O what do we know about George Washington’s childhood? Not as much as we might like. Biographers have found that the president’s childhood was not a subject he liked to talk about.
He was born February 22, 1732 to Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington. At the time of his birth, George had two half-brothers from his father’s first wife, and later, five additional siblings were born after George.
George’s mother was a troubled person, and this affected her children. Mary Ball Washington was the child of a marriage between a wealthy gentleman who married a family housemaid who had no education. It was a legitimate marriage, so Mary eventually inherited land, slaves, and money from her father, but she was ill-prepared to step into the role of mother and mistress of a successful household. Biographers report that she was defensive and over-protective of her children to the point that their childhood may have been quite stressful. For example, other children in the area reached an age when they were considered old enough to play by the river, but Mary never gave her children this type of freedom, fearing they might drown.
During the years when George’s father was alive, the family lived at Ferry Farm near Fredericksburg. When Augustine died in 1743, he left the family 10,000 acres and 50 slaves. George was 11 at the time and went to live with his older half-brother Lawrence who was 14 years his senior.
