CHAPTER II.

IN December, 1871, while at the house of the late Prof. Samuel F. B. Morse, LL.D., in New York City, he called my attention to a picture of a young lady in his possession, which it was claimed was a portrait of Mary Ball, the mother of Washington, painted just before her marriage. He gave me a brief but interesting history of the picture. Professor Morse also had in his possession a small package of documents relating to the portrait, and on my expressing great interest in the subject, he kindly handed the papers. to me, with permission to make such use of them as I might choose. From their contents I compiled the communication to the American Historical Record alluded to in the preceding chapter, the essential portions of which I here repeat.

Professor Morse received the picture from George Harvey, a painter, to whom it had been bequeathed by George Field, of England, known in the republic of letters as the author of important works on philosophy and art.* In a written history of the picture, given to Professor Morse, Mr. Harvey said that while he was in England, in 1847, and lecturing on the "Scenery, Resources, and Progress of the

*George Field was born in 1777, and died in 1854. He was the author of "" 'British School of Modern Artists," 1802; "Chromatics; or, Harmony of Colors " (new edition), 1845; “Outlines of Analytical Philosophy," 1839; "Tritogenea: A Synopsis of Universal History," 1846, etc.

Northern Part of the United States," he made the acquaintance of Mr. Field, who informed the artist that he possessed the portrait of Miss Ball, who became the mother of Washington, and invited Mr. Harvey to his home to see it. He accepted the invitation, and was struck with the resemblance of the features to the best authenticated portraits of Washington. Mr. Harvey mentioned the subject to his friends. on his return to Boston, and to satisfy their incredulity he wrote to Mr. Field for an explicit statement, in writing, concerning the portrait. Mr. Harvey received a response under the date of "Sion Hill, Feb. 25, 1851." Mr. Field, then seventy-five years of age, wrote:

"It happened when I was a boy that, being in the neighborhood of Cookham, in Berkshire, with an uncle of mine, he pointed out a pretty country cottage, in which the parents of General Washington resided, and from which they removed to America. Our road led to a green, or common, where there resided a Mrs. Ann Morer, whose maiden name was Taylor, who there showed me the portrait of Mrs. Washington, and other reliques of the family, given to her when they quitted the place for America, to which country her aunt or mother, she told me, took George Washington in her arms.

"I believe I use her own expression. Some years after this, happening to be in the neighborhood of Cookham, I called on Mrs. Morer, who again showed me the portrait, and mentioned that two American gentlemen, friends of Washington or his family, had sought her out as the nearest relative of his nurse, and presented her with two guineas.

"Again, about 1812, when residing on the edge of Windsor Forest, my wife hired a servant, Hannah Taylor, and

finding she came from Cookham, I inquired if she knew Mrs. Morer, when I learned that she had recently died and that her effects were about to be sold by auction; on which I requested Hannah immediately to write to her mother, and desire all the pictures to be bought for me-which was done, and I obtained the portrait in question with the other heads, and have kept them ever since, as I showed it to you. As there could have been no purpose beyond the truth in this statement, I have never doubted and continue to believe it firmly. I have shown the portrait to numberless persons, and was induced to address a letter to Judge Washington,* at Mount Vernon, in 1824, supposing him to be the representative of the family, offering to restore the picture, but did not receive an answer.

"Mr. Chapman,† an American artist, known to the family, took a slight sketch of the head, in which he recognized a family likeness of the Washingtons; nor is it without resemblance to Washington portraits.

* Bushrod Washington, Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. He inherited the mansion and four thousand acres of the Mount Vernon estate at the death of Mrs. Washington. He was a son of John Augustine, a brother of the general. He, too, was childless.

John Gadsby Chapman, who in 1848 went to Rome to reside, and still (1886) lives there. When Mr. Irving made his first arrangements for publishing his "Life of Washington," it was agreed to have it freely illustrated with engravings on wood, and Mr. Chapman was engaged to make the designs. He went to England in search of materials, and it was at that time, probably, that he visited Mr. Field. The author of this volume was engaged to execute the engravings, and he remembers seeing the original sketch of Mary Ball's head and bust made by ChapThe arrangement with that publisher was ended by his failures in business.

man.

"Mr. Justine Carleton, of New Orleans, to whom I showed the portrait, mentioned, in confirmation of my statements, the circumstances of the marriage of Augustine Washington with Miss Ball (the parents of the great George Washington) in this country, and her emigration with him to America."

Mr. Harvey permitted extracts from Mr. Field's letter to be published in a leading Boston newspaper. He was immediately so much annoyed by intrusive inquiries that he transferred the investigation of the affair to the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. He gave its secretary (the late T. Wingate Thornton) a letter of introduction. to Mr. Field. Many letters passed between these gentlemen; and "Mr. Thornton," says Mr. Harvey, "obtained much information in America tending to confirm Mr. Field's statements."

By his will, dated January 19, 1852, Mr. Field bequeathed the portrait in question to Mr. Harvey, when the artist resolved to make a personal investigation concerning its authenticity. He went to England in 1853, and visited Cookham, where, according to tradition given to Mr. Field, the parents of Washington resided before they went to America. He ascertained that Washingtons had lived at Cookham. He called upon the rector of the parish church to ask leave to examine the parish register. The rector told him that "a rascally lawyer had obtained possession of the Baptismal and Marriage Register before his (the rector's) time, and at a great fire they had been destroyed; but that the records of the deaths of the Washingtons were all safe," for the Burial Register was preserved. In this Register Mr. Harvey found the names of several Washingtons of both sexes. He also found recorded therein the burial

AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON.

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records of several members of a Ball family who had resided there. Among them was the following entry:

"John Ball, was buried 26th of May, 1707.

"Mary Ball, was buried Oct. 23, 1729."

Mr. Harvey erroneously supposed these to have been the parents of Washington's mother. Her father's name was Joseph, and he was alive and in Virginia as late as 1711. The name of her mother is unknown. It is a rather singular coincidence that the year of the death of the above Mary Ball was nearly the same as that of Mrs. Washington's mother.

While he was in the vicinity of Cookham, in Berkshire County, Mr. Harvey met a very aged man, named Greathurst, who introduced him to a gentleman "who had lived in the house where Washington was born ;" and by him he was permitted to "copy a drawing of the house, then supplanted by a pretty villa." In the garden Mr. Harvey saw and sketched "a large walnut-tree planted by Augustine Washington [the father of General Washington] while a-waiting to find a purchaser of the property." Mr. Harvey also ascertained (by what means he does not inform us) that Augustine Washington was in England about the year 1729, for the purpose of taking possession and disposing of some property to which he had fallen heir. This is the sum of information derived from Mr. Harvey. moment to a consideration of what is known of Augustine Washington before his marriage with Mary Ball. It is very little.

Let us turn for a

Augustine Washington was a scion of an ancient family, distinguished at times in English history, and descended from William de Hertburn, a knight, who possessed the vil