Mary Ball Washington

Mary Ball Washington is George Washington's mother. Mary’s father died while she was an infant, and her mother died when she was 12 years old. In her early 20s, Mary’s uncle introduced her to Augustine Washington, his widowed brother-in-law. They married and the Washingtons moved to Pope’s Creek, Virginia. In The Hesperus Prophecy, Pope’s Creek is the prophesied birthplace of a great leader, and this is where Mary’s first son, George, was born on February 22, 1732.

When George was 6 years old, the family moved to Ferry Farm, where Mary gave birth to five more children. Her husband Augustine died a few years later, placing Mary in charge of Ferry Farm until George was old enough to run it. When George decided upon a career path in the British Royal Navy, Mary refused to let him join. She claimed it would be a hard life but perhaps Hesperus, at their meeting upon George’s birth, shared more with Mary Washington about her son’s future than she ever divulged.

Unfortunately, Mary’s relationship with George became strained due to her frequent requests for additional financial support. Despite George buying a home for his mother, next door to her daughter Betty, she embarrassed her son by petitioning the Virginia government to provide her with additional funds.

When Mary developed breast cancer, her doctors treated her with hemlock, a traditional 1700s medicine. Hemlock is highly poisonous, and this treatment likely sped up her death. Mary was mourned as a national hero, and there is a monument to George Washington’s mother near her home in Fredricksburg, Virginia.