Show ake e birthplace birth jacv 11 of all acht n ton P za 4 af pf N NA 31 A N A V 4 klell JAs irk A zat 4 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON 1 HEN was george georee washington born 1 most americans believe that it I 1 f was on february 22 1732 and nd 1 why we observe february 22 is as I 1 L birthday I 1 As a matter of 0 fact he was born I 1 40 1 i 1 1 on february 11 1732 but the rea 1 0 y son why we observe february 22 in I 1 IX stead of february 11 as s his birthday ly Is because of the tinkering that man it A has done with the calendar lendar ci down ia ishits through the oies ages without going into 1 41 ill all the technical details of the clit calit calendars andars early history suffice it to p say that t in 1582 the julian calendar year dished by julius caesar and modified so by augustus caesar was ten days ahead or of true solar year so pope gregory ordered that october 5 be regarded as october 15 thus dropping out 10 days and also made some changes in computing leap years but it was not until 1752 that the gregorian year was adopted by great britain and her colonies then 11 days were mere dropped between september 3 and september I 1 11 L twenty years before this a boy to whom had bad been given the name of 0 george washington was born in eng En glands lands colony of virginia in north america that event lad bad actually taken place on rebr february uary 11 under the old calendar system but when the gregorian calendar was applied and the calendar pushed up 11 days it made his big birthday february rebr uary 22 so that Is why we celebrate on that date where was george washington born just as he be had two birthdays so did he have two birth birthplaces pla cesi that t Is if 1 we listen to the assertions of differ different eni authorities and just as a matter of 11 days of time separates his two birthdays so does a matter of approximately a mile of distance separate his big two birthplaces back in 1923 there was organized in washington D 0 by mrs josephine wheelwright rust bust a descendant of john washington the original washington emigrant to this country and by other interested persons an ns known as the wakefield rational national memorial association which was incorporated under the laws of virginia for the purpose of restoring wakefield Waked eld the house in which washington was supposed to have been born through the generosity of 0 john D rockefeller jr and other donors a large part of the plantation of capt augustine washington was purchased and improvements made on it in 1930 the federal government appropriated tor for the removal of the granite shaft erected in 1806 to mark the site of birthplace and for the construction of a replica of wakefield and the improvement of the grounds all of this was established as the george washington birthplace national monument and placed under the jurisdiction of the national park service but during this time there was advanced the disturbing theory by several specialists in washington that the association had improved the wrong site as tile the birthplace of the father of his Coun country tryl lie ile was not born at wakefield on the northwest bank of popes creek so they said but more than a mile away near the southeast bank of bridges creek where the washington family graveyard Is located the association was positive enough that it was right to go ahead with its work and the federal government seemed satisfied but at the same time that disturbing theory would not dle die it has remained for dr charles 0 paullin of the division of historical research in the carnegie institution of washington to make a search in contemporaneous documents and to uncover evidence which seems to settle the question conclusively clu and to prove that the wakefield site actually was the birthplace of washington the story of the investigation which doctor made the evidence which he found and the conclusions which he reached from them are contained in a recent press release from the carnegie institution upon which the remainder of this article Is based lie he says tn in part the first land owned by the washing tons on the popes creek bridges creek peninsula was wag purchased of david anderson in by john washington 1 I 1 the emigrant and great grand fattier father of george on this tract which contained acres and which lay on the southeast side of bridges creek john established his home and Cr aveyard when he died in 1677 john 11 II 11 one of his sons inherited the anderson andersen tract or home plantation twenty years later it passed to the wife of john 11 II 11 at his death and at her death to their son john III on the death of john U 1 I another son BOB lawrence grandfather of george inherited lands sear near the potomac Io tomac some miles northwest of bridges creek in lawrence purchased of the heirs of david liston listen acres on the north west side of bridges creek adjoining the lands of his brother john 11 II on lawrences laurences Lawren ces death in 1698 the liston listen tract and other nearby near by lands fell to capt augustine washington father of george augustine was married in 1715 and his first child was wag born in the following year in 1717 1718 he be purchased 0 of joseph abbington ISO ILO acres of the popes creek bridges creek peninsula lying on the northwest side of 0 popes creer creek and including the site of the recent improvements at wakefield the tract may have had a residence on it for the purchase included all houses edifices buildings tobacco houses fences orchards and gardens I 1 have hare discovered no document stating what improvements it if any augustine made on tile the abbington tract or ghang ahing the date of his removal to it that he be was living there on february 23 1726 we know certainly by a deed of 0 uses of that date made by himself and his wife jane of the one part and lawrence butler and george eskridge of the other part in which occurs the alie clause whereas the aforesaid augustine washington Is seized in fee simple of one parcell and tract of land being the land where he now lives which land he the said an augustine purchased of one joseph 11 six years before the birth of bis big illustrious son he Is therefore known to have been living in a house on the popes creek side of the peninsula ile he Is also known to have spent the last years of his life first on the hunting creek mount vernon plantation in prince william county and later on the strother plantation near fredericksburg three of his children were born after he be left westmorland westmoreland county almost every year between 1733 and 1739 has been given as tile the probable date of his removal I 1 have established the date as certainly between march 25 and november IS 18 1735 it Is therefore conclusive that augustine was living in a house near popes creek between 1720 0 and 1735 his big son george was born in 1732 the early maps locating georges birthplace near bridges creek and the numerous writers locating it elsewhere than near popes creek are certainly erroneous after his purchase liase of the abbington tract ao an gustane washington continued to increase ills his holdings on the peninsula in 1725 he bought acres on the potomac river and in 1734 25 acres of lots islands and marshes at the mouth of poppa creek in 1712 by an exchange of lands with will his cousin john IV he obtained a tract ou on the southeast side of bridges creek which included the graveyard and the ancestral homesite and for the first time all of the ropes popes creek bridges creek peninsula was in the possession of a single washington the ancestral homesite home site at bridges creek therefore could not have been the birthplace of george since ills his fattier father did not own it until 1742 the date of its abandonment as an ancestral residence Is not known on tile the death of capt augustine washington april 12 1743 the ropes popes creek bridges creek plantation fell to his son col augustine who lived and died there george washington who regarded the genealogy of his bis family as of very little moment wrote of col augustine his big halt half brother br that he lived at the ancient mansion seat in westmoreland rn county where lie he died and was interred in the family ault col augustine represented his big county in the house of burgesses fron from 1755 1735 or 1751 1731 to 1753 1758 on his death his widow anne aylett washington and her children including her eldest son william augustine 1757 1737 1810 who inherited the plantation continued to occupy its residence the widow Is described by her illustrious brother in law as an heiress and in may 1771 when he visited her as of popes creek thus locating her residence as on or near that creek william augustine washington was living in the house bouse when it burned bained when he died in 1810 it fell to his son george corbin corban washington the possessions of george corbin washington did not include the whole of the peninsula inherited by his grandfather col augustine washington in 1743 it did include the plantation known at this time as wakefield first so called by william augustine washington according to the authority of william lanier washington who mho died in 1933 the designation Is known to have been in current use as early as 1773 in 1813 george corbin washington then a resident of georgetown D C sold to john gray of stafford county virginia for pounds and 10 shillings the wakefield Waked eld Plant plantation atlon containing acres together with two other small tr tracts acta later wakefield came again into the pos a f W C is T M 0 R V 76 aag i T Y C a u 0 w 1 washington as a young colonial militia officer prom from the miniature by charles wilson peale 2 the colonial mansion and grounds gr at wakefield near popes creek in westmoreland county virginia the building typical of eighteenth century architecture was erected by the wakefield national memorial association in operation cooperation co with the federal government on an the site of the house in which washington was born 3 the ancestral burying ground of the situated near bridges creek in westmoreland county as restored by the wakefield national memorial association and the federal government ern ment here lie ile the bodies of the father grandfather great grandfather and other relatives of washington 4 map showing the area shaded designated by the government as the george washington birthplace national monument all pictures except portrait if 4 washington courtesy national park service session of the through its purchase in 1846 by john F wilson of anne arundel county maryland and by its gift to his son john E wilson who married retty betty a granddaughter of william augustine washington of great interest Is the following provision in the form of a memorandum found at the end of a deed made by george corbin washington to gray the said washington further more makes over to the said gray all tits ills right and title as dermed from his father william augustine washington to the marshes in popes creek but reserves the family burying ground at the great quarter slave quarters also sixty feet square of ground on which the house stood in which general washington was horn born the title to tile the reservations passed from george corbin washington to his son lewis william and thence in 1858 to the state of virginia which in 1882 transferred it to the federal government in issa the government increased its holdings by the purchase of eleven acres adjacent to the site upon which custis had placed the slab in it erected a granite monument 51 feet high on this site after exploring and mapping the foundations there Is no known contemporary description itin of the original house on the custis site near popes creek the nearest to one that I 1 ba hae e found Is it that hat given about 1835 by an ancient resident of the neighborhood who mho remembered that it was a low pitched single storied frame building with four rooms on the first floor and an enormous chimney at each end on the outside an anonymous visitor of 1851 found the site in the midst midat of a two hundred acre corn field marked only ly by an old brick chimney a mammoth fig tree and a freestone slab custis memorial on october 31 1878 anticipating the acquisition of the site by the fede federal ral governments government secretary of state william 11 evarts with mith a party which included gen W T sherman and charles 0 perkins of boston bosto D made a trip to popes creek from washington agton on board tile the U S S talla boosa sherman made a rough and not altogether accurate map of the region and perkins a sketch of the remains of a brick chimney identifying it as belonging to a kitchen that stood behind the house the site of which was then bare in 1890 1800 the army engineer corps explored and mapped the foundations of the original house additional explorations at wakefield have not revealed any other foundations of importance on the abbington tract that this house is tho birthplace rests upon the evidence of these explorations pl orations of the tradition that it Is the true birthplace and of the chain of 0 facts that confirms the evidence and the tradition it mutt must be so BO accepted 0 by western newspaper union |