Show B i Birthplace of ton a L 1 r ar 1 ti r j je e r rY Y 10 r A r f 4 r f r 9 tS TK r s Jj r jl Jy rY t tf tp F rf l la a p r ks f 4 lC C Rd rl r C b M L I t y f y e d l 2 ei 1 k kA d as fi P A 1 ye r a al l Y Yh YN h N C e w was as el ell l a as Y w l sf A r r la sr w Oaf aT x Pi lr aaa sat ay v st Itte a z e 1 ry a ti ay nc d 1 r I b rr n c dS dSt v r r t w ww w nr Y e Jr h f 1 t tt t r rt t k c a r a f By ELMO SCOTT WATSON Hr was as George eorge Washington born torn Mot Moat Americans belle believe bellee e that It ItI was on I 22 1732 and that s sf why hy we observe e February 22 as ll s birthday As a matter of or fact he was born on February 11 1732 But nut the rea reason reason son why c e observe February 22 Instead Instead In stead of or February 11 as his birthday Is because of the tinkering that man J has done with the calendar down don do n through the ages aes W 11 going Into all nil the technical details of or the calendar cal calendars s early history suffice It to say that In 1582 1552 tl tI e a Julian calendar year established established by Julius Caesar and modified somewhat by Augustus Caesar was ten days das da s ahead of or the true solar year ear So Pope Gregory ordered that October 5 be regarded as October 13 15 thus dropping out 10 days da s and also made some changes In computing leap years But nut It was as not until 1752 that the year was as adopted by Great Britain and her cola colo nies Then 11 days were dropped between Sep September September 3 and September 14 Twenty years before this a boy to whom shorn hom had been gh given en the name or of George Washington was as born In England s col colony colony colony ony of or Irginia In orth I America That event had actually taken place on February 11 under the old calendar system but when the Gregorian calendar was as applied and the calendar pushed up 11 drys da s It made his birthday February 22 So that Is h we e celebrate on that date Where here was George Geore Washington born Just as ashe ashe ashe he hind had two two birthdays ys so did he be have two birthplaces that that Is If IC f we listen to the asser Lions of or different authorities and and Just as a matter of 11 days of or time separates his 1 0 birthdays so co docs does a matter of ot approximately n a amile amile mile of distance separate his hb two t 0 birthplaces Back In l 1923 1023 23 there was organized In Wash WashIngton WashIngton Ington D 0 0 0 by Mrs Irs Josephine Bust a n descendant of or John W 11 the origInal origInal Inal 11 Washington emigrant to this country and by other Interested persons an association kno knon n as the W National l Memorial association wis ft 1 as Incorporated under the laws of ot fir lr for the purpose of or restoring Wakefield the house In which Washington was supposed to hn Lase e been born Through the generosity of John D 0 Hod etcher Jr and other donors a n large part of or the planta plantation tion of or Capt Augustine Washington was as par pur purchased chased and Improvements made on It It In 1 1030 0 the federal government appropriated for tor forthe the removal of or the granite shaft erect erected ell In 18 G to mark mart the site of or s birthplace and for the construction of a replica of or W and the Improvement of the grounds All of or this was as established as ns the George Washington Birth Birthplace Birthplace place rational National Monument and placed under the Ule jurisdIction of ot the national park sen service Ice But nut during this time there was ad the disturbing theory by several se specialists In Wash W logton that the association had hall Improved the wrong site as the Ule birthplace of or the rather Father or of orllis ills llis Country 1 I lie He was as not born at on the northwest bank of Popes creek so they said but more than a n mile away assay near the southeast bank banI of or Bridges creek where here the Washington family gra grae graveyard e ard 1 Is s located The association was as e enough that It was as right to go ahead with Ith Its work ork and the federal gos government seemed satisfied But at the same time that theory would not die Ille It has remained for Dr Charles 0 Paullin of the division dh Islon of historical re research In n the Car negle Institution or of W ashington to make a n search In contemporaneous documents and to uncover unco er ere e eId Id nce which seems to settle seUle the question con elusively and to prove pro that the Wakefield site actually was as the birthplace of or Washington The story of or the Investigation which Doctor Paullin made the evidence which he found and the Ule conclusions conclusion which he reached from them are contained In a n recent press release e from the Carnegie Institution upon which the remainder or of this article Is based basell He lie says In part The first land by the on the Popes Creek Fridges Cree Creek peninsula ula was as purchased of or David ld Anderson In n I 1 I y John I I the emigrant rant and great grandfather grand grandfather father of George On this tract which contained l O acre acres and which lay Iny on the southeast side ot of Bridges es creek John established his home and graveyard gra When he died In 1677 John II one of his sons bons Inherited the Anderson tract or home plantation Twenty year years liter later It pissed passed to the wife Ife of John II at his death and at her death to their son John III III On the death of John I I another son Law Lawrence renee rence grandfather of George Inherited lands n near ar the Potomac some Borne miles northwest est or of creek creel In 1005 Lawrence HenCe or of orthe the heirs of or David LIston Listen acres on the north northwest northwest west est side sick of or Bridges creek adjoining the lands of his brother John II On Lawrence Lawrences s death In 1003 IG S the I Iston tract and other near by lands fen fell to Capt Augustine Washington father of oGeorge George Augu Augustine was married In 1715 and his first child was born In the tho following year icar ear In 1717 1718 he aP J JN Jr Jn N oA te N Nw draw r n w s J R Rf f r purchased of Joseph ALLington ISO 10 acres of the Popes Creek Creel Bridges es Cree Creek peninsula lying Iving on the northwest side of or Popes creek and Including the site of or the recent Improvements at hake hake- Wake ahe- ahe field The tract may have had hall a residence on onIt onit onIt It for tor the purchase included all all houses edl flees buildings tobacco houses bouses fences and gardens I have hate discovered no document stating whit wh improvements If any Augustine made on the Ab Abbington ington tract or giving h Ing the date of his re removal moral to It That he was ac living there on February ary 23 1 1726 G we know Inow certainly by a deed or of uses of or that date made by himself and his wife Jane of the one part and La Lawrence Larence rence nut But Butter Butler ter ler and George Eskridge of or the other part In which occurs the clause whereas the aforesaid Augustine ashington 11 Is seized In fee simple ot of otone one parcell parcel and tract of ot land being tho the land where he lie now Ih lives likes es which land he the said Au Augustine gustine purchased of ot one Joseph Joceph Abington Six years before the birth of his illustrious son he Is therefore knoss n to have hate been living In a house on the Popes creek creel side of ot the sula suba He lIe Ie is also known to have ha spent the last years of or his life first on the Hunting creek creel Mount Mount ernon ernon plantation In Prince William count county and later on the Strother plantation near Fred Fredericksburg Three of his children were ere born torn after he left Westmoreland county Almost every year between 1 1733 and 1739 1730 has hns been given as the probable date of his removal I have ha established the date as certainly between March larch 25 23 and Ito o November vember 18 1735 It is therefore conclusive that Augustine was living In a house near Popes creek bet between een 1720 G and 1735 15 17 5 his son George Gorge was as born In 1732 The early maps locating betting Georges George s birthplace near Bridges creek and the numerous writers tooting locating It elsewhere than near neu Popes creel creek are certainly erroneous After his hll purchase of or the tract u gustine 11 Washington ashington continued to Increase his holdIngs on the peninsula In 1725 5 he bought acres on the Potomac river riTer and in n 1731 25 2 acres or of lots l Islands and marshes at the mouth or of Popes creek In 1742 1712 by ty an exchange of or lands his cousin John 1 I he obtained a tract tracton on the Ule southeast side bide of ot Bridges creek which In eluded the brn brne graveyard e ard and the ancestral home home- homesite site home site and for the first time all nIl of or the Popes Creel Creek Bridges Creek Creel peninsula was as In the pos possession possession possession session of or a single Washington ashington 11 The ancestral home site at Bridges es creek therefore could not have base been the birthplace or of George since his father did dill not own It until 1712 The date of or 0 Its abandonment as an ances ancestral residence Is not known n On the death of or Capt Augustine Washington April 12 1743 1741 the Popes Creek Creel plantation fell to his hib son Co Col Augustine who lived lIed and died there George Washington who ho regard regarded ell the genet gene 11 ogy of or his family as of or very ry little moment us rote of Col Augustine his half halt brother that he lived at the ancient man mansion lon sent scat In West Westmoreland Westmoreland est moreland county where here he died and was In Interred terrell In the family vault tault Col Augustine represented his county In the louse of ot Burgesses from 1755 or 1754 to 1735 1718 On his Ills den death th his widow Anne Aylett Washing Washington Washington ton and her children Including her eldest son Augustine 1757 1810 who ho Inherited the plantation continued to occupy Its residence resilIence The widow Is described by her illustrious brother in law as an nn heiress and In May 1771 alien hen lie visited her as of Popes Pope s Creek Creel thus locating her residence as on or near that creel creek WIlliam Augustine Washington ashington was as living lI In the house when wilen It burned When he died In 1810 It Il fell feH to hi his son bon Geor George e Corbin Washington The possessions of or George Corbin Washington did not Include the whole of the peninsula In Inherited by his hits grandfather Col Cob Augustine Wash WashIngton ash ashIngton Ington In 1743 It did Include the plantation known no at ot this tills time as os Wal Vol first so 0 called iy by William IllIam Augustine Washington according to the authority of 11 William I anler anier ho Washington who ho died In lu l 1933 1033 33 The designation Is kno known knon n to have ha been In current use as ns early as 1773 In ISIt 1811 George Curbin Corbin W Washington then a res resIdent resident resIdent Ident of Georgetown D 0 C sold to John Gray of Stafford county l Ir Inia for G and aull 10 shillings the Wakefield eld plantation contain containIng containIng log Ing acres together with two other small tracts Later W ake eld came again Into the pos 0 NA NAh h D DNA NA NAIr M O R L N oy a C O U T v iw Z 1 Washington as a young colonial militia off officer From the miniature by Ch Charles Wilson Peale 2 The colonial mansion and grounds at Wake Wakefield Wakefield Wakefield field near Popes creek In Westmoreland county Virginia The building typical of Eighteenth con cen century tury architecture was erected by the Wakefield National Memorial association In co operation with the federal government on the site tito of the tho house In which Washington was born 3 The ancestral burying ground of the tho th Wash situated near Bridges creek In Westmore Westmoreland Westmoreland land county as restored by the Wakefield Na National National Memorial association and the federal gov government government Here Hero lie he the bodies of the father grand grandfather grandfather grandfather father great grandfather and other relatIves relative of Washington 4 Map showing the area shaded designated by the government as the George Washington Birthplace National monument All pictures except portrait of Washington courtesy National Park Service J session of ot the through Its purchase In by John I 1 F Wilson of or Anne Arundel county Maryland and by Its gift Ift to his son John E D Wilson who ho married Petty a grand granddaughter granddaughter rand daughter of or 11 William Augustine W Washington ashington Of or great Interest Is the follo following Ing provision In Inthe inthe Inthe the form of or n a memorandum found at the end of ofa ofa ofa a deed deell made by George Corbin Washington to The said Washington further more makes over to the said Gray all his right and title as derived ed from his father William Augustine Washington to the marshes In Popes creek but the family Burying Ground at the Great Quarter slave e quarters also alco sixty feet squire or of ground on which the hou house e stood In which General Washington was born The title to the reservations pissed passed from George Corbin Washington to his son I e eIs Is William and thence in l 1858 g to the state of l it Ir Irginia which In 1882 1582 transferred It to the federal gO government In 1883 the gO government increased Its holdings by the purchase of or eleven acres nd ad adjacent adJacent jacent to the site upon which Custis had placed the slab In 18 G it erected a granite monument 51 feet high on this site after exploring and mapping the foundations There Is no 1 I noun no non n contemporary description ot of the original house on the Custis site near Popes creek creet The nearest to one that I have ha found Is glien gh en about by an nn ancient resident of or the neighborhood who ho remembered that It was as n a law 10 pitched storied single-storied frame building with Ith four Cour rooms on the first floor and an enormous chimney at each lach end on the outside An anon anonymous anonymous anonymous visitor of ot 1551 18 found the site In the midst of a t two 0 hundred acre corn field marked only by an old brick chimney a mammoth fig tree treo and a n freestone slab Custis Oustis memorial On October 31 1878 anticipating the Lion tIon of or the site by the federal gO government Sec bec rotary of State William M lI Evarta L with Ith a n party which Included Gen W V I 1 Sherman and Charles C Peri terl Ins of or Boston made a trip to Popes creel creek from Washington on board the U S S Talla Tallapoosa Tallapoosa Sherman made a rough and not alto alto- altogether gether accurate map of ot the region and Perkins n a atit tit I etch of the tho remains of or a n brick v dead r Ing It as belonging to a n kitchen that stood behind the house the site of or which was us then In 1500 the army engineer corps explored c and an 1 mapped the foundations of or the orl original house Additional explorations at Wakefield have not revealed any my other foundations of ot Importance on the tho tract That this tills house bouse Is the rests upon the evidence of ot these ex explorations of the tradition tint that It Is the true tru birthplace and of the chain of ot facts that con can confirms confirms firms the evidence e and the lie tradition It must be so accepted 0 C by Western rr Newspaper r Union |