Mary Ball Washington

Mary Washington (; 1707-1709 – August 25, 1789) was an American planter best known for being the mother of the first president of the United States, George Washington. The second wife of Augustine Washington, she became a prominent member of the Washington family. She spent a large part of her life in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where several monuments were erected in her honor and a university, along with other public buildings, bear her name. Early life Mary Ball was born between 1707 and 1709 at either Epping Forest, her family's slave plantation in Lancaster County, Virginia or at a plantation near the village of Simonson, Virginia. She was the only child of Col. Joseph Ball (1649–1711) and his second wife, Mary Johnson Ball (1672-1721). Her paternal grandfather was William Ball (1615 – c. 1680) who had left England for Virginia in the 1650s. His wife Hannah Atherold arrived later along with their four children, including Mary's father Joseph, who had been born in England. Her father died when she was three and after her mother's death, at the age of twelve Mary Ball was placed under the guardianship of Jane Washington's brother, the lawyer George Eskridge. Married life Augustine Washington had sailed to England on business (and to visit his sons who had been sent to school there) but on his return, he discovered that his first wife, Jane Butler Washington, had died in the interim. George Eskridge supposedly arranged an introduction between his friend, Washington, and his ward Mary Ball, with the two marrying on March 6, 1731 when she was 22. She was wealthy by the standards of the day and brought at least 1000 acres of inherited property to the marriage. The couple had the following children: