“Nothing contained in your letter, in Mr. Laws, or in any other from our friends intimate when you are to taste the sweets of Matrimony; I therefore call upon you, who have more honesty than disguise, to give me the details. Nay more, that you will relate all your feelings to me on this occasion: or as a Quaker would say “all the workings of the spirit within.”
“This, I have a right to expect in return for my blessing, so promptly bestowed, after you had concealed the matter from me so long. Being entitled therefore to this confidence, and to a compliance with my requests, I shall look forward to the fulfilment of it.
“If after marriage Mr. Laws business should call him to this the same room which Mr. Peter and your sister occupied will accomodate you two; and it will be equally at your service.
“You know how much I love you, how much I have been gratified by your attentions to those things which you had reason to believe were grateful to my feelings. And having no doubt of your continuing the same conduct, as the effect will be pleasing to me, and unattended with any disadvantage to yourself, I shall remain with the sincerest friendship, and the most Affectionate regard, etc.”
124 WGW, vol. 34, 2-10-1796. To Thomas Law. Sir: Yesterday’s Mail brought me your letter of the 4th Instant; and that of Saturday announced from Miss Custis herself, the Union which is pending between you. No intimation of this event, from any quarter, having been communicated to us before, it may well be supposed that it was a matter of Surprize.
“This being premised, I have only to add, that as the parties most interested are agreed, my approbation, in which Mrs. Washington unites, is cordially given; accompanied with best wishes that both of you may be supremely happy in the alliance. I must however, tho’ it is no immediate concern of mine, be permitted to hope, as the young lady is in her non-age, that preliminary measures has been, or will be arranged with her Mother and Guardian, before the Nuptials are Solemnized.
“We shall hope that your fortunes (if not before) will, by this event, be fixed in America; for it would be a heart rending circumstance, if you should seperate Eliza from her friends in this country. Whether the Marriage is to take place soon, or late, we have no data to judge from but be it as it will, if you should bring her to Philadelphia, we invite you both to this house. With very great esteem and regard I am etc.
WGW, vol. 37, 12-25-1798. To George Washington Motier de Lafayette.
“Your acquaintance Lawrence Lewis is appointed Captain of a Troop of Light Dragoons; but intends, before he enters the Camp of Mars to engage in that of Venus; Eleanor Custis and he having entered into a contract of marriage; which, I understand, is to be fulfilled on my birthday (the 22d. of Feby).
Washington Custis prefering a Military career to literary pursuits, is appointed Cornet in Lewis’s Troop, and Washington Craik a Lieutenancy. Young Carroll of Carrolton, will be a Volunteer Aid of mine, and Mr. Lear is my Secretary.” Washington’s “Diary” for February 22 records: “Morning raining. Mer at 30. Wind a little more to the Northward. Afterwards very strong from the No. Wt. and turning clear and cold. The Revd. Mr. Davis and Mr. Geo. Calvert came to dinner and Mass Custis was married abt. Candle light to Mr. Lawe. Lewis.”
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.
