Bibliograph

The widow Washington, the life of Mary Washington, Martha Saxton

Type

Label

The widow Washington, the life of Mary Washington, Martha Saxton

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages [297]-340) and index

resource.biographical

individual biography

Illustrations

illustrationsplates

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The widow Washington

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

1081339249

Responsibility statement

Martha Saxton

Sub title

the life of Mary Washington

Summary

"Biography of Mary Ball Washington, George Washington's mother. Places her life as an orphan, a young wife in rural Virginia, a slaveholder, a widow, and mother to the first president in the context of the changing economic circumstances and cultural values of colonial Virginia and a young nation"--, Provided by publisherHer son's biographers often paint her as self-centered and crude, a trial and an obstacle to her oldest child. Yet Mary Ball Washington had a greater impact on George than mothers of that time and place usually had on their sons, and she imbued him with many of the moral and religious principles by which he lived. The daughter of a wealthy planter and a formerly indentured servant, Mary was orphaned young and grew up working hard, practicing frugality and piety. She married planter Augustine Washington, had five children before his death eleven years later, and as a widow was deprived of most of her late husband's properties. Saxton tells the story of Mary's long, arduous life on its own terms, and not as her son's satellite. -- adapted from jacket

Table Of Contents

Mary Ball Washington : like mother, like son -- A child in the Chesapeake -- A generation of orphans -- Bruising the small spirit -- Mary, her kin, and her books -- Mary Ball, Augustine Washington, and Matthew Hale -- Wife and mother -- People and property at the Ferry Farm -- As sparks fly upward -- The widow Washington -- Single mother -- Mary's stewardship : scraping by -- Midcentury : a wedding, a murder, a family death -- Mary and George's Seven Years War -- Between the wars : kin, consumption, conflict -- The Revolution : a family affair -- The endless Revolution : wartime virtue, wartime woe -- Mary's war ends -- "You must one day fade" -- Epilogue: An uneasy afterlife

Classification