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| The Father of our Country. He inherited Mount Vernon in 1752 from his half-brother Lawrence. Concerning the 29 page Will of President George Washington: The executors agreed among themselves that the business of the settlement of the estate should be left largely to Bushrod Washington and Lawrence Lewis. Nearly half a century after Washington's death, with all of the executors but George Washington Parke Custis dead, no final settlement of the estate had been reached. See Custis to Lorenzo Lewis, 20 June 1846 (Mount Vernon Annual Report, 1952, 52). After he inherited Mount Vernon, Washington had the old tomb built according to the instructions laid down in his half-brother Lawrence's will. The tomb was built on the side of a steep hill about two hundred yards south of the mansion house. It was a plain, bricked up excavation in the hillside. Whenever the tomb was opened for a new occupant, the bricks had to be removed and replaced again after the burial. Mrs. Washington instructed that a door be made for the vault after her husband's burial, observing "that it will soon be necessary to open it again." By 1799 the tomb was in a ruinous condition from tree roots and moisture. After Washington's death John Adams requested and received permission from Mrs. Washington to remove Washington's body for reburial in a crypt to be built under the dome of the United States Capitol. This was never done, however. In 1831, after an attempt was made by vandals to steal Washington's body from the decaying tomb, Lawrence Lewis and George Washington Parke Custis built a new brick tomb west of the mansion, in the "Vinyard Inclosure" mentioned in Washington's will. The bodies of George and Martha Washington and other family members buried in the old tomb were reinterred in the new vault. For more on GW's tomb, see Paul Wilstach, Mount Vernon, Washington's Home and the Nation's Shrine, (New York, 1916): 223-24, 247-50, and Prussing, Estate of George Washington, 239-42. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| He contracted Acute Laryngitis or a throat infection. While waiting for his doctor to arrive he insisted that his farm manager let blood. During the next 12 hours, several different doctors arrived and blood was let twice more. During those 12 hours, it is estimated that at least half of his blood volume was drained, and it is probable that this massive blood letting killed him. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| George was actually born 11 February 1732 on the Jullian calendar in use at the time. England adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752 changing the his birthday to 22 February. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Eleanor and Elizabeth Parke Custis were two of Martha Washington's four grandchildren. Martha's son, John Parke Custis, born during her earlier marriage to Daniel Parke Custis, had four children by his wife Eleanor Calvert. John Parke Custis died in 1781, and in 1783 his widow Eleanor married David Stuart, an Alexandria physician. The eldest two daughters (Elizabeth and Martha) lived with their mother and stepfather, while Nelly and her brother lived with their grandparents George and Martha Washington. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Last modified June 22, 2005 |  
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Copyright © 2008 Paul L. Hathcoat |
