George Washington

Part I of Essay
was born on his father’s estate in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on February 22, 1732. He was the oldest son of a hardworking Virginia farmer, Augustine Washington, by his second wife, Mary Ball. The Washington family got their name from two brothers, John and Lawrence Wa ....

Part II of Essay
.... and theatrical performances, and was awkward with girls but fond of dancing. His ambition was to gain wealth and to do well whatever he set his mind to. His first real adventure as a boy was going to a surveying party to the Shenandoah Valley of northern Virginia and rising the Shenandoah River by canoe. An earlier suggestion that he should be sent to sea seems to have been discouraged by his uncle Joseph Ball, who described the consequences of a unknown colonial youth in the British Navy of that day as such that "he had better be put appren ....