said Commonwealth of any Slave I may 
 die possessed of, under any pretence 
 whatsoever and I do moreover 
 most positively, and most solemnly 
 enjoin it upon my Executors hereafter 
 named, or the survivors~of them 
 to see that this clause respecting slaves 
 and every part thereof be religious- 
 -ly fulfilled at the Epoch at which it 
 is directed to take place without evasion 
 neglect or delay after the crops 
 which may then may be on the ground are 
 harvested, particularly as it respects
 
 the aged and infirm, seeing that a re- 
 gular and permanent fund be established 
 for their support so long as there are 
 subjects requiring it, not trusting to 
 the uncertain provisions to be made by 
 
 individuals. And to my mulatto 
 
 man, William (calling himself William 
 Lee 10 ) I give immediate freedom or if 
 he should prefer it (on account of the 
 accidents which have befallen him and 
 which have rendered him incapable of 
 walking or of any active employment) 
 to remain in the situation he now is, 
 it shall be optional in him to do so In 
 either case however I allow him an 
 annuity of thirty dollars during his 
 natural life which shall be indepen- 
 dent of the victuals and cloaths he has 
 been accustomed to receive ; if he chuses 
 the last alternative, but in full with 
 his freedom, if he prefers the first, and this 
 I give him as a testimony of my sense 
 of his attachment to. me and for his 
 faithful services during the revolutionary 
 War. 
 
 ITEM To the Trustees, (Governors or by what- 
 soever other name they may be designated) 
 of the Academy in the Town of Alexan- 
 dria, 11 I give and bequeath, in Trust, 
 Four thousand dollars, or in other 
 words twenty of the shares which I
 
 hold in the Bank of Alexandria to- 
 -wards the support of a Free School, es- 
 tablished at, and annexed to the said Acad- 
 -emy for the purpose of educating such 
 orphan children, or the children of such 
 other poor and indigent persons as are 
 unable to accomplish it with their own 
 means, and who in the judgment of 
 the trustees of the said Seminary, are 
 best entitled to the benefit of this donation- 
 T^he aforesaid twenty shares 
 I give and bequeath in perpetuity the 
 dividends only of which are to be drawn 
 for and applied by the said Trustees 
 for the time being, for the uses above 
 mentioned, the stock to remain entire 
 and untouched unless indications of 
 a failure of the said Bank should be 
 so apparent or discontinuance thereof 
 should render a removal of this fund 
 necessary, in either of these cases the 
 amount of the stock here devised is to 
 be vested in some other bank or public 
 institution whereby the interest 
 may with regularity and certainty be 
 
 drawn and applied as above. And 
 
 to prevent misconception, my mean- 
 -ing is, and is hereby declared to be that, 
 these twenty shares are in lieu of and 
 not in addition to the Thousand pounds 
 given by a missive letter some years ago 
 in consequence whereof an an-
 
 -nuity of fifty pounds has since been 
 
 paid toward the support of this institution 
 
 ITEM Whereas by a law of the Commonwealth 
 of Virginia, enacted in the year 
 1785, the Legislature thereof was 
 pleased (as an evidence of it's 
 approbation of the services I 
 had rendered the public during the 
 Revolution and partly, I believe in 
 consideration of my having suggested 
 the vast advantages which the com- 
 -munity would derive from the exten- 
 -sion of its Inland navigation, under 
 Legislative patronage) to present me with 
 one hundred shares, of one hundred dollars 
 each, in the incorporated company 
 established for the purpose of exten- 
 ding the navigation of James River 
 from tide water to the mountains ; 
 and also with fifty shares of one 
 hundred pounds sterling each in the 
 corporation of another company like- 
 -wise established for the similar pur- 
 -pose of opening the navigation of the 
 River Potomac from tide water to 
 Fort Cumberland; 12 the acceptance 
 f which, although the offer was high- 
 ly honorable and grateful to my 
 feelings, was refused, as inconsistent 
 with a principle which I had adop-
 
 -ted, and had never departed from, namely 
 not to receive pecuniary compensation 
 for any services I could render 
 my country in it's arduous strug- 
 -gle with Great Britain for it's Rights ; 
 and because I had evaded similar prop- 
 ositions from other States in the Union 
 adding to this refusal however an 
 intimation, that, if it should be the 
 pleasure of the Legislature to permit me to 
 appropriate the said shares to public 
 uses, I would receive them on those terms 
 with due sensibility and this it having 
 consented to in flatering terms, 
 as will appear by a subsequent law 
 and sundry resolutions, in the most 
 ample and honorable manner, I 
 proceed after this recital for the 
 more correct understanding of the 
 case to declare 
 
 That as It has always .been 
 a source of serious regret with me 
 to see the youth of these United States 
 sent to foreign countries for the pur- 
 -pose of education, often before their 
 minds were formed or they had im- 
 -bibed any adequate ideas of the hap- 
 -piness of their own, contracting too 
 frequently not only habits of dissipa- 
 tion and extravagence^ but principles 
 unfriendly to Republican Go e vernm > t 
 and to the true and genuine liberties
 
 8 
 
 of mankind, which thereafter are 
 
 rarely overcome. For these reasons 
 
 it has been my ardent wish to 
 see a plan devised on a liberal scale 
 which would have a tendency to spread 
 systamatic ideas through all parts 
 of this rising Empire, thereby to do 
 away local attachments and State 
 prejudices as far as the nature of 
 things would, or indeed ought to ad- 
 -mit, from our national councils 
 Looking anxiously forward 
 to the accomplisment of so desira- 
 -ble an object as this is, (in my esti- 
 -mation) my mind has not been able to 
 contemplate any plan more likely 
 to effect the measure than the estab- 
 lishment of a University in 
 a central part of the United States 
 to which the youth of fortune and 
 talents from all parts thereof might 
 be sent for the completion of their 
 education in all the branches of 
 polite literature in arts and sciences 
 in acquiring knowledge in the prin- 
 -ciples of Politics and good Goverment 
 and (as a matter of infinite impor- 
 -portance in my judgment) by associ- 
 ating with each other and forming friend- 
 ships in Juvenile years, be enabled 
 to free themselves in a proper degree 
 from those local prejudices and habit-
 
 -ual jealousies which have just been 
 mentioned and which when carried to 
 excess are never failing sources of 
 disquietude to the Public mind and 
 pregnant of mischievous consequen- 
 ces to this country: Under these 
 impressions so fully dilated, 
 
 ITEM I give and bequeath in per- 
 
 -petuity the fifty shares which I hold 
 in the Potomac Company (under the 
 aforesaid Acts of the Legislature of Vir- 
 -einia) towards the endowment 
 
 D / 
 
 of a University to be established 
 within the limits of the District 
 of Columbia, under the auspices 
 of the General Government, if that 
 Government should incline to ex- 
 -tend a fostering hand towards it, 
 and until such seminary is estab- 
 lished, and the funds arising on these 
 shares shall be required for its support, 
 my further will and desire is 
 that the profit accruing therefrom 
 shall whenever the dividends are 
 made, be laid out in purchasing 
 stock in the Bank of Columbia or 
 some other Bank at the discretion 
 of my Executors, or by the Treasurer 
 of the United States for the time being 
 under the direction of Congress, provided 
 that Honorable body should
 
 10 
 
 patronize the measure. And the divi- 
 -dends proceeding from the purchase 
 of such Stock is to be vested in more 
 Stock and so on until a sum ade- 
 -quate to the accomplishment of the 
 object is obtained, of which I have 
 not the smallest doubt before many 
 years passes away, even if no aid 
 or encouraged is given by Legisla- 
 tive authority or from any other source. 
 
 ITEM The hundred shares which I held 
 in the James River Company I have 
 given and now confirm in perpetuity 
 to and for the use and benefit of Lib- 
 erty Hall Academy 14 in the County of 
 Rockbridge, in the Commonwealth of Virga 
 
 ITEM I release exonorate and discharge 
 
 the estate of my deceased brother, Sam- 
 uel Washington from the payment, 
 of the money which is due to me for 
 the land I sold to Philip Pendleton 
 (lying in the County of Berkley) who 
 assigned the same to him the said 
 Samuel, who by agreement was to pay 
 me therefor. And whereas by some 
 contract (the purport of which was 
 never communicated to me) between 
 the said Samuel and his son Thornton 
 Washington, the latter became pos- 
 sessed of the aforesaid land without 
 
 <=i&&2/ 
 
 , c 
 x *y
 
 II 
 
 any conveyance having passed from 
 
 me either to the said Pendleton the 
 
 said Samuel or the said Thornton and 
 
 without any consideration having 
 
 been made, by which neglect neither 
 
 the legal or equitable title has been 
 
 alienated; it rests therefore with me 
 
 to declare my intentions concerning 
 
 the premises And these are to 
 
 give and bequeath the said land to 
 
 whomsoever the said Thornton Washington 
 
 O 
 
 (who is also dead) devised the same 
 or to his heirs forever, if he 
 died intestate. Exonerating the estate 
 of the said Thornton, equally with that 
 .of the said Samuel from payment of 
 the purchase-money, which with In- 
 terest agreeably to the original con- 
 -tract with the said Pendleton would 
 amount to more than a thousand pounds 15 
 
 And whereas two other sons of 
 
 my said deceased brother Samuel, 
 namely, George Steptoe Washington 
 and Laurence Augustine 'Washington 
 were by the decease of those to whose 
 care they were committed, brought under 
 my protection, and in consequence 
 have occasioned advances on my 
 part for their education at college 
 and other schools for their board 
 claothing and other incidental 
 expenses to the amount of near
 
 12 
 
 five thousand dollars over and above 
 the sums furnished by their estate, wch 
 sum may be inconvenient for them 
 or their father's Estate to refund. 
 I do for these reasons acquit them 
 and the said Estate from the pay- 
 -ment thereof. My intention being 
 that all accounts between them and 
 me and their father's Estate and me 
 shall stand balanced. 
 
 ITEM The balance due to me from the 
 Estate of Bartholomew Dandridge de- 
 -ceased, (my wife's brother) and which 
 amounted on the first day of October, 
 1795, to Four hundred and twenty five 
 pounds (as will appear by an account 
 rendered by his deceased son, John 
 Dandridge, who was the acting Executor 
 of his father's will) I release & acquit 
 
 from the payment thereof. And 
 
 the negros (then thirty three in num- 
 -ber) formerly belonging to the said 
 Estate who were taken in Execution, 
 sold and purchased in, on my 
 account in the year and ever 
 
 since have remained in the posses- 
 -sion and to the use of Mary, widow 
 of the said Bartholomew Dandridge 
 with their increase, it is my will and 
 desire, shall continue and be in her 
 possession, without paying hire or making
 
 '3 
 
 compensation for the same for 
 the time past or to come during 
 her natural life, at the expiration 
 of which, I direct that all of them who 
 are forty years old and upwards shall 
 receive their freedom, all under that age 
 and above sixteen shall serve seven 
 years and no longer, and all under 
 sixteen years shall serve until they 
 are twenty-five years of age and then 
 
 be free. 16 And to avoid disputes 
 
 respecting the ages of any of these negrqs 
 they are to be taken to the Court of the 
 County in which they reside and the 
 judgment thereof in this relation 
 shall be final and a record thereof 
 made, which may be adduced as 
 evidence at any time thereafter if 
 disputes should arise concerning the same. 
 
 And I further direct that the heirs 
 
 of the said Bartholomew Dandridge shall 
 equally share the benefits arising from 
 the services of the said negros ac- 
 cording to the tenor of this devise upon the 
 decease of their mother. 
 
 ITEM If Charles Carter who inter- 
 
 -married with my niece, Betty Lewis, is not 
 sufficiently secured in the title to the lots 
 he had of me in the town of Fredericks- 
 -burg, it is my will and desire that my 
 Executors shall make such conveyances
 
 of them as the law requires to render it 
 perfect. 
 
 ITEM To my nephew, Wm. Augustine 
 
 Washington and his heirs (if he should 
 conceive them to be objects worth prosecuting) 
 and to his heirs a lot in the town of Man- 
 -chester (opposite to Richmond) No. 265 
 drawn on my sole account and also 
 the tenth of one or two hundred acre lots 
 and two or three half-acre lots in the 
 city and vicinity of Richmond, drawn in part- 
 nership with nine others, all in the 
 lottery of the deceased William Byrd 
 are given. as is also a lot which I 
 purchased of John Hood conveyed by 
 William Willie and Saml Gordon 
 Trustees of the said John Hood, num- 
 -bered 139 in the town of Edenburgh in the 
 County of Prince George, State of Virginia. 
 
 ITEM To my nephew, Bushrod Washington 17 
 I give and bequeath all the papers 
 in my possession which relate to my 
 civil and military administration of the 
 affairs of this Country : I leave to him 
 also such of my private papers as are 
 worth preserving ; and at the decease 
 of wife and before, if she is not 
 inclined to retain them, I give and bequeath 
 my library of Books and pamphlets of 
 every kind.
 
 ITEM Having sold lands which I pos- 
 sessed in the State of Pennsylvania 
 and part of a tract held in equal 
 right, with George Clinton, late Gover- 
 nor of New York, in the State of New- 
 York ; My share of land and interest 
 in the great Dismal Swamp and a 
 tract of land which I owned in the 
 County of Gloucester ; withholding 
 the legal titles thereto until the con- 
 sideration money should be paid 
 And having moreover leased and 
 conditionally sold, (as will appear 
 by the tenor of the said leases) all my 
 lands upon the Great Kanhawa^ and 
 the tract upon Difficult Run in 
 the County of Loudon, 19 it is my will 
 and direction that whensoever the 
 contracts are fully and respectively 
 complied with according to the spirit, 
 true intent, and meaning thereof 
 on the part of the purchasers, their 
 heirs, or assigns, that then and in 
 that case conveyances are to be 
 made agreeably to the terms of the 
 said contracts and the money 
 arising therefrom when paid 
 to be vested in Bank Stock, the 
 dividends whereof, as of that also which 
 is already vested therein, is to inure 
 to my said wife during her life 
 but the Stock its'self is to remain &
 
 i6 
 
 be subject to the general distribution 
 hereafter directed. 
 
 I TEM To the Earl of Buchan I recom- 
 -mit, "The Box made of the Oak that 
 "sheltered the Great Sir William Wal- 
 "-lace after the battle of Falkirk" 
 presented to me by his Lordship in 
 terms too flattering for me to repeat, 
 with a request " To pass it, on the event 
 " of my decease to the man in my 
 " Country who should appear to merit 
 " it best, upon the same conditions 
 " that have induced him to send it 
 " to me." Whether easy or not to 
 select the man who might comport 
 with his Lordship's opinion in this 
 respect, is not for me to say, but con- 
 -ceiving that no disposition of this 
 valuable curiosity, can be more eli- 
 -gable than the re-commitment of it 
 to his own cabinet agreeably to the 
 original design of the Goldsmith's 
 Company of Edinburgh, who presen- 
 ted it to him, and at his request, 
 consented that it should be transfered to 
 me; I do give and bequeath the same to 
 his Lordship, and in case of his de- 
 -cease, to his heir with my grateful 
 thanks for the distinguished honor 
 of presenting it to me, and more es- 
 pecially for the favorable sentiments
 
 '7 
 
 with which he accompanied it 
 
 ITEM To my brother Charles Washington 
 
 I give and bequeath the Gold-headed cane 
 left me by Doct'r Franklin in his will 
 
 1 add nothing to it because of the 
 
 ample provision I have made for his 
 
 issue " To the acquaintances and 
 
 friends of my juvenile years, Lawrence 
 Washington and Robert Washington 20 of 
 Chotanck, I give my other two gold-headed 
 canes, having my arms engraved on them, 
 and to each (as they will be useful where 
 they live), I leave one of the spy glasses 
 which constituted part of my equipage 
 
 during the late war To my com- 
 
 -patriot in arms and old and intimate 
 friend Doct'r Craik, 21 I give my Bureau 
 (or as the Cabinet makers called it Tam- 
 -bour Secretary) and the circular chair, 
 
 an appendage of my study To 
 
 Doct'r David Stuart I give my large 
 shaving and dressing Table, and my Tel- 
 escope To the Reverend now 
 
 Bryan Lord Fairfax 23 I give a Bible in 
 three large folio volumes with notes, 
 presented to me by the Right Reverend 
 Thomas Wilson, Bishop of Sodor & Man 
 
 To General de la Fayette 23 I give 
 
 a pair of finely wrought steel pistols 
 taken from the enemy in the Revolutionary 
 war To my sisters in law
 
 i8 
 
 Hannah Washington, and Mildred Wash- 
 ington ; To my friends Eleanor Stuart, 
 Hannah Washington of Fairfield and 
 Elizabeth Washington of Hayfield I 
 give each a mourning Ring of the 
 
 value of one hundred dollars These 
 
 bequests are not made for the intrins- 
 ic value of them, but as mementos 
 
 of my esteem and regard To Tobias 
 
 Lear 24 I give the use of the farm which 
 he now holds in virtue of a lease from 
 me to him and his deceased wife (for 
 and during their natural lives) free 
 from Rent during his life, at the ex- 
 piration of which it is to be disposed 
 
 as is hereafter directed To 
 
 Sally B Haynie (a distant relation 
 of mine) I give and bequeath three 
 
 hundred dollars To Sarah 
 
 Green daughter of the deceased Thomas 
 Bishop and to Ann Walker, daughter 
 of Jno Alton, also deceased I give each 
 one hundred dollars, in consideration 
 of the attachment of their father 
 to me, each of whom having lived 
 nearly forty years in my family. 
 
 To each of my nephews William 
 
 Augustine Washington, George 
 Lewis, George Steptoe Washington. 
 Bushrod Washington, and Samuel 
 Washington, I give one of the swords 
 or cutteaux of which I may die pos-
 
 -sessed, and they are to chuse in the order 
 
 they are named. These swords 
 
 are accompanied with an injunction 
 not to unsheath them for the pur- 
 -pose of shedding blood except it be 
 for self defence, or in defence of their 
 Country and it's rights, and in the latter 
 case to keep them unsheathed, 
 and prefer falling with them in their 
 hands to the relinquishment thereof. 
 
 AND NOW, 
 
 Having gone through these specific 
 devises, with explanations 
 for the more correct understanding 
 of the meaning and design of 
 them, I proceed to the distribution 
 of the more important parts of my 
 Estate, in manner following 
 
 First To my nephew Bushrod Washington 
 and his heirs (partly in consider- 
 -ation of an intimation to his deceased 
 father, while we were bachelors and 
 he had kindly undertaken to super- 
 -intend my Estate, during my military 
 services in the former war between 
 Great Britian and France, that if I 
 should fall therein, Mt. Vernon 
 (then less extensive in domain than 
 at present) should become his prop- 
 -erty) I give and bequeath all that 
 part thereof which is comprehen-
 
 -ded within the following limits viz: 
 
 Beginning at the ford of Dogue Run 
 
 near my mill and extending along the 
 
 road and bounded thereby as it now 
 
 goes, and ever has gone since my 
 
 recollection of it, to the ford of little hunting 
 
 Creek, at the gum spring until it comes 
 
 to a knowl opposite to an old road 
 
 which formerly passed through the 
 
 lower field of Muddy-Hole Farm; 
 
 at which, on the north side of the 
 
 said road are three red or Spanish oaks 
 
 marked as a corner, and a stone placed 
 
 thence by a line of trees to be marked 
 
 rectangular to the back line, or 
 
 outer boundary of the tract between 
 
 Thomas Mason and myself, thence 
 
 with that line easterly, (now double 
 
 ditching with a post and rail fence 
 
 thereon) to the run of little hunting 
 
 Creek, thence with that run, which 
 
 is the boundary of the lands of 
 
 the late Humphrey Peake and me, 
 
 to the tide water of the said Creek 
 
 thence by that water to Potomac 
 
 River, thence with the River to the 
 
 mouth of Dogue Creek, and thence 
 
 with the said Dogue Creek to the 
 
 place of beginning, at the aforesaid ford, 
 
 containing upwards of Four thousand 
 
 acres, be the same more or less 
 
 together with the Mansion House,
 
 and all other buildings and improvemt* 
 thereon. 
 
 ndly In consideration of the consanguinity 
 between them and my wife, being as 
 as nearly related to her as to my self, as on 
 account of the affection I had for, and 
 the obligation I was under to their father 
 when living, who from his youth had attached 
 himself to my person and followed my 
 fortunes through the viscisitudes of the late 
 Revolution, afterwards devoting 
 his time to the superintendence of my 
 private concerns for many years whilst 
 my public employments rendered it im- 
 rpracticable for me to do it myself 
 thereby affording me essential services, and 
 always performing them in a manner the 
 most filial and respectful ; for 
 these reasons I say, I give and bequeath 
 to George Fayette Washington and Laurence 
 Augustine Washington 20 & their heirs my 
 Estate east of little hunting creek lying 
 on the River Potomac, including the 
 farm of 360, acres, leased to Tobias Lear 
 as noticed before and containing in 
 the whole, by deeds, Two thousand & 
 twenty seven acres be it more or less 
 which said Estate, it is my will and desire 
 should be equitably and advantageously 
 divided between them, according to 
 quantity, quality & other circumstances when
 
 22 
 
 the youngest shall have arrived at the 
 age of twenty one years, by three judicious 
 and disinterested men, one to be 
 chosen by each of the brothers and the 
 third by these two, In the mean time 
 if the termination of my wifes interest 
 therein should have ceased the profits, 
 arising therefrom are to be applied 
 for their joint uses and benefit 
 
 Third And whereas it has always been 
 my intention, since my expectation of 
 having issue has ceased,* to consider 
 the grand children of my wife in the 
 same light as I do my own relations 
 and to act a friendly part by them, 
 more especially by the two whom we have 
 reared from their earliest infancy, 
 namely, Eleanor Parke Custis 
 and George Washington Parke Custis j 26 
 and whereas the former of these 
 hath lately intermarried with Lawrence 
 Lewis, a son of my deceased sister 
 Betty Lewis, by which union the 
 inducement to provide for them both 
 has been increased. Wherefore 
 I give and bequeath to the said Lawrence 
 Lewis and Eleanor Parke Lewis, his wife, 
 and their heirs, the residue of my 
 Mount Vernon Estate, not already 
 devised to my nephew Bushrod Washing- 
 -ton comprehended within the fol-
 
 -lowing description. viz all the land 
 north of the Road leading from the ford 
 of Dogue Run to the Gum Spring as de- 
 -scribed in the devise of the other part of the 
 tract to Bushrod Washington until 
 it comes to the stone and three red or 
 Spanish oaks on the knowl. thence 
 with the rectangular line to the back 
 line (between Mr Mason and me) thence 
 with that line westerly, along the new 
 double ditch to Dogue Run, by the tumbling 
 
 dam of my mill, thence with the 
 
 said Run to the ford aforementioned ; 
 to which I add all the land I possess 
 west of the said Dogue Run & Dogue Crk 
 bounded, Easterly & Southerly thereby together 
 with the Mill, Distillery and all 
 other houses and improvements on the 
 premises making together about . .' 
 
 two thousand acres be it more or less 
 
 Fourth Actuated by the principle already 
 mentioned, I give and bequeath 
 to George Washington Parke Custis the 
 
 
 
 Grand son of my wife and my ward 
 and to his heirs, the tract I hold on 
 four mile Run in the vicinity of 
 Alexandria containing one thousd 
 two hundred acres more or less j 37 &: 
 my entire Square, number twenty 
 one, in the City of Washington.
 
 2 4 
 
 Fifth All the rest and residue of my 
 
 Estate, real and personal, not disposed 
 of in manner aforesaid In whatso- 
 ever consisting wheresoever lying, and 
 whensoever found a Schedule of which 
 as far as is recollected, with a reason- 
 -able estimate of its value is hereunto 
 annexed I desire may be sold by my 
 Executors at such times in such man- 
 -ner, and on such credits (if an equal 
 valid and satisfactory distribution of the 
 specific property cannot be made 
 without) as, in their judgment 
 shall be most conducive to the inter- 
 est of the parties concerned, and the 
 monies arising therefrom to be divided 
 into twenty three equal parts 
 and applied as follows viz : 
 
 To William Augustine Washingtoi 
 Elizabeth Spotswood, Jane Thornton, 
 and the heirs of Ann Ashton ; son and 
 daughters of my deceased brother 
 Augustine Washington, I give and 
 bequeath four parts that is one part 
 to each of them. " " " 
 
 To Fielding Lewis, George Lewis 
 Robert Lewis, Howell Lewis & Betty 
 Carter, sons and daughter of my de- 
 -ceased sister Betty Lewis I give & be- 
 queath five other parts one to each of them 
 
 To George Steptoe Washington 
 Laurence Augustine Washington, Harriot
 
 2 5 
 
 Parks, and the heirs of Thornton Wash- 
 ington, sons and daughter of my deceased 
 brother Samuel Washington, I give 
 and bequeath other four parts, one 
 
 part to each of them. 
 
 To Corbin Washington, and the 
 heirs of Jane Washington, son & daugh- 
 ter of my deceased brother John Augus- 
 -tine Washington, I give and bequeath two 
 parts ; one part to each of them; 
 
 To Samuel Washington, Francis 
 Ball & Mildred Hammond, son and daugh- 
 ters of my brother Charles Washington 
 I give and bequeath three parts one part 
 
 to each of them. And to George Fayette 
 
 Washington, Charles Augustine Washington 
 and Maria Washington, sons and 
 daughter of my deceased nephew, Geo : 
 Augustine Washington, I give one other 
 part that is to each a third of that part 
 
 To Elizabeth Parke Law, Martha 
 Parke Peter, and Eleanor Parke Lewis 
 I give and bequeath three other parts 
 
 that is, a part to each of them. 
 
 And to my nephews Bushrod 
 Washington & Lawrence Lewis, and to 
 my ward, the grand son of my wife, 
 I give and bequeath one other part ; that 
 is a third thereof to each of them And 
 if it should so happen, that any of the 
 persons whose names are here ennu- 
 -merated (unknown to me) should now
 
 be deceased, or should die before me, 
 that in either of these cases, the heirs 
 of such deceased, person shall, not- 
 -withstanding derive all the benefit of 
 the bequest, in the same manner as if 
 he, or she, was actually living at the time 
 And by way of advice, I recom- 
 -mend it to my Executors not to be pre- 
 cipitate in disposing of the landed 
 property (herein directed to be sold) 
 if from temporary causes the sale 
 thereof should be dull, experience 
 having fully evinced, that the price of 
 land (especially above the Falls of the 
 Rivers & on the Western Waters) have 
 been progressively rising, and cannot 
 be long checked in it's increasing 
 
 value. and I particularly rec- 
 
 -commend it to such of the Legatees (under 
 
 this clause of my will) as can make 
 
 it convenient, to take each a share of my 
 
 stock in the Potomac Company in 
 
 preference to the amount of what 
 
 it might sell for ; being thoroughly 
 
 convinced myself, that no uses to which 
 
 the money can be applied will 
 
 be so productive as the Tolls arising 
 
 from this navigation when in full 
 
 operation (and this from the nature 
 
 of things it must be 'ere long) and 
 
 more especially if that of the Shanan- 
 
 -doah is added thereto.
 
 The family Vault at Mount Ver- 
 -non requiring repairs, and being 
 improperly situated besides, I desire 
 that a new one of Brick, and upon 
 a larger scale, may be built at the 
 foot of what is commonly called the 
 Vineyard Inclosure, on the ground 
 which is marked out. 28 In which my 
 remains, with those of my deceased 
 relatives (now in the Old Vault) and 
 such others of my family as may 
 chuse to be entombed there, may be 
 deposited. And it is my express 
 desire that my Corpse may be inter- 
 -red in a private manner, without 
 parade or funeral oration. 
 
 Lastly I constitute and appoint my 
 dearly beloved wife Martha Wash- 
 ington, my nephews William Augus- 
 -tine Washington, Bushrod Washington 
 George Steptoe Washington, Samuel 
 Washington & Lawrence Lewis, & 
 my ward, George Washington Parke 
 Custis (when he shall have arrived 
 at the age of twenty years) Executrix & 
 Executors of this Will & Testament, 
 In the construction of which it will 
 readily be perceived that no professional 
 character has been consulted 
 or has had any agency in the draught 
 and that, although it has occupied
 
 28 
 
 many of my leisure hours to digest 
 & to through it into its present form, it 
 may notwithstanding, appear crude 
 and incorrect But having endeavored 
 to be plain and explicit in 
 all the Devises even at the expense 
 of prolixity, perhaps of tautology, 
 I hope, and trust, that no disputes 
 will arise concerning them ; but 
 if contrary to expectation the case should 
 be otherwise from* the want of legal ex- 
 pression, or the usual technical terms 
 or because too much or too little ; has been 
 said on any of the devises 
 to be consonant with law, my will 
 and direction expressly is, that all 
 disputes (if unhappily any should 
 arise) shall be decided by three 
 impartial and intelligent men, known 
 for their probity and good understand- 
 ing; two to be chosen by the 
 disputants, each having the choice 
 of one, and the third by those two. 
 which three men thus chosen, shall 
 unfettered by Law, or legal construc- 
 -tions, declare their sense of the 
 Testator's intention ; and such 
 decsion is, to all intents and purposes 
 to be as binding on the Parties 
 as if it had been given in 
 the Supreme Court of the United 
 States. 29
 
 In witness of all and of 
 
 each of the things herein contained 
 
 I have set my hand 
 
 and seal this ninth 
 
 day of July, in the year 
 
 one thousand seven hun- 
 
 -dred and ninety* and of the 
 
 Independence of the 
 
 United States, the Twenty 
 
 fourth. 
 
 * It appears the Testator omitted the word "nine." 
 
 279577
 
 SCHEDULE OF PROPERTY comprehended in 
 the foregoing Will, which is directed to 
 be sold, and some of it, conditionally is 
 sold; with descriptive and explanitory 
 notes relative thereto. 
 
 IN VIRGINIA. 
 
 ACRES, PRICE. DOLLARS. 
 
 LOUDOUN COUNTY 
 
 Difficult Run 300 6.666 (a) 
 
 LOUDOUN & FAUQUIER 
 
 Ashby'sBent 2,481 $10 24.810} /,. 
 
 Chattin's Run 885 8 7.080)'' 
 
 BERKLEY 
 
 So. Fork of Bullskin 1,600") 
 
 Head of Evan's M 453 > 
 
 In Wormley's Line 183) 
 
 2,236 20 44.720 (<:) 
 
 FREDERICK 
 
 Bought from Mercer 571 20 11.420 (d) 
 
 HAMPSHIRE 
 
 On Potk. River above B 240 15 3.600 (e) 
 
 GLOUCESTER 
 
 On North River 400 abt 3.600 (/) 
 
 NANSEMOND 
 
 Near Suffolk \ of) 
 
 1119 Acres \ 373 8 2.984 fc) 
 
 GREAT DISMAL SWAMP 
 
 My dividend thereof abt 20.000 (h) 
 
 OHIO RIVER 
 
 Round Bottom... , 587 i 
 
 Little Kanhawa 2,314 
 
 2,901 $124.880
 
 SCHEDULE Continued. 
 
 & '' ACRES. PRICE. DOLLARS. 
 
 Amount brought over , 2,901 124.880 
 
 16 miles lower down 2,448 
 
 Opposite Big Bent 4,395 
 
 9,744 10 97>44o (/) 
 
 GREAT Kanhawa 
 
 Near the mouth west ,10,990 
 
 East Side above 7,276 
 
 Mouth of Cole River 2,000 
 
 Opposite thereto 2,950 
 
 Burning Spring 125 
 
 23,341 200.000 (k) 
 
 MARYLAND 
 
 Charles County 600 6 3,600 (/) 
 
 Montgomery County 519 12 6.228 (m) 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 Great Meadows 234 6 1.404 () 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 Mohawk River abt 1,000 6 6.000 (o) 
 
 NORTH WEST TERRITORY 
 
 On little Miami 839 
 
 Ditto 977 
 
 Ditto 1,235 
 
 3,5i 5 15-251 (/) 
 
 KENTUCKY 
 
 Rough Creek 3,ooo 
 
 Ditto adjoin'g 2,000 
 
 5,000 2 10.000 (g) 
 
 Lots -viz : 
 
 CITY OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Two near the Capital Sqr. 634") 
 
 Cost $963, and with Buildgs 15.000 (r) 
 
 Carried over 479- 8 3
 
 SCHEDULE OF PROPERTY comprehended in 
 the foregoing Will, which is directed to 
 be sold, and some of it, conditionally is 
 sold; with descriptive and explanitory 
 notes relative tJiereto. 
 
 IN VIRGINIA. 
 
 ACRES. PRICE. DOLLARS. 
 
 LOUDOUN COUNTY 
 
 Difficult Run 300 6.666 (a) 
 
 LOUDOUN & FAUQUIER 
 
 Ashby'sBent 2,481 $10 24.810},,. 
 
 Chattin's Run 885 8 7.080)'' 
 
 BERKLEY 
 
 So. Fork of Bullskin 1,600} 
 
 Head of Evan's M 453 >- 
 
 In Wormley's Line 183 ) 
 
 2,236 20 44.720 (c) 
 
 FREDERICK 
 
 Bought from Mercer. 571 20 11.420 (d) 
 
 HAMPSHIRE 
 
 On Potk. River above B 240 15 3.600 (e) 
 
 GLOUCESTER 
 
 On North River 400 alt 3.600 (/) 
 
 NANSEMOND 
 
 Near Suffolk J of ) 
 
 1119 Acres j 373 8 2.984 te) 
 
 GREAT DISMAL SWAMP 
 
 My dividend thereof abt 20.000 (//) 
 
 OHIO RIVER 
 
 Round Bottom.... , 587 
 
 Little Kanhawa 2,314 
 
 2,901 
 
 $124.880
 
 SCHEDULE Continued. 
 
 A'' '' ACRES. PRICE. DOLLARS. 
 
 Amount brought over , 2,901 124.880 
 
 16 miles lower down 2,448 
 
 Opposite Big Bent 4?395 
 
 9,744 10 97)440 (/) 
 
 GREAT Kanhawa 
 
 Near the mouth west..., 10,990 
 
 East Side above 7,276 
 
 Mouth of Cole River 2,000 
 
 Opposite thereto 2,950 
 
 Burning Spring 125 
 
 23,341 200.000 (k) 
 
 MARYLAND 
 
 Charles County 600 6 3>6oo (/) 
 
 Montgomery County 519 12 6.228 (HI) 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 Great Meadows 234 6 1.404 () 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 Mohawk River abt 1,000 6 6.000 (o) 
 
 NORTH WEST TERRITORY 
 
 On little Miami 839 
 
 Ditto 977 
 
 Ditto ... V35 
 
 3,o5i 5 15-251 (/) 
 
 KENTUCKY 
 
 Rough Creek 3,ooo 
 
 Ditto adjoin'g 2,000 
 
 5,000 2 10.000 (q) 
 
 Lots viz : 
 
 CITY OF WASHINGTON- 
 TWO near the Capital Sqr 634) 
 
 Cost $963, and with Buildgs 15.000 (r) 
 
 Carried over. ,. 479.803
 
 SCHEDULE Continued. 
 
 Amt. brought over. 
 
 LOTS CITY OF WASHINGTON 
 
 No. 5, 12, 13 & 14, the 3 last water 
 lots on the Eastern Branch 
 in Sqr 667, containing together 
 34,438 Sqr feet at 12 cts 
 
 ALEXANDRIA 
 
 Corner of Pitt and Prince Strts 
 half an acre laid out into 
 buildgs 3 or 4 of wch are let 
 on grd Rent at $3 pr foot 
 
 WINCHESTER 
 
 A lot in the Town, of half an 
 acre & another on the Commons of 
 about 6 acres supposed 
 
 BATH OR WARM SPRINGS 
 
 Two well situated & had buil- 
 -dings to the amount of ^150. 
 
 STOCK. 
 
 UNITED STATES 6 PR CTS 3,746 
 
 Do defered 1,873 \ 
 
 3 prcts 2,946 > 2 '5 
 
 POTOMAC COMPANY 
 
 24 Shares cost ea 100 Sterfg 
 
 JAMES RIVER COMPANY 
 
 5 Shares each cost $100 
 
 BANK OF COLUMBIA 
 
 170 Shares $40 each 
 
 BANK OF ALEXANDRIA besides ) 
 20 to the Free. School 5 | 
 
 '* ' -ISUBM.O.. 
 
 DOLLARS. 
 479.803 
 
 4.132 (s) 
 
 4-OOO 
 
 400 (u) 
 
 800 (u) 
 
 6.246 (x) 
 10.666 0') 
 
 500 (z)
 
 SCHEDULE Continued. 
 
 Amt. brought over. 
 
 DOLI,AR3. 
 
 5*4-347 
 
 STOCK living viz.- 
 
 i Covering horse, 5 Coh 
 horses 4 Riding clo six 
 brood mares 20 work- 
 ing horses & mares, 2 
 Covering Jacks & 3 young ones 
 10 she asses 42 working 
 mules 15 younger ones 
 329 head of horned cattle 
 640 head of Sheep, and 
 a large stock of hogs, the 
 precise number unknown 
 My manager has estima- 
 ted this live stock at ,7,000 
 but I shall set it down in 
 order to make sd sum at 
 
 Aggregate amt : 
 
 15,653 
 
 $530.000
 
 I 
 NOTES. 
 
 (a) *This tract for ihe size of it is valu- 
 -able ; more for it's situation than the qual- 
 ity of it's soil, though that is good for Farm- 
 -ing, with a considerable portion of gr'd 
 that might, very easily, be improved into 
 meadow. It lyes on the great Road from 
 the City of Washington, Alexandria and 
 George Town to Leesburgh & Winchester, 
 
 at Difficult bridge nineteen miles from 
 Alexandria less from the City & George- 
 Town, and not more than three from Ma- 
 -tildaville at the Great Falls of Potomac 
 
 There is a valuable seat on the Prem- 
 -ises and the whole is conditionally 
 sold for the sum annexed in the Schedule 
 
 (b) What the selling prices of lands in 
 the vicinity of these two tracts are I 
 know not ; but compared with those 
 above the ridge, and others below them 
 the value annexed will appear mode- 
 rate a less one would not obtain them 
 
 from me. 
 
 (c) The surrounding land, not supe- 
 rior in soil, situation or properties of 
 any sort, sell currently at from twenty t* 
 
 thirty dollars an acre. The lowest 
 
 price is affixed to these 
 
 (d) The observations made in the last 
 note applies equally to this tract tract
 
 2 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 being in the vicinity of them, and of sim- 
 ilar quality, altho it lye's in another County 
 
 (e) This tract though small, is extremely 
 
 valuable it lyes on the Potomac River, 
 
 about twelve miles above the Town of Bath (or 
 Warm Springs) and is in the shape of a 
 horse-shoe, the River running almost 
 around it. Two hundred acres of it is 
 
 ' ' rich low grounds ; with a great abun- 
 dance of the largest and finest Walnut 
 Trees, which with the produce of the soil 
 might (by means of the improved navi- 
 . -gation of the Potomac) be brought to a 
 shipping port with more ease and at a 
 smaller expense than that which is 
 transported 30 miles, only by land 
 
 (/) This tract is of second rate 
 
 Gloucester low ground it has no 
 improvement thereon, but lyes on navigable 
 water abounding in fish and oysters : 
 it was received in payment of a debt 
 (carrying interest) and valued in the 
 year 1789, by an impartial gentleman 
 to 800. N. B. It has lettely been sold 
 and there is due thereon, a balance 
 equal to what is annexed the Schedule 
 
 (g) These 373 acres are the third part 
 
 of undivided purchases made by the 
 deceased Fielding Lewis, Thomas Walker 
 and myself, on full conviction that
 
 3 
 NOTES. 
 
 they would become valuable. the land 
 
 lye's on the road from Suffolk to Norfolk 
 touches (if I am not mistaken) some part 
 of the navigable water of Nansemond River- 
 borders on and comprehends part of 
 the rich Dismal Swamp ; is capable of 
 
 great improvement ; and from it's situ- 
 
 -ation must become extremely valuable. 
 
 (/*) This is an undivided interest wch 
 
 I held in the Great Dismal Swamp Company, 
 containing about 400 acres, with my 
 part of the Plantation and Stock thereon 
 belonging to the Company in the s'd Swamp 
 
 (i) These several Tracts of land are 
 
 of the first quality on the Ohio River in 
 the parts where they are situated ; being 
 almost, if not altogether, River bottoms. 
 
 The smallest of these Tracts is ac- 
 tually sold at ten dollars an acre, but the 
 consideration therefor, not received, 
 the rest are equally valuable, and will 
 sell as high, especially that which lye's just 
 below the little Kanhawa, and is oppo- 
 r -site to a thick settlement on the west side the River 
 
 i 
 
 The four tracts have an aggregate 
 
 breadth upon the River of Sixteen miles 
 and is bounded thereby that distance 
 
 (k) These tracts are situated on the 
 
 Great Kanhawa River, and the first
 
 NOTES. 
 
 four are bounded thereby for more 
 than forty miles. It is acknowledged 
 by all who have seen them (and of the 
 tract containing 10,990 acres which I 
 have been on myself, I can assert) that 
 there is no richer, or more valuable 
 land in all that Region ; They are 
 conditionally sold for the sum mentioned 
 in the schedule that is $200.000 
 and if the terms of that sale are not 
 complied with, they will command con- 
 
 -siderably more. The tract of which 
 
 . the 125 acres is a moiety, was taken 
 up by General Andrew Lewis and myself 
 for and on account of a bituminous Spring 
 which it contains, of so inflamable a na- 
 ture as to burn as freely as spirits, and 
 is as nearly difficult to extinguish. 
 
 (/) I am but little acquainted with 
 
 this land, although I have once been on 
 it. It was received (many years since) 
 in discharge of a debt due to me from 
 Daniel Janifer Adams, at the value . 
 annexed thereto, and must be worth 
 
 more. It is very level, lyes near 
 
 the River Potomac " . 
 
 (m) This tract lyes about 30 miles 
 
 above the City of Washington not far 
 from Kittoctan. It is good farming 
 land, and by those who are well ac-
 
 5 
 
 -quainted with it, I -am informed that it 
 would sell at twelve or $15. pr acre 
 () This land is valuable on account 
 
 of it's local situation and other properties. 
 It affords an exceeding good stand 
 on Braddock's Road from Fort Cumberland 
 to Pittsburgh and besides a fertile soil 
 possesses a large quantity of natural 
 meadow fit for the scythe. It is distin- 
 -guished by the appellation of the Great Mea- 
 -dows, where the first action with the French 
 in the year 1754 was fought 
 
 (o) This is the moiety of about 2000 curs 
 
 which remains unsold of 607 1 acres 
 on the Mohawk River, (Montgomery Ct'y) 
 in a Patent granted to Daniel Coxe in 
 the Township of Coxebourgh 6* Carolaca 
 as will appear by deed from Marinus 
 Willet & wife to George Clinton (late 
 Governor of New York) and myself; The lat- 
 -ter sales have been at six dollars an acre 
 and what remains unsold \i\\\fetch that, 
 or more 
 
 (p) The quality of these lands & their 
 
 situation may be known by the surveyor's 
 certificates, which are filed along with 
 the patents They lye in the vicinity of 
 Cincinnati, one tract near the mouth of 
 the little Miami, another seven, & the third
 
 6 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 ten miles up the same I have been 
 informed that they will readily command 
 more than they are estimated at. 
 
 (q ) For the description of these tracts 
 
 in detail, see General Spottswood's letters 
 
 filed with the other papers relating to them 
 
 Besides the general good qual- 
 
 -ity of the land, there is a valuable 
 bank of Iron Ore theron ; which when 
 the settlement becomes more populous 
 (and settlers are moving that way 
 very fast) will be found very valuable, 
 . as the rough creek, a branch of 
 Green River affords ample water for 
 furnaces and forges. 
 
 LOTS Viz: 
 CITY OF WASHINGTON 
 
 (r) The two lots near the Capital in 
 
 Square 634, cost me $963 only, but in 
 this price I was favoured on condition 
 that I should build two brick houses, 
 three storys high each ; without 
 this reduction, the selling price of those 
 lots would have cost me about $1350. 
 
 These lots with the buildings 
 
 thereon when completed will stand me in 
 $15.000 at least 
 
 (s) Lots No. 5, 12, 13 & 14 on the Eastern 
 
 Branch are advantageously situated 
 on the water, and although many lots
 
 7 
 
 much less convenient, have sold a great 
 deal higher, I will rate these at 12 cts 
 the Square foot only. 
 
 ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 (t) For this lot, though unimproved 
 I have refused $3500. it has since been 
 laid off into proper sized lots for building 
 on, three or four of which are let on 
 ground Rent forever at three dollars 
 a foot on the street, and this price 
 is asked for both fronts on Pitt & Prin- 
 cess streets. 
 
 WINCHESTER. 
 
 (u) As neither the lot in the Town 
 
 or common have any improvements 
 on them it is not easy to fix a price, 
 but as both are well situated it is 
 presumed the price annexed to them 
 in the Schedule is a reasonable valu n 
 
 BATH. 
 
 (v) The lots in Bath (two adjoining) cost 
 
 me to the best of my recollection, between 
 fifty and sixty pounds, 20 years ago & the 
 buildings thereon, 150 more. whether 
 property there has increased or decreased 
 in it's value, and in what condition 
 the houses are, I am ignorant, 
 but suppose they are not valued too high
 
 8 
 
 STOCKS. 
 
 (x) These are the sums which are 
 
 actually funded, and though no more 
 in the aggregate than $7566. stand me 
 in at least Ten thousand pounds in Vir- 
 ginia money, being the amount of 
 bonded and other debts due to me, and 
 discharged during the war, when 
 money had depreciated in that ratio 
 and was so settled by public authority. 
 
 (y) The value annexed to these shares 
 is what they have actually cost me, 
 and is the price affixed by law : and 
 although the present selling price is 
 under par, my advice to the Legatees 
 (for whose benefit they are intended, 
 especially those who can afford to lye 
 out of the money) is that each should 
 take and hold one ; there being a 
 moral certainty of a great and in- 
 -creasing profit arising from them 
 in the course of a few years 
 
 \z) It is supposed that the shares 
 
 in the James River Company must also 
 be productive But of this I 
 can give no decided opinion 
 for want of more accurate information. 
 
 These are nominal prices 
 of the Shares of the Banks of Alex-
 
 9 
 
 andria & Columbia, the selling prices 
 vary according to circumstances 
 but as the stock usually divided from 
 eight to ten per cent per annum, they 
 must be worth the former, at least, 
 so long as the Banks are conceived 
 to be secure, although circumstan- 
 -ces may sometimes below it 
 
 The value of the live stock 
 depends more upon the quality than 
 quantity of the different species of it 
 and this again upon the demand, 
 and judgment or fancy of purchasers. 
 Mount Vernon, 
 
 9 7"iy, 1799-
 
 10 
 
 At a Court held for the County of Fairfax 
 the 2oth day of January 1800, this last Will and 
 Testament of George Washington, deceased, late 
 President of the United States of America, was pre- 
 -sented in Court by George Steptoe Washington, Samuel 
 Washington, & Lawrence Lewis, three of the 
 Executors therein named, who made oath thereto, 
 and the same being proved by the oaths of Charles 
 Little, Charles Simms and Ludwell Lee, to be in 
 the true hand writing of the said Testator, as also 
 the Sceduk thereto annexed, and the said Will, 
 being sealed and signed by him is on motion, Ordered 
 
 j^ 
 
 to be Recorded - And the said Executors 
 having given Security and performed what the Laws 
 require, a Certificate is granted them for obtaining 
 
 a probate thereof in due form. 
 
 .<- 
 
 TESTE: 
 
 G. DENE ALE, a.- Fx: 
 
 R. L. TZ.Jb: i ^ 
 
 Ex 4 * by 
 
 G. DENEALE, CV; fist 
 
 This endorsement 6f the cleric !s Intended to 
 represent that the will &c is " Recorded Libr 
 H. folio i and Examined, 1 '
 
 NOTES OF THE PUBLISHER. 
 
 Note I, Page I. GEORGE WASHINGTON. The progenitor of the Washington*, 
 of whom this Testator was one, seems to have been William De Hertbern, of 
 Norman origin, whom we find in the century succeeding the conquest of Wil- 
 liam, in possession of certain estates held of the Bishop de Pusaz in knight's 
 fee, situated in Durham, England. The surname De Hertbern was taken from 
 a village on the Palatinate which he held of the bishop, supposed to be the 
 saute now called Hartburn on the banks of the Tees. The first actual mention 
 we find of the family is in the Bolden Book.* In this it is stated that William 
 de Hertbern had exchanged his village of Hertburn for the manor and village 
 of Wessyngton in the same diocese, paying the bishop certain quit-rents, &c. 
 This occurred in 1183, the earliest data to which we can trace, and it seems that 
 from this period forward the family assumed the name of De Wessyngton.t 
 About the time of the reign of Henry VI. the de or </' was generally dropped 
 from surnames, and the title of armiger, esquire, amongst the heads of families, 
 and generosus, or gentleman, among younger sons substituted ; and we find the 
 family name of the Testator to vary from Wassyngton to Wassington, Wassh- 
 ington, and finally to Washington. The branch of the family to which our 
 Washington immediately belongs sprang from Lawrence Washington, Esq., of 
 Gray's Inn, son of John Washington, of Warton in Lancashire. This Lau- 
 rence Washington received from Henry VIII., in 1538, the grant of the manor 
 of Sulgrave, in Northamptonshire, and was known in 1620 as " Washington's 
 Manor." We have little note of the Sulgrave branch of the family after the 
 death of Charles I. and the exile of his successor. In 1655 the persecutions of 
 Cromwell drove many of the adherents of the house of Stuart from England, 
 and many of their party who had no share in the conspiracy, sought refuge in 
 other lands. This may have been the case with two brothers, John and An- 
 drew Washington, great grandsons of the grantee of Sulgrave. These brothers 
 arrived in Virginia in 1657, and purchased lands in Westmoreland county, on 
 the northern neck, between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. John 
 married a Miss Anne Pope, of the same county, and resided at Bridges Creek,| 
 near where it falls into the Potomac. We afterwards find him as Colonel of 
 Virginia forces, co-operating with those of Maryland against a band of Seneca 
 Indians. His grandson, Augustine Washington, the father of our Washington, 
 was born at Bridge's Creek in 1694. He was twice married : first (April 20, 
 1715,) to Jane, daughter of Caleb Butler, Esq., of Westmoreland county, by 
 whom he had four children, of whom only two, Laurence and Augustine, sur- 
 vived the years of childhood ; their mother died November 24, 1728, and was 
 interred near the remains of Col. Washington, at Bridge's Creek. On the 6th 
 of March, 1730, he married in second nuptials Mary, daughter of Colonel Ball, 
 the belle of the Northern Neck. By her he had four sons, George, Samuel, 
 John Augustine, and Charles ; and two daughters, Elizabeth, or Betty as she 
 was commonly called, and Mildred, who died in infancy. 
 
 George, the eldest, the American 'soldier, statesman and patriot, was born 
 22d February, (nth, O. S.,} in the old Washington homestead on Bridge's 
 Creek. 
 
 Irving'* Life of Washington, Vol. I, folio 4. 
 
 t Probablv of Saxon origin We find th viJla^e of Wassengtone ment:oned in a Saxon char- 
 ter gramed by tcljar, 973, to Thorney Abbey, prior to the conquest. Irvine, I. 5- 
 \ Bridges Creek, for generations, wa the family puce of lepulture.
 
 This house commanded a beautiful view over many miles of the Potomac, 
 and opposite shore of Maryland ; it contained four rooms on the ground floor, 
 and others in the attic. Such was the birth place of our great and loved 
 Washington. Not a vestige now remains of it ; only a stone * marks the site 
 of the "old low-pitched farm house," and an inscription denotes its being the 
 birth place of Washington. 
 
 In giving the genealogy of the Washington family, we have been as brief as 
 possible ; though embracing a period of six generations and upwards, we deem 
 it needless to claim the attention of the reader further, as we could only borrow 
 from the volumes already written by such authors as Spark, Marshall, and 
 Irving. 
 
 Note 2, Page i. " Mr. VERNON." Familiar as this American Mecca is to 
 all, it is useless to add either engraving or description here. It is sufficient to 
 say that this spot, the chosen home of Washington, and the place of his death 
 and burial, is in the county of Fairfax, Virginia, lying on the Potomac river, 8 
 miles below Alexandria, and sixteen from Washington City. It was inherited 
 by Laurence Washington from Augustine Washington, his father and the father 
 of George Washington, in April, 1743, and was named by him, Mount Vernon, 
 in honor of Admiral Vernon, of the English Navy, with whom he had been in- 
 timate in the campaigns in West Indies in 1741-42. After his death (26th July, 
 1752,) Mount Vernon descended to George Washington. It was willed by 
 General Washington to his nephew, Bushrod Washington, son of John Augus- 
 tine Washington, after whose death it descended to his son, John Augustine 
 Washington (who was, while aid to General R. E. Lee with the rank of Colo- 
 nel, killed near Cheat Mountain, in September, 1861.) 
 
 In 1855, Mrs. Ann Pamelia Cunningham and other ladies conceived the plan 
 of forming an association, the object of which should be the purchase of Mount 
 Vernon, or that portion including the dwelling, tomb, and present steamboat 
 landing. In the Spring of 1856 the matter was brought before the Legislature 
 of Virginia, then in session, and on the I7th March, 1856, the association was 
 incorporated as " The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union " and 
 is as follows, viz.: 
 
 "CHAP. 298. An ACT to incorporate the Mount Vernon ladies association of 
 the Union, and to authorize the purchase of a part of Mount Vernon. 
 
 Passed March 17, 1856. 
 
 Whereas, it appears to the general assembly, that the ladies of the United 
 States, acting in the name and style of the Mount Vernon ladies association of 
 the Union, have undertaken to raise, by individual subscription, a fund to pur- 
 chase and improve two hundred acres of Mount Vernon, with the generous and 
 patriotic design that the estate so purchased shall include the late mansion as 
 well as the tomb of General George Washington, and shall thereby be con- 
 verted into public property, and forever held by the state of Virginia, sacred to 
 the memory of the Father of his country : and whereas it also appears that 
 there has been already a large sum subscribed and paid in by them for the pur- 
 poses aforesaid, and that it is desired by said association that the State of Vir- 
 ginia shall receive said money, and hold and take care thereof for said associa- 
 tion until an amount is obtained sufficient to accomplish said purchase : 
 
 I. Be it therefore by the general assembly enacted, that the treasurer of this 
 commonwealth shall receive into the treasury all the money or moneys offered 
 to him by the Mount Vernon ladies association of the Union, or by others in 
 their behalf, and shall keep the same therein, except upon orders from the gov- 
 ernor of Virginia. The fund so raised shall be styled and known by the name 
 of the Mount Vernon ladies association fund. But nothing herein shall be con- 
 strued so as to make it obligatory on said association, or any branch or 
 thereof, in any state, to pay or deposit their money in said treasury. 
 
 * Placed there by George W. P. Custis.
 
 2. The said treasurer shall keep separate accounts foV this fund, and shall 
 report its amount and condition to the governor every six months, and to the 
 general assembly at every session held while said fund is in his custody. He 
 shall also procure, at the cost of the commonwealth, two books of proper size, 
 and shall transcribe into each, in fair hand, the names of the contributors to the 
 fund, and the sum contributed by each, so far as those names and respective 
 sums are furnished to him by said association. One of these books shall be 
 kept forever in the archives of Virginia, and the other shall be deposited in the 
 least destructible part of any monument or other improvement which may be 
 hereafter erected on said Mount Vernon. 
 
 3. The governor of this commonwealth is hereby authorized and required to 
 obtain, as soon as practicable, from John A. Washington, his heirs or assigns, a 
 contract, signed and sealed by him, and binding him to convey, by proper deed 
 to the state of Virginia, two hundred acres of land, out of said Mount Vernon, 
 at any time within five years from the passage of this act, that the said governor 
 pays to him the sum of two hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 4. The said deed of conveyance shall be in fee simple, reserving to the sstd 
 grantor to inter, in or around the family vault, any and all members of the 
 Washington family, legally descended from the said John A. Washington ; and 
 the further right to maintain perpetually the interment of those already there. 
 It shall recite that the purchase money was paid by the ladies of the United 
 States, acting in the name and style of the Mount Vernon ladies association of 
 the Union, and at their instance the said conveyance is made to the state of 
 Virginia, And it shall covenant that the estate so conveyed shall be kept free 
 from injury and desecration, and held in trust for said association, forever sacred 
 to the memory of George Washington, whose mortal remains shall be kept per- 
 petually thereon. And then upon this further trust, that the said estate shaU 
 be subject to visitation by the state of Virginia and to such proper and becom- 
 ing improvements as the said association shall desire and determine and make. 
 But in default of said association making such proper and becoming improve- 
 ments or keeping the same in proper repair, upon such default being found by 
 a board of visitors, then said estate shall be subject to improvement and repair 
 at the pleasure of the state of Virginia ; and to this end, the possession of said 
 estate shall vest in said state. 
 
 5. The said two hundred acres of ground shall include the tomb of George 
 Washington, mansion, garden, grounds, and the wharf and landing now con- 
 structed on the Potomac river. 
 
 6. The governor shall invest the money paid into the treasury on account of 
 said association, as soon as convenient after he has notice thereof, in stock, 
 or in loans to individuals or to corporate bodies, on good and sufficient security, 
 real and personal; at an interest of six per centum per annum, to be paid semi 
 annually, as may to said governor seem best ; and the profits arising from such 
 investment shall also be semiannually invested, or as soon thereafter as the 
 same can be profitably done. And the said governor shall so continue to invest 
 said fund and the profits thereof until the same amount to the sum of two hun- 
 dred thousand dollars : and shall thereupon proceed to pay the same to said 
 John A. Washington, and receive from him the aforesaid deed of conveyance. 
 The governor shall in like manner invest all and any money of said association 
 which is paid into said treasury for the purpose of improving said estate. 
 
 7. The said association may charge, receive and collect any fee which may 
 be prescribed, not exceeding twenty-five cents from each and every person over 
 ten years of age, who may land at and visit Mount Vernon and the grave, tomb 
 or other place containing the remains of General Washington ; but no greater 
 sum or fee shall be charged or collected in any case. 
 
 8. The governor of Virginia shall annually appoint and commission five fit 
 and proper men, who shall constitute a board of visitors for Mount Vernon, 
 with the ordinary powers of a board of visitors, whose duty it shall be to visit 
 that place and examine and faithfully report to the governor all the proceedings 
 of said association touching Mount Vernon, and the manner in whicn they com- 
 ply or fail to comply with this act and other laws of the land. The expenses of
 
 said board shall be paid out of the treasury of this commonwealth in the same 
 manner that the expenses of other boards of visitors are paid. 
 
 9. The said association are hereby declared and made a body politic and 
 corporate for the purpose of raising money to purchase and improve the afore- 
 said two hundred acres of land out of Mount Vernon, and to possess and man- 
 age the same as indicated and provided for in this act, under the name and style 
 of The Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union; and shall be subject 
 to all the provisions and entitled to all the rights, powers, privileges and immu- 
 nities prescribed in the first and second sections of the fifty-sixth chapter of the 
 Code of Virginia, in so far as the same are applicable to and not inconsistent 
 with the provisions of this act But the said association shall not be entitled to 
 the benefit of the foregoing provisions in this section until they shall have pre- 
 pared a constitution and by-laws for said corporation, and have the same ap- 
 proved by the governor of this state ; and shall also file a copy thereof, so ap- 
 proved, in the office of the secretary of the commonwealth. 
 
 10. This act shall be in force from its passage." 
 
 And on the igth day of March, 1858, was by said Legislature amended as 
 follows, viz.: 
 
 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, that the act entitled an act to in- 
 corporate the " Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union " and to au- 
 thorize the purchase of a part of Mount Vernon, passed March 17, 1856, be 
 amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows : 
 
 " I. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union as heretofore 
 organized, shall be and they are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, 
 under the name and style of The Ladies Mount Vernon Association of the 
 Union ; and by this name and style, shall be subject to all the provisions, and 
 entitled to all the rights, powers and privileges and immunities prescribed by 
 existing laws in so far as the same are applicable to like corporations, and not 
 inconsistent with this act 
 
 " 2. It shall be lawful for the said Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the 
 Union, to purchase, hold and improve two hundred acres of Mount Vernon, 
 including the late mansion as well as the tomb of George Washington, together 
 with the garden, grounds and wharf and landing now constructed on the Poto- 
 mac river ; and to this end they may receive from the owner and proprietor of 
 the said land a deed in fee simple : and shall have and exercise full power over 
 he use and management of the same, as they may by by-laws and rules declare, 
 provided however, that the said Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union, 
 shall not have power to alien the said land, or any part thereof, or to lease the 
 same without the consent of the general assembly of Virginia first had and ob- 
 tained. 
 
 "3. The capital stock of the said Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the 
 Union shall not, including the two hundred acres of land aforesaid, exceed the 
 sum of five hundred dollars. The said association, in contracting with the pro- 
 prietor of the same, may covenant with him so as to reserve to him the right to 
 inter the remains of such persons whose remains are in the vault at Mount Ver- 
 non as are not now interred, and to place the said vault in such a secure and 
 permanent condition as he shall see fit, and to inclose the same so as not to in- 
 clude more than a half acre of land; and the said vault, the remains in and 
 around it, and the inclosure, shall never be removed nor disturbed, nor shall 
 any other person hereafter ever be interred or entombed within the said vault 
 or enclosure. 
 
 " 4. The said property herein authorized to be purchased by the said Mount 
 Vernon Ladies Association of the Union shall be forever held by it sacred to 
 the father of his country ; and if from any cause the said association shall cease 
 to exist, the property owned by the said association shall revert to the common- 
 wealth of Virginia, sacred to the purposes for which it was originally purchased." 
 
 2. This act shall be in force from its passage. 
 
 And on the 6th day of April, 1858, Mrs. Ann Pamelia Cunningham, Southern
 
 Matron, Regent, on behalf of the Association, entered Into an agreement with 
 John A. Washington for the purchase of Mount Vernon, or at least, that part 
 now held by them (the original tract contained 4,000 acres), conditioned for the 
 payment of $18,000 in cash; one bond of the said Association for $57,000, pay- 
 able 1st January, 1859 ; one other bond of said Association for $41,666.66, pay- 
 able 22a February, 1860; one other bond of said Association for $41,666.67, 
 payable on 22d February, 1861 ; and one other bond of said Association for 
 $41,666.67, payable on 22d February, 1862, with lawful interest on each of the 
 bonds from their dates. "And retaining in him the said John Augustine Wash- 
 ington, his heirs and assigns, the title to the property aforesaid, with the pos- 
 session thereof, until the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, with all the in- 
 terest which may accrue as hereinafter mentioned, shall have been fully paid to 
 him or them." * (This condition appears in the said agreement before the dates 
 and amounts of the bonds are inserted.) 
 
 A short time prior to the breaking out of the late war, the Association effected 
 an arrangement by which they were enabled to discharge the entire amount of 
 their indebtedness and to cancel all their bonds ; but it appears upon an exami- 
 nation of the Records of Fairfax county, that they have not, as yet, obtained a 
 title deed for their property. 
 
 The Agent of the Association is Mr. Upton H. Herbert, who, though having 
 many near relatives and friends in the army of the late Confederate States, yet 
 remained faithful to his post, still resides at Mt. Vernon and superintends the 
 care of the place. It was the object of the Association to improve the lands 
 by all those attractions of art which add so much to the charms of natural ad- 
 vantages, but the late war has very materially interfered with this design. The 
 politeness and attention of Mr. Herbert to visitors leaves nothing unenjoyed by 
 them which they could expect. 
 
 Note 3, Page I. " EVERY PAGE." It will be observed that this resolution was 
 overlooked at page 23, probably from the word Washington (the city) having 
 been the last word on the page and mistaken for his own name. 
 
 Note 4, Page i. " LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT." The last Will and Testa- 
 ment of George Washington, admitted to probate and executed as such, was 
 written, as will be seen by its perusal, in the summer of 1799, and dated the gth 
 day of July of that year, but a few months prior to his death. It will be found 
 singularly complete and minute in its description and disposition of his immense 
 estate, and these facts are but in keeping with the traits that marked every act. 
 and effort of his wonderful career. As he was always ready in time for every 
 duty of his life, so he would seem to have finished just in time the last worldly 
 preparation for death for in spiritual readiness he had been long prepared, 
 and having " set his house in order," there was nothing to shackle his spirit in 
 the last struggle with the great Conqueror. As the last will and testament of 
 the Father of his Country is of peculiar interest to all who cherish his memory, 
 we have deemed it important that a short history of it should be here inserted. 
 As we have before stated, it was written in the summer of 1799, and dated the 
 9th day of July, and it would seem the testator omitted the word " nine " after 
 " seventeen hundred and ninety " in dating his will ; however.it is very certain 
 it was intended to have been so written, as he finishes the sentence thus : "and 
 of the Independence of the United States the twenty-fourth." 
 
 On the morning of the I4th December, 1799, between ten and eleven o'clock, 
 he departed this life. "A few moments before he expired," writes Mr. Lear,t 
 " he made several efforts to speak. At length he said, ' I am just going. Have 
 me decently buried, and do not let my body be put in the vault in less than 
 
 * The entire agreement is recorded in Liber A, No. 4, folios 19, &c., of Fairfax County Land 
 Records. 
 
 t Mr. Tobias Lear, of New Hampshire, a graduate of Harvard College Mr. L. had been in 
 the family from about 1783, as private secretary to Washington, and iu charge of the instruction 
 o; O. W. P. and Miss Nellie Custis Washington's adopted children.
 
 three days after I am dead' He then looked at me again and said, ' Do you 
 understand me?' I replied, 'Yes.' "Tis well,' said he." These were the 
 last words that passed the lips of the great Christian, soldier and statesman, 
 His funeral took place at Mount Vernon, December 18, 1799, without that pomp 
 and parade that usually attends the obsequies of great generals or statesmen. 
 The Rev. Mr. Davis read the funeral service at the vault, and pronounced a 
 short but affecting address ; after which the Masons, to which order he had 
 been attached many years, performed their solemn ceremonies, and the body was 
 deposited in the vault At a Court held for the County of Fairfax on the aoth 
 day of January, 1800, the will (of which this is a copy) was presented in open 
 court by George Sttptoe Washington, Samuel Washington and Lawrence Lewis, 
 three of the executors mentioned in said will ; and they making oath thereto, 
 and the same being proved by the oaths of Charles Little, Charles Simms and 
 Ludwell Lee, to be m the true handwriting of the testator, as also the Schedule 
 and Notes thereto attached, on motion the same were ordered to be recorded* 
 " and a certificate was granted said executors for obtaining probat thereof in 
 due form." 
 
 This order was taken by the County Court of Fairfax, Virginia, and entered 
 up by George Deneale, then Clerk of said Court.f As Fairfax County contains 
 Mount Vernon and the remains of our loved Washington, we deem it pertinent 
 and as a matter of general interest, to give in brief the general outlines of its 
 formation and other matter connected with its history. It was in 1741 a part of 
 Prince William County, but in 1742, by an act of the Virginia Assembly, Fair- 
 fax was created a separate county, with the Potomac river as its northern and 
 eastern boundary, Bull Run as its southern boundary, and Loudoun County as 
 its western boundary ; and in the fall and winter of the same year (1742) an or- 
 ganization of the County was completed, with its Courts, &c. Catesby Cooke, 
 Gent., was the first Clerk of the Court, whose commission was given by John Rob* 
 inson, Secretary of the Colony of Virginia under the reign of George II., at 
 
 Williamsburg, December , 1742, and qualified as such December, 1742, 
 
 and was recorded \. in Liber A, No. I, folios I and 2, of said County records. 
 After the death of Catesby Cooke, which occurred in 1746, John Graham was 
 by Thomas Nelson, under authority from William Adair, then Secretary of said 
 Colony, appointed to succeed him, by commission dated at Williamsburg, De- 
 cember 9, 1 746. After this period, the power being vested in the Court to 
 choose their Clerk, we find Peter Waggener to have succeeded John Graham, 
 by a record of i?th October, 1752. Mr. Waggener remained Clerk of said 
 County until his decease, which occurred in 1 798, when we find by records of 
 May 21, 1798, George Deneale, Esq., to have been appointed Clerk, being the 
 fourth since the organization of saia County, before whom the Executors of the 
 last will and testament of George Washington qualified. Subsequent to this 
 period, the County was, by an act of the Virginia Assembly, extended, taking a 
 portion from Loudoun County, making Sugar-Land Run the western boundary 
 and dividing line between that portion of Fairfax and Loudoun. In 1800 the 
 Virginia Assembly ceded that portion of Fairfax, which is now known as Alex- 
 andria County,. to the general Government, to comprise that portion of the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia on the south side of the Potomac which was afterwards re- 
 troceded to the State of Virginia, and is now known as Alexandria County. 
 Bleeding at every pore where once vitality and active life existed, it is her pride 
 to boast of scions of Virginia's best blood men in whose veins course the 
 blood of Washington, the Lees, the Masons, Fairfaxes, and many other old and 
 time-honored families whose members have been Virginia's and their country's 
 
 * Recorded in Liber H, No. i, folios i, i, &c., of the Records of Fairfiuc County, Virginia, 
 t See copy of Order after Washington's Notes. 
 
 irfax 
 
 C H was occupied by them during the late war. ine original manuscript on wnicn tne com- 
 mission was written, w'ith the signature of the Secretary of the Colony, (John Robinson,) and 
 Seal of said Colony, is now in possession of the Publisher of thas volume.
 
 brightest ornaments as soldiers, statesmen, and jurists, and who, as their fathecs 
 did, "always keep the latch-string out to both stranger and friend." 
 
 In 1853, Alfred Moss (now deceased), then Clerk of the County Court of said 
 County, asked the Legislature of Virginia the privilege of withdrawing the 
 original will of General George Washington from the County Records for the 
 purpose of having it lithographed, and on the 22d March, 1853, the following 
 Act was passed : 
 
 " I. Be it enacted by the general assembly, that Alfred Moss, the Clerk of 
 the County Court of Fairfax, be and he is hereby authorized, under the direc- 
 tion, and with the permission of the County Court of Fairfax, to withdraw from 
 the Records of the County Court of Fairfax the original Will of General George 
 Washington, and to carry the same beyond the limits of the Commonwealth, 
 and to entrust the same to the custody of an engraver, to be selected by him for 
 the purpose of having said original will lithographed ; provided however, that 
 the said Alfred Moss shall, before removing the said will, satisfy the said County 
 Court of Fairfax, that he has taken the necessary steps to insure the safe keeping 
 of the said will while in the hands of the engraver, and to cause the same to be 
 restored to the files of the County Court, after the same shall be lithographed. 
 
 "2, This Act shall be in force from its passage." 
 
 And afterwards, the said Court having given their consent to the same, M-. 
 Moss endeavored to have the will lithographed, but from causes unknown, he 
 never accomplished his purpose, and until now the will has never been published. 
 Washington Irving, In his life of Washington, publishes only a part of it ; and 
 we find upon comparing his publication with the original, that the portion he 
 gives as taken from it, is entirely incorrect* In July, 1861, when the Confed- 
 erate army fell back from Fairfax C. H., Mr. Moss carefully enveloped Washing- 
 ton's will, endorsing thereon ; 
 
 " The Original Will of 
 GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Bdongs to the Records of Fairfax County Court. To be returned to roe, or 
 any one legally authorized to receive it. 
 
 ALFRED MOSS, CLERK, 
 Fairfax County Court." 
 
 The will, with other Records of his Court, was then carried to Richmond 
 Virginia, and the will deposited with George W. Mumford, Esq., then Secretary 
 of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1862, Henry T. Brooks, who had been 
 elected to fill the Clerkship thus vacated by Alfred Moss, published over his 
 signature, an article, which was copied in many of the papers of the Northern 
 press, stating that Mr. Moss " had taken away the will of General Washington, 
 and that it had been sold, and was then on exhibition in the British Museum." 
 As both of these gentlemen died before the close of the late war, we would say, 
 in justice to them, that Mr. Brooks had been imposed upon by some one, or had 
 been \>*A\\ informed zs .to its whereabouts, and that great injustice was done Mr. 
 Moss. Mr. Moss having died in the fall of 1862, Mr. Thomas Moore, his dep- 
 uty, was appointed in the following spring, Clerk, pro tempore, of said Court 
 In a conversation with Mr. Moore, he remarked that in the spring of 1863, he, 
 as said Clerk, called upon Mr. Mumford, who assured him of the safety and 
 preservation of the will. He permitted it to continue with the Secretary of the 
 State, where it remained until the summer of 1865, when Mr. O. W. Huntt, who 
 had been selected by the County Court of said County to look up the missing 
 records and papers of their Court, received it from Mr. Lewis, then occupying 
 the position formerly held by Mr. Mumford, who stated that the will had been 
 found in his office among the papers lying scattered by Federal soldiers, on the 
 floor of one of the rooms. Mr. Huntt returned the will, with other records, 
 &c, to the County, where it is now on file in charge of Ferdinand D. Richard* 
 
 * Vide Irving'* Life of Washington, V., folio 358.
 
 son, th present Clef k of said Court 5 and though from frequent handling has 
 been considerably torn, and can only be deciphered with the greatest patience, 
 and by comparing with the record heretofore referred to, yet is eagerly sought 
 for and read by those visiting Fairfax C. H. In consideration of its condition, 
 the Court at its November Term, 1865, passed the following order : 
 
 * It appearing to the Court that the original will of General George Washing- 
 ton, of Mount Veraon, has been much worn and mutilated from frequent hand- 
 ling, and that it is liable to further injury from the same cause ; it is ordered 
 that the Clerk of this Court purchase, at the expense of the County, a suitable 
 case, in which he is directed to deposit the said will" 
 
 This order was not carried into effect by Mr. William H. Fitzhugh, then 
 Clerk, from what cause we did not learn, but were informed by Mr. Richardson 
 that it was his intention to carry out the order as soon as he could have a suita- 
 ble case constructed, which is to be of glass, that parties visiting his office in 
 search of it may look upon, without handling it. 
 
 Note 5, Page I. " MARTHA WASHINGTON." General Washington first met 
 her in 1758 at Mr. Chamberlayne's, near the Pamunky, a branch of the York 
 river, while he was on his way from Winchester to Williamsburg to lay before 
 the military council there assembled the destitute condition of the Virginia 
 troops. At this time, says Irving, " she was a young and blooming widow, Mrs. 
 Martha Custis, daughter of John Dandridge, both patrician names in the prov- 
 inces." Her husband, John Parke Custis, had been dead about three years, 
 leaving her with two young children.* She is represented as being rather small 
 in stature, but extremely well formed, with a pleasant countenance, dark hazel 
 eyes and hair, with those frank, engaging manners so peculiar to and captivating 
 in Southern ladies. Added to these attractions, she was possessed of a large 
 fortune. It seems that though Washington was on urgent business, requiring 
 immediate attention, he for once deviated from his usual prompt attention to 
 business entrusted to his care, and instead of leaving Mr. Chamberlayne's that 
 evening, as contemplated, orders for the horses were countermanded, and it was 
 not until next morning that he was again in the saddle, for Williamsburg. 
 
 The White House,\ the residence of Mrs. Custis, was in New Kent County, 
 but a short distance from that city. So he had frequent opportunities to visit 
 the beautiful and fascinating young widow ; and we have no doubt that while 
 at Williamsburg he had both engaged her affection and hand, for we are told 
 by Irving,! that immediately after the reduction of Fort Duquesne, and the 
 French domination of the Ohio being at an end, and quiet once more restored to 
 his native province, he retired from the service. His marriage with Mrs. Custis 
 took place shortly after his return. It was celebrated on the 6th of January, 
 1759, at the White House, the residence of the bride, in the good old hospita- 
 ble style of Virginia, amid a joyous assemblage of relatives and friends. 
 
 Note 6, Page 2. " SHALL RECEIVE THEIR FREEDOM." " From private letters 
 which we have been kindly permitted to peruse, and from many expressions 
 used by him in his will, it seems that it had long been his earnest wish to eman- 
 cipate the slaves held by him in his own right;" but from causes that appear 
 manifest in the perusal of his will, and show his great forethought and kind 
 consideration of them, it was impracticable and grating to the kind feelings of 
 his good and generous heart But when we consider that after providing for 
 the loved one whom God had given him as a companion for earth's pilgrimage, 
 the first object that engaged his attention was his loving and faithful slaves, we 
 must at once see of how great magnitude this great and good Southern soldier, 
 statesman and patriot considered this great moral evil, slavery, though born and 
 
 * John Parke Custis and his sister. This young lady died at Mount Vernon, in the 17* yea 
 of her age, on the igth of June, 1773. 
 
 t From which the President's mansion in Washington dented its name, 
 t Irving's Life of Washington, YoL i, 164. J Now Fittsbor*
 
 9 
 
 educated a slaveholder. In a letter to John F. Mercer, of Virginia, in Septem- 
 ber, 1786, he writes: "I never mean, unless some particular circumstances 
 Should compel me to it, to possess another slave by purchase, it being among 
 my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country may 
 be abolished by law." * 
 
 M And eleven years afterwards, in August, 1797, he writes to his nephew, Law- 
 rence Lewis, which we have had in our hands, " I wish from my soul that the 
 legislature of this State could see the policy of a gradual abolition of slavery. 
 It might prevent much future mischief." t How prophetic! Had one been 
 inspired by the Almighty he could not have spoken with more truth. He saw 
 that sectional hatred being engendered and nurtured on its account which burst 
 upon our once happy country in 1 860-61 like some destroying angel of the 
 avenging gods. Washington was not alone in his views upon this subject 
 Jefferson and many other prominent men of their day were of the same opinion ; 
 and had not fanaticism, blind fanaticism, been turned loose to prey upon reason, all 
 that has been accomplished at the expense of millions and millions of treasure, 
 with a national blackness of mourning shrouding every hearthstone throughout 
 the length and breadth of our desolated land, might have been, ere the close of 
 thfe present generation, effected peaceably and quietly, leaving a united, harmo- 
 nious and prosperou;s people, without national cemeteries for martyrs to princi- 
 ple, without a Booth or an assassinated President to mark the annals of our 
 country's history. 
 
 Note 7, Page 2. " DOWER NEGROES." These negroes he only had a life in- 
 terest in by his marriage with Mrs. Custis, and at her death, as a matter of 
 course, went to heirs of her husband, John Parke Custis; hence he says, "it 
 not being in my power under the tenure by which the dower negroes are held to 
 manumit them." Mrs. Martha Washington, in 1801, manumitted all the slaves 
 she held in her own right. This deed of manumission was recorded in Liber 
 C C., folio 323, of Fairfax County Records, and lost during the war, therefore 
 we cannot arrive at the number thus liberated. 
 
 Note 8, Page 2. " SUPPORT THEMSELVES." We find that there were many 
 of this class, and were a heavy expense, supported by the Executors out of the 
 proceeds of his estate for numbers of years ; as late as the year 1832, when the 
 last estate account of Washington was settled by John A. Washington, Executor 
 of Bushrod Washington, the last surviving executor of the will, we find the 
 estate charged as having paid out for rent, clothing, provisions, coffins and fune- 
 ral expenses, the sum 012788.05. The last item of these charges being for funeral 
 expenses of three free negroes, $12.00, dated December 31, 1829.$ 
 
 , Page 3. "To READ AND WRITE." This provision of the will was 
 never carried into effect, as the statutory laws of the State of Virginia expressly 
 prohibited schools for the instruction of negroes. 
 
 Note 10, Page 4. " WILLIAM" (calling himself William Lee) was the body 
 servant and constant attendant of Washington during the Revolutionary war, 
 and until his injuries incapacitated him for the position. After this, Christopher 
 became his favorite servant, and attended him with that fidelity, affectionate 
 watchfulness and anxiety that has ever been the marked characteristic of the 
 Southern slave when kindly treated and well cared for. William has become 
 quite famous, having had as many as five different funerals, and each claiming 
 to be that of the original William : once he died in North Carolina, once in 
 Missouri, and once in Arkansas ; and we are of opinion that we have seen two 
 
 * Irving' s Washington, V, folio 288. 
 
 t Irving's Washington, Vol. 5, folio 299. 
 
 J Will Book Q, folio 262. Fairfax County Records.
 
 10 
 
 accounts stating that the original William had died at different times in New 
 York ; the last time occurring in the winter of 1867. The William, of whom 
 in all probability these accounts are but mere fabrications, most likely died at 
 his master's old homestead, Mount Vernon. 
 
 Note n, Page 4. "ALEXANDRIA ACADEMY." The corner stone of this in- 
 stitution was laid on the 7th of September, 1785, by the Alexandria Lodge (No, 
 39) of Free Masons, of which lodge Washington was a member: he was also a 
 patron and one of the Trustees of the Academy. The building was erected 
 and is yet standing on the lot at the corner of Washington and Wolfe Streets. 
 The late Dr. Elias Harrison, of Alexandria, Virginia, was one of the Professors 
 in the days of its prosperity. Many of the students of this institution became 
 eminent men, amongst whom were General R E. Lee, the late Senator Pearce, of 
 Maryland, and others. The old Academy building in the course of time be- 
 came private property ; and the corporate authorities of Alexandria assumed 
 the Trusteeship of the Washington endowment, and built a larger structure for 
 the accommodation of a greater number of pupils, and the name changed from 
 "Alexandria Academy" to that of " Washington School." Col. S. King Shay, 
 an old and respected citizen of Alexandria, is now its principal, and at different 
 times in charge eighteen years, once for sixteen consecutive years. 
 
 Note 12, Page 6. For many years Washington had been convinced of the 
 practicability of an easy and short communication between the Potomac and 
 Tames rivers and the waters of the Ohio, thence to the great chain of northern 
 lakes, and saw plainly the immense advantages that must finally accrue to his 
 native State, Virginia, and had gone so far as to attempt the organization of a 
 company to undertake at their own expense the opening of such communica- 
 tion, but the breaking out of the American Revolution put a stop to the enter- 
 prise. In 1784, in company with Dr. Craik, he visited the waters of the Ohio, 
 Kanawha, and other western waters of his State, to make observations and 
 collect information on the subject. After his return, upon his suggesting the 
 opening of said communication, Benjamin Harrison, the Governor of Virginia, 
 being struck with his ideas of the plan for opening the navigation of the western 
 waters, laid the matter before the State Legislature. Washington immediately 
 repaired to Richmond. He arrived there on the I5th day of November, 1784, 
 and in the latter part of December of the same year, we find him at Annapolis, 
 at the request of the Virginia Assembly, arranging matters with the Assembly 
 of Maryland, respecting the communication between the Potomac and western 
 waters. Through his individual exertions and influence, two companies were 
 formed under the fostering care of these States, for opening the navigation of 
 the Potomac and James rivers, and he was immediately appointed president of 
 both. 
 
 By a unanimous vote of the Virginia Assembly, in 1785, fifty shares in the 
 Potomac and one hundred shares in the James River company were appropria- 
 ted for his benefit. The aggregate amount of these shares was about $40,000. 
 This seems greatly to have embarrassed him, as the reader will perceive. He 
 at first declined, but subsequently accepted the shares, upon condition that he 
 should be permitted to appropriate them to public uses, which condition the 
 Virginia Legislature accepted. Thus, to our loved Washington, do we owe the 
 vast and incalculable benefits derived from these great inland water communica- 
 tions. 
 
 Note 13, Page 9. "UNIVERSITY." In his message to Congress, convened 
 January 8, 1790, he says that furnishing the means of higher education at the 
 seat of government was "well worthy of a place in the deliberations of the Legis- 
 lature." Seven years later, in 1797, in his last appeal to Congress on the sub- 
 ject, he says of the assimilation of the principles, opinions and manners of our 
 countrymen, by the common education of a portion of our youth from every 
 quarter, that " the more homogeneous our citizens can be made in these particu- 
 lars, the greater will be the prospect of a permanent union." It seems this
 
 II 
 
 coveted desire was never carried Into effect, and the fifty shares thus donated 
 reverted to the estate. 
 
 Note 14, Page 10. "LIBERTY HALL ACADEMY," now WASHINGTON COL- 
 LEGE, had its origin in a classical school established before the war of Ameri- 
 can Independence, by the early settlers of the Valley of Virginia. _ 
 
 During the period of its infancy, it was sustained by the munificence of its 
 founders, who secured for it in 1782 its present charter, the school bearing the 
 name of LIBERTY HALL ACADEMY until 1798, when it was styled WASHINGTON 
 ACADEMY, in honor of its great benefactor, and subsequently WASHINGTOM 
 COLLEGE. 
 
 The Virginia Legislature, attesting their appreciation of the unexampled 
 merits of GEORGE WASHINGTON, in October, 1784, passed an act vesting in him 
 one hundred shares in the James River Navigation Company, which he declined, 
 except on condition that the Legislature would permit him to transfer the dona- 
 tion to some object of a a public nature. In compliance with the wishes of Gen. 
 WASHINGTON, the Legislature substituted for the act of October, 1784, an act 
 of October, 1785, providing that this fund be conveyed to him to be applied as 
 he might indicate. Gen. WASHINGTON determined to appropriate this gift of 
 Virginia to the endowment of an institution of learning upon the upper waters 
 of James river, and accordingly, by his will, conveyed it to LIBERTY HALL 
 ACADEMY. This munificent endowment now yields to the College the interest 
 upon $50,000 annually. 
 
 Subsequently the CINCINNATI SOCIETY, an organization composed of Revo- 
 lutionary Officers and having for its object the relief of indigent persons of this 
 dags, after accomplishing the purposes for which they organized, determined to 
 convey the funds in their treasury to some public institution, and influenced, 
 as they avowed, by the example of Gen. WASHINGTON, bestowed the gift upon 
 WASHINGTON COLLEGE. From this donation the College now enjoys an en- 
 dowment of $23,000. 
 
 In 1826, JOHN ROBINSON, of Rockbridge County, Virginia, a revolutionary 
 soldier, bequeathed to the same object his estate, which yielded about $40,000, 
 and enabled the Trustees to increase very materially the philosophical appara- 
 tus and the buildings of the College. In acknowledgment of this generous be- 
 quest the " Robinson Professorship of Physical Science " was established. 
 
 Thus thrice endowed so liberally by revolutionary heroes, WASHINGTON COL- 
 LEGE became a seat of learning to which were attracted many young men of 
 Virginia and other States, whose influence became conspicuous in the pulpit, 
 the forum, and the halls of legislation among whom may be named the ALEX- 
 ANDERS, the STUARTS, the MCDOWELLS, the PRESTONS, and many others that 
 fill an enviable place in the history of our country. 
 
 In the Spring of 1861, the College was enjoying a full share of public patron- 
 qge, but its regular exercises were interrupted, and for a time suspended alto- 
 gether. The students, animated by the spirit that moved the young men of the 
 South generally, organized themselves into a military company, joined the im- 
 mortal JACKSON at Winchester, and for four years shared the fortunes of the 
 STONEWALL BRIGADE, winning from their illustrious commander the designa- 
 tion of " more than brave young men." Many of them do not survive to wit- 
 ness the present prosperity of their Alma Mater. 
 
 In the month of June, 1864, Gen. DAVID HUNTER occupied the town of Lex- 
 ington, and under his eyes the College that bore the name and enjoyed the mu- 
 nificence of GEORGE WASHINGTON, was sacked ; its chemical and philosophical 
 apparatus destroyed ; and its libraries, to a great extent, ruined. 
 
 The Board of Trustees, at a meeting held in the summer of 1865, took steps 
 to repair these desolations, in which they have been, to a gratifying extent, suc- 
 cessful ; and in order to establish the Institution on a firmer footing than it ever 
 before held, upon the acceptance of the Presidency by General R. E. LEE, they 
 resolved to expand the sphere of its operations, and, by an enlarged scientific 
 course, to give it a place among the first institutions of the land, thus respond- 
 ing emphatically to the material wants of the country.
 
 12 
 
 Mr. C. H. McCoRMTCK, a Virginian, born and reared Jn the vicinity of Wash- 
 ington College and now a wealthy citizen of New York, bestowed the gener- 
 ous gift of $15,000, by which the Trustees have been enabled to establish the 
 " McCormick Professorship of Experimental Philosophy and Practical Mechan- 
 ics." 
 
 _ The late Mr. WARREN NEWCOMB, of New York City, made the liberal dona- 
 tion of $10,000, and thus rendered essential aid in filling other chairs, 
 
 Mr. RATHMELL WILSON, of Philadelphia, desiring to repair the damage done 
 the College Library by the troops under command of Gen. David Hunter, dona- 
 ted a large number of rare and valuable books belonging to the library of his 
 brother, the late THOMAS B. WILSON, whose name is conspicuously associated 
 with the Academy of Natural Sciences, and the Entomological Society of Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 From a Catalogue for 1867, kindly furnished the publisher by the President, 
 General R. E. LEE, we find the number of students to have been 399, now prob- 
 ably far exceeding 400. 
 
 Note 15, Page n. That generous fatherly affection and charity which had 
 ever marked his treatment of and liberality toward relatives, is here prominently 
 displayed in providing for the transfer of this property in question, since none 
 of the parties had legal titles thereto, 
 
 Note 16, Page 13. This provision of his will was strictly and religiously car- 
 ried into effect. It would seem that Bartholomew Dandridge left his estate con- 
 siderably involved, and to liberate so large a number of the working force on 
 the plantation of his widow immediately, would have created great distress to 
 her and her children, and would have turned upon the charity of the County or 
 State many old and decrepid, as well as young and helpless slaves, unable to 
 shift for themselves : hence this wise provision, 
 
 Note 17, Page i^ "BusHROD WASHINGTON," son of John A. Washington, 
 third brother by his father's last marriage, and the father of Col. John August- 
 ine, late proprietor of Mount Vernon. To him and his son Col. John A. Wash- 
 ington, do we owe the preservation of all the valuable papers and relics of our 
 loved Washington ; many of which are at present in possession of the family of 
 the late Col. John A. Washington, who resides near Charlestown, JeffersonXJa, 
 West Virginia. 
 
 Note 1 8, Page 15. "Or. KANHAWA." We find in many of the writings, 
 both historical and private, the Kanawha thus spelt, and we have no doubt that 
 it is the proper spelling of the Indian name from which it was taken. The pro- 
 nunciation would remain the same. 
 
 Note 19, Page 15. "!N THE COUNTY OF LOUDOUN." This is clearly an 
 error, as the County of Loudoun never embraced that portion of Fairfax. This 
 tract is situated on Difficult run, near where it crosses the Pike leading from 
 George Town to Leesburg, Virginia, and was sold by Washington's executors to 
 the Sheppards, of Fairfax, and is now owned by Mr. Thomas Peacock, of ^aid 
 County. 
 
 Note 20, Page 17. "LAWRENCE AND ROBERT WASHINGTON." We are not 
 advised as to whether or not any relationship existed between them and the tes- 
 tator, but from this clause, and no evidence that any did, we are inclined to the 
 belief they were, as he says, "acquaintances and friends of my juvenile years." 
 
 Note 21, Page 17." DR. CRATK." Dr. James Craik, a gentleman who prob- 
 ably enjoyed as much if not more of Washington's confidence and esteem ihan 
 any other man, and who attended him in his last illness,* was ayoung Scotchman, 
 well bred, and of superior mind and attainments. He, like Dr. Hugh Mercer, 
 of Revolutionary fame, fled from Scotland after the defeat of Charles Edward,
 
 13 
 
 at Culloden, and settled in the Colony of Virginia. He was commissioned on 
 the same day that Washington was, as an officer in the war against the French and 
 Indians ; and we find him with Washington at Great Meadows in May, 1754, as 
 Surgeon of a Virginia Regiment, and during the continuance of this war we 
 find him intimately connected with him. Again we find him, in 1777, with 
 Washington. "About this time, (May, 1777,) Washington had the satisfaction 
 of drawing near him his old friend and travelling companion, Dr. James Craik, the 
 same who had served with him in Braddock's campaign, and had voyaged with 
 him down the Ohio ; for whom he now procured the appointment of assistant 
 director-general of the Hospital department of the middle district, which in- 
 cluded the States between the Hudson and the Potomac. In offering the situa- 
 tion to the doctor, he writes : ' You know how far you may be benefited or in- 
 jured by such an appointment, and whether it is advisable or practicable for you 
 to quit your family and practice at this time. I request, as a friend, that my 
 proposing this matter to you may have no influence upon your acceptance of it 
 I have no other end in view than to serve you.' " * This position he filled to 
 the entire satisfaction of his friends and with great credit to himself. After the 
 termination of the Revolution, he located in Alexandria, Virginia, where he con- 
 tinued the practice of his profession until his death. He continued through 
 life the attached and devoted friend of Washington.! 
 
 Note 22, Page 17. "REV. NOW BRYAN LORD FAIRFAX," was brother of 
 George Wm. Fairfax, and son of old Lord Fairfax, of Belvoir notoriety, but who, 
 at the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, and for some time prior (1752 or 
 3,) resided at Greenway Court, near Winchester. Lord Fairfax was a great 
 admirer of Washington's military genius, as well as his great moral worth and 
 intelligence. During the French war we find that he was frequently in Wash- 
 ington's camp, near Winchester, aiding the young commander with his counsels 
 or his sword. Washington had been from his early youth warmly attached to 
 the Fairfaxes ; owing, probably, in part to the intimacy which existed between 
 him and them, his brother, Lawrence Washington, having married the daugh- 
 ter of the Hon. William Fairfax, of Fairfax County and his frequent visits to 
 Belvoir. When Washington presided as moderator of a public meeting, held 
 by the inhabitants of Fairfax County to discuss the recent acts of the British 
 Parliament, and was appointed chairman of a committee to draw up resolutions 
 expressive of the sentiments of that meeting, and to report the same to a gen- 
 eral meeting of the County, to be held a^ the Court House on the i8th of July, 
 1774, he saw, and with painful emotions, that "the course that public measures 
 were taking, shocked the loyal feelings of his valued friend, Bryan Fairfax." J 
 When the news of Lexington reached Mount Vernon, Bryan Fairfax was Wash- 
 ington's guest. Irving says, " The worthy and gentle-spirited Fairfax deplored 
 it deeply." He saw too plainly that all his pleasant relations in life must be 
 broken up and his dearest friends arrayed against the government to which he 
 was loyally attached and had determined to adhere. This had rendered his sit- 
 uation among his former friends embarrassing and unpleasant, and while he dis- 
 approved of the measures of the British government which had severed the 
 colonies from England, yet he was, as we have above intimated, loyal to his 
 king. He therefore determined to go to England and remain until peace 
 should be restored to his loved colony, Virginia. To effect this purpose he vis- 
 ited Washington, at that time with the army at Valley Forge. Washington, 
 who knew his feelings best, and respected his conscientiousness, we are told, 
 received him with that warm cordiality of former and happier days, for with 
 him he brought recollections dearest to his heart, of Mount Vernon and Bel- 
 voir, happy days of invigorating pleasures on the beautiful banks of Virginia's 
 noble old Potomac, As it was Mr. Fairfax's intention to embark at New York, 
 
 * See Irring's Washington, VoL y, folio 994, &e, 
 t Irving's Washington, Vol. iii, folio 68. 
 t living's Washington, VoL I, folio 354.
 
 14 
 
 Washington furnished him with the necessary papers to insure his safety to that 
 city. After arriving there, the conscience of Mr. Fairfax would not permit him 
 to take the oaths required to secure his passage to England ; he therefore ob- 
 tained permission from the British commander to return to his home in Virginia, 
 where he continued to reside until his death, which happened in 1802, at seven- 
 ty-five years of age. He became proprietor of Belvoir, and after the death of 
 his father, heir to the family title, but the latter he never assumed. In the latter 
 part of his life he became a clergyman of the Episcopal Church. Old Lord 
 Fairfax, of Greenway Court, Washington's early friend and patron, lived to aa 
 aged man at his beautiful retreat in the Shenandoah, and at his death had at- 
 tained his ninety-second year. The reverend historiographer of Mount Vernon 
 records his death in homely prose and verse, thus : 
 
 " When old Lord Fairfax heard that Washington had captured Lord Corrv- 
 wallis and all his army, he called to his black waiter, 'Come, Joe ! carry me to 
 bed, for it is high time for me to die ! 
 
 Then up rose Joe, all at the word, 
 
 And took his master's arm, 
 And thus to bed he softly led 
 
 The lord of Greenway farm. 
 
 There oft he called on Britain's name, 
 
 And oft he wept full sore, 
 Then sighed thy will, oh Lord, be done 
 
 And word spake never more." 
 
 [See Weems' Life of Washington. 
 
 Though frank and open in his adherence to Great Britain, he lived unmolested 
 by the Whigs, and was popular and highly respected by his neighbors. 
 
 Note 23, Page 17. " GEN. DELA FA YETTE," whose memory will be embalmed 
 for all time in the American heart by reason of his aid in our struggle for liberty 
 from the tyranny of Great Britain. 
 
 Note 24, Page 18. " TOBIAS LEAR." Washington had long had him in his 
 service as private secretary and preceptor to his adopted children, George Wash- 
 ington Parke Custis and sister. 
 
 Note 25, Page 21. These two gentlemen were sons of Lund Washington, 
 who, though bearing the same name, and as has been said, of the same stock, 
 does not appear to have been in any near degree of relationship. He was for 
 years manager of Washington's Mount Vernon estate, during the American 
 revolution, and it was to him that he wrote from the American camp at Cam- 
 bridge, in 1775, a short time before he was joined by his family, the celebrated 
 letter in regard to the hospitality of Mount Vernon, which we here insert Says 
 he : " Let the hospitality of the house with respect to the poor be kept up. Let 
 no 'one go hungry away. If any of this kind of people should be in want of 
 corn, supply their necessaries, provided it does not encourage them to idleness ; 
 and I have no objection to your giving my money in charity to the amount of 
 forty or fifty pounds a year, when you think it well bestowed. What I mean by 
 having no objection is, that it is my desire it should be done. You are to con- 
 sider that neither myself nor -wife is now in the way to do these good offices." 
 
 Note 26, Page 22. " ELEANOR PARKE CUSTIS AND GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 PARKE CUSTIS." These were the children of John Parke Custis, the only child 
 of Mrs Washington by her first husband, Mr. John Parke Custis, that lived fo 
 its majority. They were, when very young, adopted by Washington. 
 
 Note 27, Page 23. This is the tract now known as " Arlington," which the 
 late war has made historic, as "Arlington Heights." After the death of Georpe 
 W. P. Custis it descended to General Robert E. Lee, who had married the
 
 daughter of Mr. Custis, and is now held by the United States as confiscated 
 property, and used as a National Cemetery for Union Soldiers and home for 
 Freedmen. 
 
 Note 28, Page 27. This was dor* not long after his death, and is the one hi 
 which his remains, with others of his family, are deposited, 
 
 Note 29, Page 28. From a careful examination of Records, and after having 
 made diligent enquiry, we can safely say that, though so large and valuable an 
 estate was distributed among so maqy legatees, yet not one dispute sufficient to 
 cause litigation ever arose, ' "" * *-
 
 
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