Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/756

Rh of her day. In 1747 she was introduced to the vice-regal court. during the administration of Sir William Gooch. In June, 1749, she became the wife of Daniel Parke Custis, a wealthy planter.

They settled in Mr. Custis' home, the "White House," on Pamunkey river, where they lived a life of refinement in the Virginia fashion. Four children were born to them, two of whom died in infancy. Mr. Custis died in 1757, leaving his widow one of the wealthiest women in Virginia. In the following year Mrs. Custis met George Washington, then a colonel, and in May, 1758, they became engaged. They were married in January. 1759, after Colonel Washington returned from his northern campaign. After their brilliant wedding, they settled in Mount Vernon, and for seventeen years they lived in the style of aristocratic English people, entertaining much and taking UK-lead in all social affairs. Mrs. Washington sympathized with her husband in his patriotic resistance to British oppression and injustice. After he was made commander-in-chief, her life was full of care In 1775 she joined him in Cambridge, Mass., and afterward accompanied him to New York and Philadelphia, and joined him in camp wherever it was possible. During the severe winter in Valley Forge she shared the privations of the soldiers and worked daily from morning till night, providing comforts for the sick soldiers. During the war she discarded her rich dresses and wore only garments spun and woven by her servants in Mount Vernon. At a ball in New Jersey, given in her honor, she wore a homespun suit. She left the camp for the last time when General Washington was stationed in Newburg, N. Y., in 1782. When she became mistress of the executive mansion in New York City, she was fifty-seven years old, and was still a beautiful woman of dignity and sauvity of manner. Her social regime was brilliant in the extreme. During President Washington's second term they lived in Philadelphia. She disliked official life and was pleased when, in 1796, President Washington refused a third election to the presidency. They retired to Mount Vernon, where they lived the rest of their days. Before her death she destroyed her entire correspondence with her husband, not wishing that their confidences should be seen by other eyes.

WASHINGTON, Mrs. Mary, mother of George Washington, the first President of the United Stales, born in Westmoreland county, Va., about 1713, and died in 1789. Her maiden name was Mary Ball, and her descent was English. On 6th March, 1730, she became the wife of Augustine Washington, the second son of Lawrence Washington and the grandson of John Washington, the first of the family to come from England to the Colonies. He purchased lands in Westmoreland county, became a wealthy planter, and was successively a county magistrate, a member of the house of burgesses, and colonel of the Virginia forces that drove away the invading Seneca Indians. In honor of his public services and private character, the parish in which he lived was named Washington. There his son, Lawrence, and his grandson. Augustine, were born. Augustine Washington was married twice. By his first wife he had four children, two of whom. Lawrence and Augustine, outlived their mother, who died in 1728. By his second wife, Mary Ball, he was the father of the immortal George Washington, who was the first child of his second marriage. Mrs. Mary Washington was a devoted mother, and her son George was a most faithful and affectionate son. He was born 22nd February-, 1732, and his father died in 1743, leaving a family of five children for his widow to rear. She took the management of her estate into her own hands, and supervised the education of her children. To her George Washington owed as much as any other great man of history ever owed to a woman. While he was absent in the army, for nearly seven years, she managed the home and kept up the estate, and when the victory was won and Cornwallis had surrendered, he visited his aged mother. She consented to appear in a ball given in Fredericksburg in honor of her son, and she surprised the foreigners by her simple dress and quiet dignity. One of her most earnest commendations of her illustrious son was that "George had always been a good son." She lived to see him reach the proudest position in the new-born nation. He bade her farewell for the last time in the home of her childhood, in Stafford county, across the Rappahannock from Fredericksburg, where his father had purchased an estate several years before his death. The parting was affectionate, and the venerable woman died shortly afterward, too suddenly to make it possible for her son to reach her. Mary Washington, more than any other one woman, is to be remembered for having given to the world one of the greatest men of history. Her simple virtues were reflected in her glorious son, and the name of George Washington will never be mentioned without calling up pleasant thoughts of the noble, simple mother who gave him birth— Mary Washington.

WATERS, Mrs. Clara Erskine Clement, author, born in St. Louis, Mo., 28th August, 1834. She is the daughter of John Frskine. Her first attempt at writing was made in a description of travel in 1868, and was called "A Simple Story of the Orient." It was printed for private circulation only. Mrs. Clement Waters has traveled extensively, and mostly from her own note books compiled "Legendary and Mythological Art" (Boston, 1870). That was followed by "Painters, Sculptors, Architects,