George Washington Papers

[Diary entry: 1 January 1760]

January 1 Tuesday. Visited my Plantations and receivd an Instance of Mr. French’s great Love of Money in disappointing me of some Pork because the price had risen to 22/6 after he had engagd to let me have it at 20/.

Calld at Mr. Possey’s in my way home and desird him to engage me 100 Barl. of Corn upon the best terms he coud in Maryland.

And found Mrs. Washington upon my arrival broke out with the Meazles.

Daniel French (c.1723–1771), a wealthy Fairfax County planter, lived at Rose Hill, about five miles west of Alexandria. Although his main plantation lay in the vicinity of his house, he also owned a plantation on Dogue Creek a short distance west of Mount Vernon. At this time it contained about 416 acres, but with the purchase of another tract of land later this year, he would own a total of about 552 acres in the Mount Vernon area (see entry for 6 Mar. 1760; will of French, 20 May 1771, Fairfax County Wills, Book C–1, 134–36, Vi Microfilm). French was a Fairfax County justice 1743–71 and a vestryman of Truro Parish 1744–65 and of Fairfax Parish 1765–71.

John Posey, whose home, Rover’s Delight, stood near the Potomac River about a mile southwest of Mount Vernon, was a regular in GW’s social circle in the 1760s, often joining him in fox hunts. Posey farmed a plantation of about 400 acres and operated a public ferry from a landing near his house across the Potomac to Maryland, where he had many personal contacts.

Mrs. Washington, born Martha Dandridge (1731–1802), first married (1749) Daniel Parke Custis (1711–1757), of the White House, New Kent County. They had two children who survived infancy, John Parke Custis (1754–1781) and Martha Parke Custis (1756–1773). Following Martha’s wedding to GW 6 Jan. 1759 in her home county of New Kent, GW took Martha and the two Custis children to their new home at Mount Vernon (see FREEMAN description begins Douglas Southall Freeman. George Washington: A Biography. 7 vols. New York, 1948–57. description ends , 3:1–2, 13).

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