To George Washington from Hannah Fairfax Washington, 17 January 1797
From Hannah Fairfax Washington
Fairfield [Va.]1 Janry 17th 97:
My Dear Sir
This will be presented to you by my Son Fairfax Washington, who I have sent to Phliadela with a view of reading the Law under Mr Charles Lee, and of improving himself, by being introduced into good company.2 Depending on the friendship you, & your good Lady, have allways express’d for his Father & myself, I make free to beg your countenancing him, & the favor will be gratefully acknowledg’d by me. He is very diffident, & of so easy a temper, that I fear he may be often persuaded to act against his own judgment. If it wou’d not be encroaching too much on your time, & imposing on your good nature, I shou’d be very thankful, if you wou’d sometimes take the trouble to advise him in regard to his moral conduct, as he is by much too young to be in such a City, without a guide, & true Friend, & I do not know One there, that wou’d answer that description but yourself.
I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you, & my dear Mrs Washington, at Mount Vernon, sometime next Autumn, if God spares me so long.3 Pray present my best regards to Her, & accept the same from Dr Sir Your most Affect: & grateful Hble Serv:4
Hanh Washington
ALS, ViMtvL.
1. Fairfield, an estate located in Frederick County, Va. (later Clarke County, Va.), had served as the home of GW’s cousin Warner Washington, Sr. Warner’s second wife, Hannah Fairfax Washington, continued to reside there after his death in 1790.
2. Fairfax Washington (1778–1861), the son of Hannah Fairfax and Warner Washington, Sr., married Sarah Armistead (b. 1776) in October 1798 in Frederick County. The couple later removed to Elkton, Logan County, Ky., in 1806 (see , 1:65–66).
3. GW’s extant diaries indicate that Hannah next visited Mount Vernon in late 1799. Fairfax Washington and another of Hannah’s sons dined there in October of that year. Hannah also took a meal at Mount Vernon three days before GW’s death (see , 6:367, 378).
4. No reply to Hannah Fairfax Washington from GW has been found.