SECOND MARRIAGE.
Sixteen months after Jane’s death, Augustine married another young lady from the Northern Neck, Mary Ball, on March 6, 1731. Mary was born at “Epping Forest” in Lancaster County, and was left an orphan at the age of 12. Between that time and the day of her marriage to Augustine Washington (when she was 23) she had lived with two prominent Westmoreland County families—the George Eskridges and the Samuel Bonums. George Eskridge, a kindly guardian, was like a real father to Mary and it is believed that she later named her first-born child after him.
Following her marriage to Augustine, Mary moved to his Popes Creek home where his 3 children were in need of their new mother. She soon gained the respect of her stepchildren—Lawrence 13, Augustine 12, and Jane about 9. Accustomed to farm life, Mary quickly assumed her new duties as mistress and manager of the household, and time passed quickly for her.
As February 1732 approached, Augustine and Mary Washington knew that their first son or daughter soon was to join the family. What they did not know was that their beloved first born would be a son who, one day, would become the first President of the United States of America—an office and a nation not yet dreamed of by any man. They did not know that their tiny son’s deeds and character would, in time, make him an immortal figure in the history of the new nation. Nor did they know that, before 200 years would pass, a city given his name would be the capital of a great World Power.