George Washington

Born February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, he was the first son of his father Augustine's second marriage; his mother was the former Mary Ball of Epping Forest. When George was about three, his family moved to Little Hunting Creek on the Potomac, then to Ferry Farm opposite Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock in King George County. In the interim, the powerful Fairfax family of neighboring Belvoir introduced him to the accomplishments and appropriateness of mannered wealth and, in 1748, provided him his first adventure. That year Lord Fairfax dispatched him with a party that spent a month surveying Fairfax lands in the still-wild Shenandoah. In the expedition, he began to appreciate the uses and value of land, an appreciation that grew the following year with his appointment as Culpeper County surveyor, certified by the College of William and Mary.…