Presidential Biographies | Washington Administrations - Early Life

Early Life

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His father was Augustine Washington, who was educated in England and was a prominent landholder and energetic businessman in Virginia at the time of George's birth. George Washington's mother was Mary Ball, whom Augustine, a widower, had married the previous year. Although little is known of the paternal line before Augustine, it has been suggested that King Henry VIII had given lands to George's English forebears. However, the Puritan Revolution in England reversed family fortunes and John Washington, Augustine's grandfather, migrated to Virginia in 1657.

After his father's death in 1743, George Washington and his mother spent the next several years at the homes of family members and relatives. The most notable period was at Mount Vernon, one of the residences of Lawrence Washington, George Washington's elder half brother....