Person:Mary Ball (5)

redirected from Person:Mary Ball (135)
m. Abt 1707
  1. Mary Ball1708 - 1789
m. 6 Mar 1731
  1. President George Washington1732 - 1799
  2. Betty Washington1733 - 1797
  3. Samuel Washington1734 - 1781
  4. John Augustine Washington1736 - 1787
  5. Charles Washington1738 - 1799
  6. Mildred Washington1739 - 1740
Facts and Events
Name Mary Ball
Married Name _____ Washington
Gender Female
Birth[1][2][8] 1708 Lancaster County, Virginiaat Epping Forest
Marriage 6 Mar 1731 to Captain Augustine Washington
Death[1][2][6][7] 25 Aug 1789 Fredericksburg, Virginia, United Statesdied of breast cancer
Reference Number? Q458119?

Working Timeline

  • abt 1720 - Mary is orphaned and becomes the legal ward of her uncle George Eskridge, Burgess of Westmoreland.
  • 1731 - Eskeridge introduced Mary to Augustine Washington, his recently widowed brother-in-law. The pair married shortly afterwards and moved to the Washington family home at Pope’s Creek, Virginia.9
  • 1732 - son George Washington is born.
  • 1738 - family moves to Ferry Farm, on the Rappahannock River across from Fredericksburg
  • 1738-1743 - Mary gives birth to 5 more children.
  • 1743 - husband Augustine dies, leaving Mary in charge of the family and Ferry Farm
  • 30 Apr 1789 - son George Washington is inaugurated as President of the United States in New York. He visits mother Mary in Fredricksburg while en route. She is very ill and knowing that this would be the last time he sees her, George describes this visit as his "last Act of personal duty" to her.
  • 25 Aug 1789 - Mary dies of breast cancer in Fredericksburg.7

Research Notes

  • "Epping Forest" was the name of her father's estate located near the present town of Lively in Lancaster County.8
  • The few surviving letters between Mary Ball Washington and her son George Washington portray a strained and difficult relationship. When his mother grew older and complained constantly about money problems, he bought her a house in Fredericksburg, next door to the home of her daughter Betty and her husband Fielding Lewis.

See also

References
  1. 1.0 1.1 Family Recorded, in Roberts, Gary Boyd. Ancestors of American Presidents. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009)
    1.

    Mother of George Washington. Mary Ball, Lancaster Co., Va. c. 1707-Fredericksburg, VA. 25 Aug 1789. m. Augustine Washington 6 Mar 1731.

  2. 2.0 2.1 Mary Ball Washington, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
  3.   Family Recorded, in Hill, Margaret Lester. Ball Families of Virginia's Northern Neck: An Outline. (Lancaster, VA: Mary Ball Washington Museum & Library, 1990)
    47.
  4.   Family Recorded, in Cukro, Diane. Descendants of William Ball. (Huntington, NY: Private Manuscript, 2002)
    44-45 (#22).
  5.   Will Abstract of Joseph Ball, in Lee, Ida J. Abstracts Lancaster County, Virginia, Wills, 1653-1800. (Richmond: Dietz Press, 1959).

    p 6 -
    BALL, Joseph,. Psh. St. Mary's White Chapel. Will. 25 June 1711. Rec. 11 July 1711. Wife Mary; son Joseph; daus. Hannah Travers; Anne Conway; Esther Chinn; Elizabeth Cornegie; Mary Ball; Eliza Johnson (dau. of his wife), dau. Mary, 400 acres of land in Richmond county; grandson James Cornegie (not 21) acknowledges gift to son Joseph Ball, and daus. Hannah Travers, Anne Conway and Esther Chinn made 11 Feb. 1707; Overseer John Hagan; negroes formerly belonging to Jon. Carnegie, decd. Extr. Joseph Ball. Wits. Geo. Finch, Elizabeth Finch, Margaret Miller, Joseph Taylor.
    W.B. 10, p. 88.
    -----
    [Identifies the father of Mary Ball.]

  6. Family Recorded, in Hardy, Stella Pickett. Colonial families of the Southern States of America: a history and genealogy of colonial families who settled in the colonies prior to the Revolution. (Baltimore [Maryland]: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1965)
    40.

    9— 6. Mary, b. 1707, at "Epping Forest," Lancaster Co., Va.; d. Aug. 25, 1789, at "Mount Vernon," Fairfax Co., Va.; m. March 6, 1739, Augustine Washington, of Bridges Creek, Westmoreland Co., Va., b. 1694; d. April 12, 1743; son of Lawrence and Mildred (Warner) Washington. (See Washington lineage.)
    -----
    [cos1776 Note: error. She died in Fredricksburg.]

  7. Burgess Ball to George Washington, in The Digital Papers of George Washington
    25 Aug 1789.
  8. Epping Forest, in Wayland, John W. (John Walter). The Washingtons and their homes. (Staunton, Virginia: McClure Print. Co., 1944)
    17.

    ... Epping Forest, the historic homestead, is located in Lancaster County, Virginia, seven miles northwest from Lancaster Court House and two miles in the same direction from the village of Lively. The old mansion, a portion of which is the house in which Mary Ball was born, stands in a grove on the southwest side of the highway, back a distance of about 150 yards. ... Here in 1680 Mary's father, Colonel Joseph Ball, established himself on land inherited from his father, Colonel William Ball, ... The estate of Epping Forest, with the exception of a few years, has been held continuously by members of the Ball family. In 1933, when the photographs shown herewith were made, the owner was a Mr. J.D. Jesse, whose wife was a Miss Ball. ...

  9.   Douglas Southall Freeman, George Washington: Vol. 1 Young Washington (New York: Scribner’s, 1948)
    44.