CHAPTER I. The name of Mary-how the heart Thrills at the sound of that sweet name! The holiest thoughts it may impart, Or wake the soul to deeds of fame! J. W M. Well-ordered home, man's best delight to make, THOMPSON. MRS. MARY WASHINGTON was born in the Col.. ony of Virginia, towards the conclusion of the year 1706. Little is known of her ancestors, except that she inherited an unimpeachable name. We are informed that she was descended from a highly respectable family of English colonists, named Ball, who originally established themselves on the banks of the Potomac. It is to be lamented that no records of the youth, or early womanhood of this illustrious lady have been preserved. We are, therefore, in ignorance of the education and domestic influences by which her remarkable character was developed and matured. But judging from the rare combination of mental and moral qualities which we find exhibited in the brief history of her later life, we may suppose her home education to have been particularly practical and judicious; such, indeed, was almost the only instruction received by women in this country, even at a much later period than that to which we refer. To the abiding effect of early maternal training, Mrs. Washington must have been, at least in some degree, indebted for her habits of unusual industry, economy, and regularity, as well as for the excellent constitution, that gave vigor and practical usefulness to the operations of a naturally powerful intellect. To the ineffaceable impressions of infant years, we may also ascribe the moral elevation and the exalted piety associated with her noble mind. Augustine Washington, the husband of the celebrated subject of our Memoir, was a gentleman of considerable wealth, and of distinguished lineage and position. Several of his ancestors early emigrated to the Colony of Virginia, and honorable mention is made of more than one of them in the annals of the primitive days of the Old Dominion.* * Everything relating, even remotely, to the history of Wash "His occupation was that of a planter, which from the first settlement of the country, had been the pursuit of nearly all the principal gentle. men of Virginia.” Little can now be definitely ascertained respecting the individual character of the father of the great American Hero. His premature death, and the entire want of any minute family record respecting him, render research in relation to his personal history almost wholly futile. We can only infer his worth from the distinct remembrance in which his paternal tenderness was always held by his most eminent descendant, and from the fact that the valuable estate he possessed at his death, was "chiefly acquired by his own industry and enterprise, which would seem to indicate that in the concerns of business, he was methodical, skilful, honorable, and energetic.' Mr. Washington was twice married. Two sons survived his first union. He was united to Mary Ball on the 6th of March, 1730. ington, is so generally interesting, that we append, for the convenience of the curious in such matters, Mr. Sparks' brief but clear exposition of the genealogy of his father's family. See Appendix-Note A. Sparks' LIFE OF WASHINGTON. After her marriage, Mrs. Washington's first residence was in Westmoreland County, Virginia, not far from the beautiful river with which s many of the most agreeable reminiscences of her childhood and youth were associated. In this, the first home of her wedded life, two years subsequent to the union that promised such exalted and continued felicity, George, her eldest son, was born. Soon after this event, Mr. Washington removed with his family, "to an estate owned by him in Stafford County, Virginia, on the east side of the Rappahannoc River, opposite Fredericksburg." As years sped on, Mrs. Washington became the mother of two daughters, and three sons. She had thus, six children :-these were successively, George, Betty, Samuel, John Augustine, Charles, and Mildred. The latter died in in fancy. We discover no positive proof that the elder sons of her husband were under the immediate care of Mrs. Washington, but as many incidental indications present themselves of the cordial affection, unity and interest that existed, in later years, among the members of the family, collectively, we may believe, especially in connection with the strong sense of duty which, apparently, characterized every action of this faithful wife and mother, that her native benevolence and justice were not at fault in this instance. The domestic happiness of this interesting little circle was soon most qainfully and unexpectedly interrupted. A short and sudden illness terminated the life of Mr. Washington, on the 12th of April, 1743, at the age of forty-nine years. In the brief biographical notices of Mrs. Wash ington which have, hitherto, appeared, she is represented as being left by the death of her husband with very limited pecuniary resources. The testimony of Mr. Sparks,-than which nothing, can well be more accurate and incontrovertible,— militates, most emphatically, against the impression thus generally expressed. The following passages contain Mr. Sparks' statement upon this subject:-"It appears by his will that he [Mr. W.] possessed a large and valuable property in lands." "Each of his sons inherited from him a separate plantation. To the eldest, Lawrence, he bequeathed an estate near Hunting Creek, afterwards Mount Vernon, which then consisted of twenty-five hundred acres; and also other lands, * * |