On February 23 Washington wrote: “General and Mrs. Washington present their Compliments to Mr. Andw. Ramsay, Mrs. Ramsay and Mr. Willm. Ramsay and request the favour of their Company to dine on Tuesday next, with the couple Newly Married” A photograph of this letter is in the Washington Papers.
WGW, vol. 37, 2-19-1799. To George Deneale. Sir: You will please to grant a license for the Marriage of Eleanor Parke Custis with Lawrence Lewis, and this shall be your Authority for so doing from Sir Yr. etc.”
125 WGW, vol. 37, 9-20-1799.
126 Sparks, The Writings of George Washington, vol. XII, pp. 405-407. See John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 140-141. “Did Washington embrace Christianity? His adopted daughter thought so. Nelly Custis was Martha Washington’s granddaughter, and when Nelly’s father died, George and Martha Washington adopted her and she lived in their home for twenty years. In 1833 she wrote to the historian Jared Sparks, expressing indignation that anyone would question Washington’s Christianity.”.
CHAPTER 13
1 WGW, vol. 35, 3-2-1797.
2 Grizzard, George Washington A Biographical Companion, p. 100.
3 Johnson, George Washington The Christian, p. 249; Littel, Washington: Christian. p. 14.
4 The breadth of words that reflect a knowledge of the life of the Church are extensive in Washington’s writings. They include words of:
·Government: episcopate, bishop, ecclesiastical, vestry, holy orders, cure, commissary, benefice, glebe (parish farm), Parish;
·Ministry: Parson, Reverend, Curate, Pastor, Chaplain, Missionary, vestryman, deacon, clergyman, priest;
·Parishioner Worship: Sunday, Sabbath, first day, seventh day, sermon, votaries, benediction, blessing, curse, obsequies, vows, pew;
·Calendar: Lady’s Day, Michaelmas, Dominical Number, Easter, Easter Monday, Christmas;
·Anglican History: [Oliver] Cromwell, the usurper; Gunpowder;
·Book of Common Prayer: Divine Service, Prayers;
·Sacramental terms: Sponsor, Christen, Little Christian, God-son, Cup of blessing;
·Theology: True Religion, errors, superstition, expiate, conversion, repentance, forgiveness, holy;
·Military Terms that reflect Christian vocabulary: Pardon, Redemption, Atonement, Grace, Mercy, forgiveness, salvation, justification;
·Religious Figures: St. Patrick, Cross, Knights of Divine Providence;
·Other Religious traditions: Jew, Muslim, Atheist, infidel, Father confessor, purgatory, penance.
5 Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 3.
6 Ibid., p. 82.
7 Boller, George Washington And Religion, p. 28-29.
8 Ford, The True George Washington, p. 78.
9 Boller, George Washington & Religion, p.28.
10 Jackson, Twohig, Diaries of George Washington, vol. 3, p. 366, 6-10-1778.
11 See Chapter 19 on Religious Liberty, where the gunpowder plot is more fully discussed in relation to Washington’s efforts to end the anti-Catholic discrimination within his army.
12 Stephen DeCatur Jr., Private Affairs of George Washington (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Col, 1933) p. 90.
13 Jackson, Twohig, Diaries of George Washington vol. 2, p. 80, 9-27-1772.
14 Johnson, George Washington The Christian, p. 176-177; Donald Jackson, ed.; Jackson, Twohig, Diaries of George Washington vol. 1, p. 50, 11-8-1789.
15 Ibid., entry for 1-24-1768.
16 See the chapter on “Washington and the Clergy.”
17 Custis, Recollections, p. 173-174.
18 WGW, vol. 28, 8-23-1786.
19 Ibid., vol. 37, 9-22-1799.
20 Ibid., vol. 30, 12-23-1788.
21 Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 123.
22 Jackson, Twohig, Diaries of George Washington, vol. 2, p. 419, 10-2-1785.
23 Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 97f.
24 Sparks, The Writings of George Washington, vol. 12, p. 405-408.
25 Johnson, George Washington The Christian, p. 199. Also cited in Ashabel Green, The Life of Ashabel Green, 1849, p. 267.
26 John N.Norton, Life of General Washington, 1870. p. 117; also Johnson, George Washington The Christian, p. 58.
27 M’Guire, Religious Opinions and Character of Washington (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1836), p. 154.
28 Ibid., p. 154.
29 Boller, George Washington & Religion, p.32.
30 M’Guire, Religious Opinions, p. 146.
CHAPTER 14
1 Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 89.
2 Ibid., p. 2-3.
3 Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIV: Justice, Thomas Jefferson 1781, see http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=514
