George Washington Papers

Account with Mary Washington, 27 April 1775

Account with Mary Washington

[27 April 1775]

Mrs Mary Washington—in Acct with—George Washington

Dr
1771
Sep. 14— To Cash lent you, at your request viz. 2 half Joes £  4.12.61
1772 To Cash 5.  . 
Sep. 16— To Ditto 30.  . 
Nov. 27— To Ditto 15.  . 
Decr 9— To Ditto pd you by Colo. [Fielding] Lewis 10.  . 
To Sundry Hogs out of those in the Pen’s, apprais’d by Colo. Lewis & my Brother Charles [ ]
To Cash paid you by Edward Jones pr his Letter to me 5.10.0
 
To 1109 lbs. of Porke pr my Bror Charles’s acct at 27/6 prCt 15. 5.0
1773
May To Cash paid you by Mr L[und] Washington 10. 0.0
Octr 22— To Ditto 15. 0.0
Decr 8— To Ditto 30.  . 
1774
April 23— To Ditto sent you by Mr W[arner] Washington 25.  . 
May To Ditto 10.  . 
Aug. 9— To Ditto 20.  . 
Octr —
To Ditto pd Phil. Marchinton for a cloak—pr Acct £10. 2.1
To a Chair of Mr [William] Todd 40. 0.0
To freight of Ditto 1.10. 
 51.12.12
deduct 25 prCt Diffe of Mony  10. 6.5
41. 5.8
Decr 1— To Cash sent you by Colo. Lewis 20.  . 
1775
Mar. 30— To Ditto paid you myself 30. 0.0
To 20 Barl of Corn @ 10/ 10.  . 
£296.13.2
Balle due Mrs Washington £137.18.6
£434.11.8
Cr
1771.
Octr 15— By Sundry Stock at the Home House valued by Colo. Lewis & my Bro: Charles to £ 49. 2.4
By Ditto at the Quarter, valued by the same at 44. 9.43
1772. By Rent of yr Land for the year 1772 30.  . 
By hire of your Negros the same year pr charge in your own Book Copied by me 92. 0.0
1773. By Rent of your Plantn for the yr 1773 30. 0.0
By Hire of your Negros this year pr Charge in yr Book copied as above 78. 0.0
By Rent for the Plantn for 1774 30. 0.0
By Hire of the Negros—reckoning of them the same as last year 78. 0.0
✻By Corn at the Plantation’s [ ] Barls @ [ ] pr Barrl4 [ ]
By Doctr [Hugh] Mercer—pr yr acct Book 3. 0.0
£434.11.8
E.E. Go: Washington
Apl 27. 1775.

ADS, PHi: Gratz Collection. The account is docketed “Mrs Mary Washington with G. Washington £434.11.8 30th Mch 1775.”

When Mary Washington moved from GW’s farm on the Rappahannock in King George County to the house in Fredericksburg (see Cash Accounts, May 1771, n.13, and September 1771, n.5), GW agreed to take over not only his own farm, which was referred to as the Home House and only much later called Ferry Farm, but also Mary Washington’s Little Falls quarter a short distance down the river, which had been left to her by her father. GW was to pay his mother an annual rent for the quarter and, since the slaves and livestock on both farms were hers, was also to rent the slaves and buy the livestock on both properties from her. Fielding Lewis and Charles Washington were to make an appraisal of the livestock and determine the amount of rent GW should pay for the slaves and her quarter. The appraisal, dated 15 Oct. 1771, valued her livestock at £49.2.4 at the Home House and £44.9.4 at her quarter. A rent of £30 per year was decided on for the quarter and a total of £92 per year for the ten slaves. Corn and tools on the two farms were given no valuation at that time (Sundrys belonging to Mrs Mary Washington valued by Chas Washington & Fielding Lewis Octr 15th 1771, ViMtvL).

1. This entry is the last in Mary Washington’s account in General Ledger A description begins General Ledger A, 1750–1772. Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 5, Financial Papers. description ends . Earlier entries of money lent to her since 1756 totaled £11.17.6, which GW wrote off in January 1772 with the comment “By the Contra Sum of £11.17.6 wch I suppose she never expected to pay” (47). For GW’s later complaints about his mother’s nonpayment of money owed to him, see GW to Benjamin Harrison, 21 Mar. 1781, and GW to Mary Washington, 15 Feb. 1787, n.3.

2. For these items purchased by GW for his mother in Philadelphia, see Cash Accounts, September and October 1774.

3. Immediately below this entry and before the next one GW inserted an asterisk, probably indicating that the entry near the end designated by another asterisk should be inserted here.

4. See note 3 above.

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    Washington Papers
    Title
    Account with Mary Washington, 27 April 1775
    Author
    Washington, George
    Date
    27 April 1775

    Reference

    Cite as
    “Account with Mary Washington, 27 April 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-10-02-0272. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, vol. 10, 21 March 1774 – 15 June 1775, ed. W. W. Abbot and Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995, pp. 347–349.]