Letter, George Washington to Martha Washington, October 1, 1782. Rhode Island Historical Society.

Verplanks point 1st Oct 82

My dearest

If this letter should ever reach your hands, it will be presented by Mr Brown, - son to a Gentlman of that name in Rhode Island, from whom I have received civilities, & to whom, or his connections I could wish to make returns. - As he has thought of going into Virginia I recommend him to your notice & attention

I am most sincerely &
affectionately - Yrs
Go: Washington

[address leaf]
To Lund Washington
at Mount Vernon
Virginia

Note 2 on pp. 188-189 of Fields: "...The verso of the letter has the following notation: 'James Brown Son of John & Sarah his wife received this letter at Verplanks Point on the river Hudson about 40 miles distant from N York City in October 1782 being then on his way to the South....But as this journey to the South extended at that Setting out no further than Baltimore this introductory letter from George Washington was never delivered - Afterwards in 1786 during the month of December He stopped at M. Vernon the immortal Man and his very kind & hospitable Lady were there, and the attention he recd while there from all the family made an impression so strong and so agreeable, that it never can be erased from the Tablet of Memory..."

letter

Dalzell, Robert F. "Constructing Independence: Monticello, Mount Vernon, and the Men Who Built Them." Eighteenth-Century Studies 26 4 (Summer 1993): 543-580.

Richmond August 8th 1780

Madam

Mrs. Washington has done me the honor of communicating the inclosed proposition of our sisters of Pennsylvania and of informing me that the same grateful sentiments are displaying themselves in Maryland. Justified by the sanction of her letter in handing forward the scheme I undertake with chearfulness the duty of furnishing to my country women an opportunity of proving that they also participate of those virtuous feelings which gave birth to it. I cannot do more for its promotion than by inclosing to you some of the papers to be disposed of as you think proper.

I am with the greatest respect Madam Your most humble servant,

Martha Jefferson

letter

Brown, Kathleen M. "Brave New Worlds: Women's and Gender History." William & Mary Quarterly, Series 3, 50 2 (April 1993): 311-328.

Kierner, Cynthia A. Beyond the Household: Women's Place in the Early South, 1700-1835. Thaca: Cornell University Press, 1998.

Cornell University Press

Wiencek, Henry. An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Obituary of Martha Washington, Alexandria Advertiser and Commercial Intelligencer, May 25, 1802.

Library of Congress

5/25/1802

“On Saturday the 22nd of May at 12 o’clock P.M. Mrs. Washington terminated her well spent life…..She was the worthy partner of the worthiest of men, and those who witnessed their conduct could not determine which excelled in their different characters, both were so well sustained on every occasion. They lived an honor and a pattern to their country, and are taken from us to receive the rewards—promised to the faithful and the just.”

newspaper

Letter, Abigail Adams to John Adams, January 10, 1796. Adams Family Papers online, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Massachusetts Historical Society

I thank Mrs Washington for her kind invitation as well as for her frequent remembrance of me. The high esteem and regard which I entertain for her would render such a visit peculiarly agreable to me, were all other circumstances favourable to it..."

Letter, Abigail Adams to John Adams, January 16, 1795. Adams Electronic Archive, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Massachusetts Historical Society

"Present me most dutifully to the President and Mrs. Washington. They are both too good to be persecuted. Yet blessed are they says a high Authority when Men Revile and Speak evil falsly, of them."

letter

Lindman, Janet Moore. "Acting the Manly Christian: White Evangelical Masculinity in Revolutionary Virginia." The William & Mary Quarterly,, series 3, 57 2 (April 2000): 393-416.