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MRS. ROGER A. PRYOR
MRS. ROGER A. PRYOR
" That one who breaks the way with tears Many shall follow with a song " New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 1903 All rights reserved Copyright, 1903, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up, electrotyped, and published October, 1903 Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. To the Hon. Roger A. Pryor , LL.D. IN WHOM LIVES ALL THAT WAS BEST IN OLD VIRGINIA PART I PART II...
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AUTHORITIES
AUTHORITIES
Virginia Historical Magazine. William and Mary Quarterly. Virginia Historical Register. Meade's Old Churches and Families of Virginia. Campbell's History of Virginia. Irving's Life of Washington. Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington. By George Washington Parke Custis. Cooke's Virginia. The Bland Papers. By Campbell. Howe's Virginia. Journal of Philip Vickars Fithian. Towers's Lafayette. Creasy's Fifteen Decisive Battles. Morse's Franklin. Lecky's England in the Eighteenth Century. Fis
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INTRODUCTORY
INTRODUCTORY
The mothers of famous men survive only in their sons. This is a rule almost as invariable as a law of nature. Whatever the aspirations and energies of the mother, memorable achievement is not for her. No memoir has been written in this country of the women who bore, fostered, and trained our great men. What do we know of the mother of Daniel Webster, or John Adams, or Patrick Henry, or Andrew Jackson, or of the mothers of our Revolutionary generals? When the American boy studies the history of h
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MARY WASHINGTON'S ENGLISH ANCESTRY
MARY WASHINGTON'S ENGLISH ANCESTRY
The family of Ball from which Mary, the mother of Washington, descended, can be traced in direct line only as far back as the year 1480. They came originally from "Barkham, anciently 'Boercham'; noted as the spot at which William the Conqueror paused on his devastating march from the bloody field of Hastings: [1] 'wasting ye land, burning ye towns and sleaing ( sic ) ye people till he came to Boerchum where he stayed his ruthless hand.'" In the "History of the Ball family of Barkham, Comitatis B
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THE BALL FAMILY IN VIRGINIA
THE BALL FAMILY IN VIRGINIA
The first of the family of Ball to come to Virginia was William Ball, who settled in Lancaster County in 1650. He was the son of the attorney of Lincoln's Inn. He emigrated, with other cavaliers because of the overthrow of the royal house and the persecution of its adherents. Before this time one John Washington, an Englishman and a loyalist, had settled in Westmoreland. He became a man of influence in the colony, rising rapidly from major to colonel, justice of Westmoreland, and member of the H
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COAT ARMOR AND THE RIGHT TO BEAR IT
COAT ARMOR AND THE RIGHT TO BEAR IT
Bishop Meade says of William Ball's coat of arms: "There is much that is bold about it: as a lion rampant with a globe in his paw, with helmet, shield and visor, and other things betokening strength and courage, but none these things suit of my work! There is, however, one thing that does. On a scroll are these words, Cælum tueri! May it be a memento to all his posterity to look upward and seek the things which are above!" The Bishop attached, probably, more importance to the heraldic distinctio
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TRADITIONS OF MARY BALL'S EARLY LIFE
TRADITIONS OF MARY BALL'S EARLY LIFE
Of the ancestry of Mary Washington's mother nothing is known. She was the "Widow Johnson," said to have descended from the Montagus of England, and supposed to have been a housekeeper in Joseph Ball's family, and married to him after the death of his first wife. Members of the Ball family, after Mary Washington's death, instituted diligent search to discover something of her mother's birth and lineage. Their inquiries availed to show that she was an Englishwoman. No connection of hers could be f
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REVELATIONS OF AN OLD WILL
REVELATIONS OF AN OLD WILL
The old will proves beyond all question that Mary Ball's girlhood was not passed in Lancaster, that she had ample opportunity for education, and was, therefore, not untaught until she was sixteen. She, probably, never visited Williamsburg when seventeen,—certainly never with her mother. There never was a Sister Susie! At the time the Williamsburg letter announced the recent death of her mother, that mother had for many years been sleeping quietly in her grave. Moreover, the letter of Mary hersel
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MARY BALL'S CHILDHOOD
MARY BALL'S CHILDHOOD
It is easy to imagine the childhood of Mary Ball. Children in her day escaped from the nursery at an early age. They were not hidden away in convents or sent to finishing schools. There were no ostentatious débuts, no "coming-out teas." As soon as a girl was fairly in her "teens" she was marriageable. Little girls, from early babyhood, became the constant companions of their mothers, and were treated with respect. Washington writes gravely of "Miss Custis," six years old. They worked samplers, l
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GOOD TIMES IN OLD VIRGINIA
GOOD TIMES IN OLD VIRGINIA
Despite the perils and perplexities of the time; the irreverence and profanity of the clergy; the solemn warning of the missionary Presbyterians; the death of good Queen Anne, the last of the Stuarts, so dear to the hearts of loyal Virginians; the forebodings on the accession to the throne of the untried Guelphs; the total lack of many of the comforts and conveniences of life, Virginians love to write of the early years of the century as "the golden age of Virginia." These were the days known as
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MARY BALL'S GUARDIAN AND HER GIRLHOOD
MARY BALL'S GUARDIAN AND HER GIRLHOOD
Except for the bequest in her brother-in-law's will, nothing whatever is known of Mary Ball for nine years—indeed, until her marriage with Augustine Washington in 1730. The traditions of these years are all based upon the letters found by the Union soldier,—genuine letters, no doubt, but relating to some other Mary Ball who, in addition to the flaxen hair and May-blossom cheeks, has had the honor of masquerading, for nearly forty years, as the mother of Washington, and of having her story and he
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YOUNG MEN AND MAIDENS OF THE OLD DOMINION
YOUNG MEN AND MAIDENS OF THE OLD DOMINION
The social setting for Mary Ball—now a young lady—is easily defined. It matters little whether she did or did not visit her brother in England. She certainly belonged to the society of Westmoreland, "the finest," says Bishop Meade, "for culture and sound patriotism in the Colony." Around her lived the families of Mason, Taliaferro, Mountjoy, Travers, Moncure, Mercer, Tayloe, Ludwell, Fitzhugh, Lee, Newton, Washington, and others well known as society leaders in 1730. If she was, as her descendan
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THE TOAST OF THE GALLANTS OF HER DAY
THE TOAST OF THE GALLANTS OF HER DAY
Of the "Mistress Mary Ball's" personal appearance we know nothing, unless we can guide our imaginations by the recollections of old Fredericksburg neighbors who knew her after she had passed middle age. Washington Irving says she was a beauty and a belle. He had only one source of information, George Washington Parke Custis, the sole eye-witness who wrote of her personal appearance in middle life. Sparks, Lossing, and all the rest who have described her, had no other. Parson Weems, of course, ha
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HER MARRIAGE AND EARLY LIFE
HER MARRIAGE AND EARLY LIFE
"The 'Rose of Epping Forest,'" says one of her descendants, "and 'reigning Belle of the Northern Neck,' as she was universally styled, would, in common parlance, be called 'hard to please,' in that, in times when marriages were early she did not resign her sceptre until she had attained the then ripe age of twenty-two—not 'love-inspiring sixteen,' as Parson Weems would have us believe. In this she exhibited that consummate wisdom, calm equipoise of soul, and perfect self-control so strikingly di
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BIRTHPLACE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
BIRTHPLACE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
At the Wakefield house was born, Feb. 22, 1732, the eldest son of this superb specimen of young American womanhood. There is not the least doubt that he was in every respect "a fine boy" and worthy of the best name his mother could give him. Monument at Wakefield marking the Birthplace of George Washington. She did not follow the invariable custom of colonial Virginians. He was not called "John" or "Augustine" or "Joseph" after his father or grandfathers. He was given the first name of the "Tr
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THE CHERRY TREE AND LITTLE HATCHET
THE CHERRY TREE AND LITTLE HATCHET
Whether the immortal cherry tree grew at this home on the Potomac, or on the farm on the Rappahannock to which the family moved, we are not instructed by the imaginings of "Parson Weems," Washington Irving, and others; but the hatchet, if the cherry tree grew in Westmoreland, must have been a very "little hatchet," indeed, for Augustine Washington removed to a seat opposite Fredericksburg when George was a small boy. And just here the writer begs leave to enter a plea for the life of this cherry
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THE YOUNG WIDOW AND HER FAMILY
THE YOUNG WIDOW AND HER FAMILY
Augustine Washington selected a fine site on the banks of the Rappahannock opposite Fredericksburg, and near "Sting Ray Island," where the very fishes of the stream had resented the coming of Captain John Smith. The name of this home was Pine Grove. "The situation was commanding [5] and the garden and orchard in better cultivation than those they had left. The house was like that at Wakefield, broad and low with the same number of rooms upon the ground floor, one of them in the shed-like extensi
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BETTY WASHINGTON, AND WEDDINGS IN OLD VIRGINIA
BETTY WASHINGTON, AND WEDDINGS IN OLD VIRGINIA
In 1746 young Fielding Lewis came up from his family seat at Marmion, bringing General Washington's aunt, Catharine Washington, as his wife, and made his home at Kenmore in Fredericksburg. They were married just one year before the birth of little John Lewis, and Mrs. Henry Lee (the mother of "Light-horse Harry") and Mrs. Mary Washington were godmothers. (Five times was this little fellow destined to be married, and if a problem of involved relationship be in order, he could furnish it. His firs
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DEFEAT IN WAR: SUCCESS IN LOVE
DEFEAT IN WAR: SUCCESS IN LOVE
Washington was only nineteen when Virginia appointed him one of her adjutants-general. He was "Major Washington" now when he visited his mother at "Ferry Farm," visiting her only, because the failing health of his brother Lawrence demanded his care. His mother gladly surrendered him for the comfort of this, her devoted stepson, to whom she had always deferred as the head of the family. He went with this brother to try the warmer climate of Barbados, bringing him back ere long to die at Mount Ver
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IN AND AROUND FREDERICKSBURG
IN AND AROUND FREDERICKSBURG
The origin of the names of the estates in the Northern Neck can easily be traced. A few were Indian: "Quantico," "Occoquan," "Monacan," "Chappawamsic," "Chotank." Many were English: "Stratford," "Wakefield," "Marlboro," "Chatham," "Gunston Hall," "Mount Vernon," "Ravensworth," "Blenheim," "Marmion,"—the latter, of course, not named for Scott's fictitious hero (seeing that Sir Walter had not yet been born), but, doubtless, by some emigrant of Lincolnshire descent, in honor of Sir Robert de Marmio
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SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS
SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS
The essential principles in the drama of human life are ever the same although its outward aspect changes with changing circumstances. But in some ages events develop more rapidly than in others under the urgency of peculiar conditions. In colonial Virginia the story was told over and over again before the final fall of the curtain. Scenes shifted with wonderful rapidity. The curtain, in mimic drama, is usually rung down at the church door after the early or late wooing and marriage; but in Virg
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A TRUE PORTRAIT OF MARY WASHINGTON
A TRUE PORTRAIT OF MARY WASHINGTON
"The search-lights of history have unfolded to us nothing of interest touching Mrs. Washington from the time of the French and Indian War until the awakening of the great Revolution. Fortunate is the woman, said the Greek of old, of whom neither good nor ill is spoken. And, curtained away from the world, the matron lived under the great Taskmaster's eye, in the bosom of that home, by whose fruit ye shall know her. Many years had rolled by since she settled at 'Pine Grove,' with her first-born so
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NOON IN THE GOLDEN AGE
NOON IN THE GOLDEN AGE
Virginia, between the years 1760 and 1775, attained her highest prosperity. The growth of the colony in general, and the advance of luxury in living was rapid, marked by an increased taste for amusements of the most costly kind, and great expenditure in living and entertaining. It was high noon in the Golden Age! Life was far more elegant and luxurious than it was even fifteen years before. The transplanted Englishman had rapidly prospered in the new land. Great wealth had suddenly come to him t
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DINNERS, DRESS, DANCES, HORSE-RACES
DINNERS, DRESS, DANCES, HORSE-RACES
If the grave New Jersey Presbyterian tutor—who has given us so faithful a picture of domestic life in the Northern Neck—saw fit to burn his candles at night while he described the dresses, dinners, and dances of his day, surely it is worth our while to pause in our history to consider them. The planter's daily life began betimes with an early breakfast. The planter was an early riser. He had retired early. The myrtle-berry candle—the costly spermaceti—were not brilliant enough to tempt late hour
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THE LITTLE CLOUD
THE LITTLE CLOUD
It seems to have been hard for England to take her American colonies seriously. "The gentlemen of the opposition on the other side of the water" were regarded as inferiors, or, at best, troublesome children, to be dealt with accordingly, and taught to know—and keep—their places. As early as 1766 a "Planter" on the banks of the Potomac addressed a letter to "The Merchants of London," and printed in the London Public Ledger , in which he says: "The epithets of 'parent and child' have been so long
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THE STORM
THE STORM
The stirring events which marked every month in the next two years are known to every reader of American history: the steady injustice and oppression of the governor, his attempt to disarm the colonists by removing the powder of the colony from "The old Powder-horn," the quaint old building at Williamsburg, now cherished by the association for the preservation of Virginia antiquities, the arming of the Virginians headed by Patrick Henry to reclaim it, the flight of poor Lady Dunmore and her pret
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MARY WASHINGTON IN THE HOUR OF PERIL
MARY WASHINGTON IN THE HOUR OF PERIL
Mary Washington was kept in a state of perpetual anxiety and alarm. She was left unprotected by her nearest friends and relatives. Her son was gone, returning for no brief visits to his old home. Her grandson, George Lewis, was on his uncle's staff. Her sons were enlisted, all her grandsons. The Spotswood boys were at the front. Her good neighbor, Hugh Mercer, was a general in the army; her near relative, Colonel Burgess Ball, had raised and equipped a regiment, and was maintaining it at his own
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OLD REVOLUTIONARY LETTERS
OLD REVOLUTIONARY LETTERS
Whenever the women of the Revolution appear upon the pages of history or romance they are invested with extraordinary virtues. Our traditions are only of maidens who forsook morning lessons on the harpsichord, and afternoon tea, and embroidery, to knit stockings and make plain garments; of Abigail Adams, who "sought wool and flax and worked willingly with her own hands," of Lady Washington, dignified and domestic, presenting gloves of her own knitting, finished and unfinished, as souvenirs of mo
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THE BATTLE-GROUND
THE BATTLE-GROUND
In Virginia, about to become the battle-ground of the Revolution, the condition of affairs was gloomy, humiliating, apparently almost desperate. After a war of five years the state was still unfortified, unarmed, unprepared. Her strength, her money, her sons had been sent to fight her battles in the North. She had entered the war already loaded with debt from the Indian and French wars, and further depleted through her patriotic non-importation policy. Navigable rivers ran, at intervals of a few
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FRANCE IN THE REVOLUTION
FRANCE IN THE REVOLUTION
The rebellion of the colonies had been long expected in France. As early as 1750, Turgot, before the Sorbonne, had compared colonies to fruits which only remain on the stem until they reach maturity, and then drop off. Vergennes. Vergennes, in conversation with an English traveller, had predicted: "England will soon repent of having removed the only check that can keep her colonies in awe. They stand no longer in need of her protection. She will call upon them to contribute towards supporting
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"ON WITH THE DANCE, LET JOY BE UNCONFINED"
"ON WITH THE DANCE, LET JOY BE UNCONFINED"
That was a great day when the news came to Fredericksburg—"Cornwallis has surrendered." "With red spurs" rode the couriers that carried the glad tidings, and the hearts of the people leaped with joy. Twenty-eight British captains had stepped forth from the lines and surrendered as many colors to the ragged Continentals. With instinctive magnanimity the conquerors had given a banquet to their captive officers, and Washington had saluted Cornwallis with a toast to the British army. Thus the brave
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LAFAYETTE AND OUR FRENCH ALLIES
LAFAYETTE AND OUR FRENCH ALLIES
In 1784 the Marquis de Lafayette returned to Virginia "crowned everywhere," wrote Washington to the Marchioness de Lafayette, "with wreaths of love and respect." He made a visit to Mount Vernon, and thence, before he sailed for France, he went to Fredericksburg to pay his homage to the mother of Washington. A great crowd of citizens and old soldiers thronged the town to do him honor. One of the old soldiers from the country had heard much of a new character who had followed the armies, and had l
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IN CAMP AND AT MOUNT VERNON
IN CAMP AND AT MOUNT VERNON
Peace was not declared until March 3, 1783. In the meanwhile the armies must be kept in camp, regularly drilled, and ready at a moment's notice for action. The American army was encamped at Verplanck's Point; that of Count de Rochambeau—alas, for the honor and peace of one household!—at Williamsburg. The brilliant campaign in Virginia attracted immense interest abroad. Every ship brought strangers to visit the camp,—artists, writers, military men. Washington begins to be sensitive about our meag
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MRS. ADAMS AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES
MRS. ADAMS AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES
Mary Washington lived long enough to witness the crowning triumph of the colonies, when the proud country that had sought their subjugation was compelled to receive at its Court their accredited Minister. In 1785 John Adams of Massachusetts was chosen for this delicate position. He had nominated Washington for Commander-in-chief of the Colonial troops, he had belonged to the committee which reported the immortal Declaration of Independence, he had been sent in 1777 as commissioner to the Court o
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THE FIRST WINTER AT MOUNT VERNON
THE FIRST WINTER AT MOUNT VERNON
Washington Irving speaks of the first winter at Mount Vernon as being of such intense cold that "General Washington could not travel through the snows even as far as Fredericksburg to visit his aged mother." General Dabney H. Maury, in his "Recollections of a Virginian," says: "After Washington's military career ended he used to go frequently to Fredericksburg to visit his venerable mother, and his arrival was the occasion of great conviviality and rejoicing. Dinner parties and card parties were
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THE PRESIDENT AND HIS LAST VISIT TO HIS MOTHER
THE PRESIDENT AND HIS LAST VISIT TO HIS MOTHER
Once more, and once only, do we hear of Mary Washington in connection with her son. We read that her home filled her time and heart; that she, like her son, sowed and planted, arranging her garden as the seasons succeeded each other, delighting in her personal work therein. Who can measure the charm, to a woman, of even a small garden! How often has she not "heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day!" She was born in a garden. Her first perception of beauty was awa
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MARY WASHINGTON'S WILL; HER ILLNESS AND DEATH
MARY WASHINGTON'S WILL; HER ILLNESS AND DEATH
Mary Washington made her will only a year before her death, stating therein that she was "in good health." This was one of the years, during which it has been asserted that she was not only neglected by her son but that they were estranged because of her Tory principles! Besides a few small bequests to her daughter and grandchildren, "desiring their acceptance thereof as all the token I now have to give them," she leaves all her estate "to my Son General George Washington," also—that crowning pr
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TRIBUTES OF HER COUNTRYMEN
TRIBUTES OF HER COUNTRYMEN
Mary Washington was laid by reverent hands in the spot chosen by herself near "Kenmore." Tradition declares that General Washington proposed erecting a monument over her ashes, but was restrained by the assurance that the country claimed that privilege. If this promise was made, it was never redeemed. The American nation, in its reasonable gratitude, dedicated in almost every hamlet some memorial to its great commander. For her it did nothing. No stone or tablet for years marked her resting-plac
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