The Children of Betty Washington and Fielding Lewis Who Survived to Adulthood

Betty Washington Lewis married Fielding Lewis, a widower with three children, on 7 May 1750. The couple had eleven children with six surviving to adulthood and the family included:

Step-son John Lewis born 22 June 1747 in Fredericksburg, Virginia and died 23 November 1825 in Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky. He married five times. During his lifetime, he spent time in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He also lived and had land holdings in Spotsylvania County, Culpeper County, and Loudoun County, Virginia, as well as Logan County, Kentucky. He served as land agent for his Uncle George Washington. He was a revolutionary war patriot.

Step-daughter Frances Lewis, of whom very little is known. She was godmother to Betty Lewis.

Fielding Lewis, the eldest son of Betty Washington and Fielding Lewis, was born 14 February 1751 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and died 5 July 1803 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. During his lifetime, he spent time in Fairfax County, Virginia, where his wife Ann Alexander had family connections. He also lived and had land holdings in Frederick County, Clarke County, and Fauquier County, Virginia. He was a revolutionary war patriot. Current research indicates that Fielding Lewis Sr. may have died at the home of his son Fielding Lewis Jr. in Frederick County, Virginia.

George Lewis was born 14 March 1757 in Fredericksburg, Virginia and died 13 November 1821 in King George County, Virginia. He married Catherine Daingerfield. During his lifetime, he lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He also lived and had land holdings in Spotsylvania County, Frederick County, Clarke County, and King George County, Virginia. There are indications he and his step-brother John Lewis ran a distillery in 1792 in addition to growing crops. He was a revolutionary war patriot. George Lewis served as aide-de-camp to George Washington until his marriage.

Betty Lewis, the only daughter to survive, was born 23 February 1765 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and died 9 April 1830 in Clarke County, Virginia. She married Charles Carter on the anniversary of her parents 7 May 1781. During her lifetime, she and her husband lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The couple also lived and had land holdings in Spotsylvania County, Albemarle County, Stafford County, Frederick County, Clarke County, and Culpeper County, Virginia. Family accounts indicate Betty Washington Lewis died in the home of her daughter and son-in-law known as Western View in Culpeper County, Virginia.

Lawrence Lewis was born 4 April 1767 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia and died 20 November 1839 in Fairfax County, Virginia, at the home of his brother-in-law George Washington Parke Custis. During his lifetime, he lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He married first Susannah Edmondson who had family connections in Essex County, Virginia. Upon her death he lived and had land holdings in Spotsylvania County, Fredrick County, and Clarke County, Virginia. When he married Eleanor Parke Custis, his uncle George Washington gave the couple jointly the land in Fairfax County, Virginia, upon which their home Woodlawn is built. The couple also spent time at Audley in Clarke County, Virginia. Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis died at Audley where she lived after the death of Lawrence Lewis. Woodlawn was sold out of the Lewis family ownership in 1846. Upon George Washington’s return to Mount Vernon when retiring from public service, Lawrence Lewis assisted his uncle with correspondence and entertaining. Lawrence Lewis was also one of five nephews identified as executors of George Washington’s estate. He was the last surviving executor directly related to George Washington.

Robert Lewis was born 25 June 1769 in Fredericksburg, Virginia and died 1 January 1829 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He married Judith Walker Browne. During his lifetime, he lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He also lived and had land holdings in Spotsylvania County, Stafford County, Fauquier County, and Frederick County, Virginia. Robert Lewis served as personal secretary to his uncle George Washington while President in New York until his marriage when he assumed duties as land agent for his uncle. Robert Lewis also served as Mayor of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and welcomed the Marquis de Lafayette during his 1824 visit.

Howell Lewis was born 23 December 1771 in Culpeper County, Virginia, and died 26 December 1822 in West Virginia. During his lifetime, he lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He also lived and had land holdings in Culpeper County and Clarke County, Virginia. He married Ellen Hackley Pollard. Prior to his marriage, Howell Lewis served as personal secretary to his uncle George Washington while President in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and later as temporary manager at Mount Vernon.

Betty Washington Lewis welcomed her brother Samuel Washington’s orphaned daughter Harriot Washington into her home during the years 1792 until 1796 when she married Andrew Parks, a merchant in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Harriot Washington was born 2 August 1776 in Berkeley County, Virginia, and died 3 January 1822 in Kanawha County, Virginia. George Washington was her guardian upon the death of her father.

Farewell Observations by George Washington Impact Those Closest to Him

As our government quickly approaches the time to swear-in newly elected federal representatives, it seems fitting to reflect upon writings of our founding fathers and specifically George Washington. In his farewell address of 17 September 1796 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, George Washington took the opportunity to share observations and make recommendations to government leaders/decision-makers. One may observe that the statements and recommendations of George Washington transcend time:

“…Citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more that any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together. The independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint councils and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes….

The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the constitution which at any time exists until changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction; to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community, and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans, digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion….

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish – that they will control the usual current of the passions or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations, but if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good – that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the impostures of pretended patriotism – this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare by which they have been dictated….”

The excerpts reveal George Washington’s insight and anticipation of challenges facing a new nation. This was the political, economic, and social environment that he and his family encountered and which impacts the story that begs to be told regarding his sibling, nieces and nephews…all of whom he significantly impacted through his values and leadership.