*To MRS. LAWRENCE WASHINGTON 36 I heartily Congratulate you on the happy News of my Brothers safe arrival in health in England and am joy'd to hear that his stay is likely to be so short. I hope you'll make Use of your Natural Resolution and contendness as they are the only remedys to spend the time of with ease and pleasure to yourself. I am deprived of the pleasure of waiting on you (as I expected) by Aguee and Feaver which I have had to Extremety since I left which has occasioned my Return D[own?]. *To LORD FAIRFAX [1749-50] My Lord: I went last Tuesday not knowing your Lordship had that very day set out for Neavels to see whether you had any further Commands or directions to give concerning the Surveying of Cacapehon and as your Lordship was not at Home I was inform by Colo. G. Fairfax that you had not any Directions in Particular more than were given to the other Surveyors as Your Lordship had mentioned therefore have made bold to Proceed on General Directions from as [a pity to Miss four or five Days of such weather as we now have] the Missing this Oppertunity of Good Weather maybe of considerable Hindrance I shall wait on your Lordship at Frederick Court in November to obey your further Pleasure and am my Lord &c. Mem To Survey the Lands at the Mouth of Little Cacapehon" and the Mouth of Fifteen Mile Creek 38 for the Gentlemen of the Ohio Com:39 "This letter is in draft form, in the diary of the "Journey Over the Mountains, 1748." Lawrence Washington, husband of Ann Fairfax, had journeyed to England. The draft is unfinished, which raises the question of the draft being merely an exercise or of a letter actually sent. By "my return down" Washington could have meant to Fredericksburg or Westmoreland. *From your bright sparkling Eyes, I was undone; None can you equal in your bright array; *Oh Ye Gods why should my Poor Resistless Heart At Last surrender to cupids feather'd Dart "The Great and Little Cacapehon, Virginia tributaries to the Potomac. They are now sometimes called Great and Little Capon. ** Fifteen-Mile Creek, a Maryland tributary to the Potomac, which it joins about 15 miles above Hancock, Md. "The Ohio Company, predecessor of the Potomac Company. An Indian trade and western land venture in which Washington's half brother Lawrence was an organizer. Thomas Lee, father of Richard Henry Lee, was made president. John Hanbury, a London merchant, from whom George Washington later purchased supplies for Mount Vernon, bought shares. A grant of half a million acres of land between the Monongahela and Kanawha Rivers was obtained from the Crown. It was in this *MEMORANDUM [1749-50] When I see my Brother Austin" to Enquire of Him whether He is the Acting Attorney for my Brother and as my Brother Lawrence left Directions with the Hon: W Fx to remit his Pay as Agetant whether it would not be more proper to keep it to Pay the Notes of Hands thats Daily coming against him and to Write Word to Williamsburg to Acquaint his Hon. my B: A: to Write him Word 17th. Was strongly attacked with the small Pox: sent for Dr. Lanahan whose attendance was very constant till my recovery and going out which was not 'till thursday the 12th of December. region that Governor Dinwiddie made his grant to the Virginia officers and soldiers for their French and Indian War service, and the lands afterwards obtained by Washington on the Kanawha under Dinwiddie's proclamation might easily have been considered as coinciding with the Ohio Company grant. Christopher Gist was employed by the company to examine and report on these lands and act as an agent. In 1750 the company built the storehouse at Wills Creek and at Red Stone on the Monongahela. The fort begun by Capt. William Trent under Governor Dinwiddie's orders was another of the company's activities. This was an important factor in influencing the so-called French encroachments which resulted in the building of Fort Duquesne, the Jumonville skirmish, the capitulation of Fort Necessity, and Braddock's defeat. The Ohio Company was merged into what is known as Walpole's Grant, and the Revolutionary War put an end to the entire scheme. 40 This acrostic seems properly attributed to Frances Alexander, though whether it was left unfinished through a diverted interest or lack of ability can not be known. Both effusions have the merit of being original efforts; they are in the memorandum book which contains the "Journey Over the Mountains, 1748." 'Augustine Washington was called Austin by George. The memorandum, undated, is in the diary of the "Journey Over the Mountains, 1748," and seems connected with Lawrence Washington's trip to England. Lawrence held the post of one of the district adjutants of Virginia. DECEMBER 12th. Went to Town visited Majr. Clarke's Family (who kindly visited me in my illness and contributed all they cou'd in sendg. me the necessary's required in the disorder) and dined with Majr. Gaskens a half Br. to Mrs. Clarke: 22d. Took my leave of my Br." Majr. Clarke &ca. and Imbar [ked] in the Industry Captn. John Saund [ers] for Virginia wai'd anchor and got out of Carlile Bay abt. 12. [2]3d. Met with a brosk Trade Wind and pretty large Swell wch made the Ship rowl much and me very sick. at 2 P. M Espy'd a Sail In the Latitude of Martineca bearing down for the Island. 1751/2 JANUARY [26th.] Abt. Sun's Rising ad got to the Mouth of York River abt. II P. M. and was met by pilot boat . . . ... ... Hired... Williamsburg... Letters to the Gover*... had just gone to greensprin Diner as I got to the great .. polis; upon his return (which... at Night) I waited upon and wa[s] received Graceously he enquired kindly after the health of my Br. and invited me to stay and dine ... "The journal kept by Washington when he accompanied his half brother Lawrence to the island of Barbadoes is the worst mutilated of all the surviving diaries. Whole pages are missing and in many instances only a scrap or sliver of a page exists. Maj. Lawrence Washington traveled to Barbadoes in hopes of benefiting his pulmonary complaint, but the venture was unsuccessful. The above extracts are the only ones of prime importance in the journal in relation to George Washington. Lawrence Washington's health did not improve and Bermuda was suggested as possessing certain climatic advantages. It was arranged that George should return to Virginia; that Lawrence should go to Bermuda, and, after a time, if his health improved, George would bring Mrs. Lawrence Washington out to him. The experiment failed; Lawrence's health did not improve, and George did not return to Bermuda. Lawrence's strength gradually failed; he returned to Virginia from Bermuda in 1752, and died at Mount Vernon on July 26 of that year. "Gov. Robert Dinwiddie. TO WILLIAM FAUNTLEROY, SR. May 20, 1752. Sir: I should have been down long before this, but my business in Frederick detained me somewhat longer than I expected, and immediately upon my return from thence I was taken with a violent pleurise, which has reduced me very low; but purpose, as soon as I recover my strength, to wait on Miss Betsy," in hopes of a revocation of the former cruel sentence, and see if I can meet with any alteration in my favor. I have enclosed a letter to her, which should be much obliged to you for the delivery of it. It have nothing to add but my best respects to your good lady and family. *JOURNEY TO THE FRENCH COMMANDANT,“ 1753 Wednesday, October 31, 1753. I was commissioned and appointed by the Honourable Robert Dinwiddie, Esq; Governor, &c., of Virginia, to visit "Text is from Paul Leicester Ford's True George Washington. William Fauntle roy, sr., was the son of Moore Fauntleroy and the grandfather of Miss Betsy. Ford points out the absurdity of the idea that she was the "Lowland Beauty" referred to by Washington four years before this letter was written. In 1752 Washington was 20 years old and Betsy 15. In November of that year Washington was appointed adjutant for the southern district of Virginia, which included the counties of Princess Anne, Norfolk, Nansemond, Isle of Wight, Southampton, Surry, Brunswick, Prince George, Dinwiddie, Chesterfield, Amelia, and Cumberland. In February, 1753, Washington asked to be transferred to the adjutancy of the Northern Neck and Eastern Shore, which included Westmoreland, King George, Stafford, Fairfax, Prince William, and others. This request was granted in November of that year. Dinwiddie acted in this matter on instructions sent the Colonial governors by Lord Haldernesse (August 28) to warn the French that encroachment on the Ohio lands, claimed by the British, would not be permitted. The Virginia governor was the first to move in the matter. Dinwiddie's commission to Washington, his instructions and passport were printed by Sparks (vol. 2, Appendix, pp. 328, 329). On Washington's return to Williamsburg (Jan. 16, 1754) he wrote out his report from the rough journal notes he made while on his journey. Dinwiddie immediately sent it to the printer, much to Washington's surprise, and this imprint, the original edition of the journal, printed in 1754 by William Hunter at Williamsburg, is extremely rare. An English edition was published by T. Jeffreys in London in 1754. |