Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Pennington's Essay Wins DAR Award

George Washington, the Father of Our Country, is dead. His death at approximately 10 p.m., December 14, 1799, places the entire country in mourning. Mr. Washington died at his beloved Mount Vernon after a short illness. He was married to Martha Custis in 1759. He was preceded in death by his two step-children John Parke Custis and Martha Parke (Patsy) Custis.

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, near Fredericksburg, Virginia. His parents were Augustine Washington and Mary Ball. Mr. Washington's great grandfather, John Washington, migrated to Virginia in 1657. Mr. Washington had five siblings and four step-siblings.

George Washington's career spanned many years and a variety of occupations. He was a surveyor, a farmer; an officer in the French and Indian War from 1752-53; a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1758-75. Mr. Washington was a delegate to the Continental Army from 1775-93; President of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and the first United President from 1789-97.

On his deathbed Mrs. Washington is quoted as saying, "I die hard, but I am not afraid to go." This is characteristic of George Washington's attitude about life. He was a brave man who was not afraid to tackle whatever obstacles came his way.

As George Washington was growing up he spent much of his time on the Ferry Farm on the Rapahannock River in Virginia. He went to school regularly from the age of seven to fifteen. He studied under the local church sexton and later with a schoolmaster named Williams. At the age of seventeen George Washington was appointed adjutant for the southern district of Virginia at a salary of $100 a year. The next year he became an adjutant for the northern part and the eastern shore of Virginia. The next year George Washington was sent on an expedition to warn the French to leave their encampments on the Ohio Valley lands claimed by England. After completing a successful mission, George Washington was appointed commander of all the Virginia troops in 1755 at the age of twenty-three. After several years service in the military, Mr. Washington resigned in 1759 with the rank of brigadier general.

Mr. Washington returned to his beloved farm, married Martha Dandridge Custis on January 6, 1759 and served as Justice of the Peace of Fairfax County, Virginia from 1760 to 1774.

Mr. Washington farmed mainly wheat and tobacco on his estate that eventually grew to cover over 8,000 acres. He practiced and helped develop crop rotation on a three or five year plan. His estate was largely self-sufficient. It included a water powered flour mill, blacksmith shop, brick and charcoal kilns, carpenters and masons. He had a fishery, coopers, weavers and a shoemaker. He also owned cattle, buffalo, horses and fruit orchards. Mr. Washington's hobbies included horseback riding, fox hunting, dancing, duck hunting and sturgeon fishing. He was a member of the Pohick Episcopal Church.

In 1787, George Washington was elected president of the first Constitutional Convention. He ruled quietly over the convention, breaking his silence only once upon a small question of congressional apportionment. Though he said little in debate, no one did more outside the hall to insist on stern measures. "My wish is," he is quoted as saying, "that the convention may adopt no temporizing expedients, but probe the defects of the Constitution to the bottom and provide a radical cure." His weight of character did more than any other single force to bring the convention to an agreement and obtain ratification of the instrument afterward. He did not believe it was perfect, though his exact criticisms of it are not known. His support gave it victory in Virginia, where he sent copies to Patrick Henry and other leaders with a hint that the alternative to adoption was anarchy, declaring, "it or dis-union are before us to choose from."

George Washington was elected as our first president in 1789. On April 16, after receiving congressional notification of the honor, he set out from Mount Vernon, reaching New York in time to be inaugurated on April 30. During the inaugural ceremony a large crowd broke into cheers as Mr. Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall, took the oath of office administered by Robert Livingston. The new president then went indoors to read his inaugural address to Congress.

Washington's administration of the government in the next eight years was marked by the cautious, methodical precision and sober judgement that had always characterized him. Washington ran for a second term in 1792 and was again elected. During his last four years in office Mr. Washington suffered from a fierce personal and partisan animosity. Mr. Washington chose not to run for a third term as president.

George Washington devoted the last few years of his life to his family and farm.