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Mary Ball Washington: The Untold Story of George Washington's Mother
The Mother of the Father of our Country.
Mary Ball Washington was an unlikely candidate to be the mother of history’s most famous revolutionary. In fact, George Washington’s first fight for independence was from his controlling, singular mother.
Stubborn, aristocratic Mary Ball Washington was entrenched in the Old World ways of her ancestors, dismissing the American experiment even as her son led the successful rebellion against the crown. During his youth, ambitious George dove into the hard-scrabble work of a surveyor and rose through the ranks of the fledgling colonial army, even as his overprotective mother tried to discourage these efforts.
Mary’s influence on George was twofold. Though she raised her eldest son to become one of the world’s greatest leaders, Mary also tried many times to hold him back. While she passed down her strength and individuality to George, she also sought to protect him from the risks he needed to take to become a daring general and president. But it was this resistance itself which fanned the spark of George’s independence into a flame. The constant tug of war between the two throughout the early years helped define George’s character.
In Mary Ball Washington, New York Times bestselling author Craig Shirley uncovers startling details about the inner workings of the Washington family. He vividly brings to life a resilient widow who singlehandedly raised six children and ran a large farm at a time when most women’s duties were relegated to household matters. Throughout, Shirley compares and contrasts mother and son, illuminating the qualities they shared and the differences that divided them.
A significant contribution to American history, Mary Ball Washington is the definitive take on the relationship between George and Mary Washington, offering fresh insight into this extraordinary figure who would shape our nation—and the woman who shaped him.
Mary Ball Washington was an unlikely candidate to be the mother of history’s most famous revolutionary. In fact, George Washington’s first fight for independence was from his controlling, singular mother.
Stubborn, aristocratic Mary Ball Washington was entrenched in the Old World ways of her ancestors, dismissing the American experiment even as her son led the successful rebellion against the crown. During his youth, ambitious George dove into the hard-scrabble work of a surveyor and rose through the ranks of the fledgling colonial army, even as his overprotective mother tried to discourage these efforts.
Mary’s influence on George was twofold. Though she raised her eldest son to become one of the world’s greatest leaders, Mary also tried many times to hold him back. While she passed down her strength and individuality to George, she also sought to protect him from the risks he needed to take to become a daring general and president. But it was this resistance itself which fanned the spark of George’s independence into a flame. The constant tug of war between the two throughout the early years helped define George’s character.
In Mary Ball Washington, New York Times bestselling author Craig Shirley uncovers startling details about the inner workings of the Washington family. He vividly brings to life a resilient widow who singlehandedly raised six children and ran a large farm at a time when most women’s duties were relegated to household matters. Throughout, Shirley compares and contrasts mother and son, illuminating the qualities they shared and the differences that divided them.
A significant contribution to American history, Mary Ball Washington is the definitive take on the relationship between George and Mary Washington, offering fresh insight into this extraordinary figure who would shape our nation—and the woman who shaped him.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published December 3, 2019
134 people are currently reading
701 people want to read
About the author
Craig Shirley
19 books51 followersCraigan Paul Shirley is an American political consultant and author of several books on Ronald Reagan.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
March 17, 2025
With a span of bestselling biographies that chronicle the eventful life of Ronald Reagan, historian Craig Shirley shifts gears to a rather unlikely subject who first made a name for herself in the early-seventeenth century. This unpredictable dame who has been characterized by both acquaintances and historians alike as a cantankerous and unabashed Royalist hasn’t been given a biographical spotlight since the nineteenth century, though interestingly enough, two have come to light in 2019. Shirley admits in his introduction that this may be due to the fact that Mary did not leave much of any record of her life, whether through correspondence or diary entries—leaving his audience in a predicament from the beginning, and questioning whether or not there will be enough material gathered that will fulfill her life story.
Born on or around 1708, it’s evident from the opening that there already may be a few signs of speculation—always a red flag for a subject that has been previously left alone. Shirley from there moves into a drawn-out yet meticulously researched social history of early to mid-eighteenth century Great Britain and its Thirteen Colonies, discussing the farming and mercantile prospects of the populace, the fashion articles that Mary perhaps wore, and the traditional gender roles that she would have embraced. While indeed interesting, this extra detail can at times be unrelated to Mary, and rather leans toward the categorization of blatant filler content—with over-extended instances of Shirley delving and spending far too much time on the etymological background of the Ball and Washington surnames.
Setting aside the question of whether or not this biography perhaps could have been more appropriate as a broad genealogical focus on George Washington’s ancestry, it is interesting to point out that his great grandfather William Ball had already made a name for himself as an immigrant of property and prestige in Lancaster, Virginia, rising in rank from major to colonel. Both of these traits and aspirations would no doubt be mirrored and inherited down the line decades later to young Washington. Upon investigating Mary’s upbringing, Shirley fortunately gives a much more in-depth look at the controversy surrounding her birth year—as well as the two-part scandal of perhaps being born out of wedlock to her father’s own maid. Brief snippets of her early life are taken from her parent’s last wills and testaments, though for the most part little can be gathered here apart from dreary periods of being an orphan and experiencing a constant reminder of death—and the inheritances that come with it.
Shirley notes that unfortunately there is not a likeness of Mary that survives, so it is difficult to picture her youth and maiden appearance upon marrying and becoming the second wife of Augustine Washington. A recurring theme both at this stage of the biography and further on is the fact that Shirley seems to pull mostly from secondary sources and nineteenth century accounts—which even he acknowledges can all but be verified or relied upon—as they are known for their tendency to border along the lines of hagiography. Furthermore, a good portion of the facts and research being presented to his audience are summaries and passages from prior works, quoting liberally from the likes of Benson J. Lossing and other earlier biographers, as well as Douglas Southall Freeman, Ron Chernow, and Williard Sterne Randolph.
The newlyweds matrimonial bliss is brief as they bring the future first President of the United States into existence the following year, accompanied by five other children—each being born at the astonishing rate of almost one year after the next. It’s here that the reader familiar with the faults of Jill Lepore’s Book of Ages will be equally frustrated by the similar circumstances found in Shirley’s biography, where Martha takes a backseat most of the time while the story focuses and centers around young George Washington and his childhood circumstances and upbringing. Extensive tangents that feature prominent individuals that the Washington’s were intimate with, as well as pivotal legends and events are found throughout, which constantly overshadow Mary—including the background of her husband Augustine and his landholdings, the births of George III and Thomas Jefferson, and the apocryphal myths of her son:
George Washington grew up here. Here, also, stories of his youth developed. Parson Weems, the origin of many of these fanciful tales, recounts the most famous of all these stories, as told to him by an anonymous “aged lady, who was a distant relative”in 1833: “One day,” he wrote, “in the garden, where he often amused himself hacking his mother’s pea-sticks, he unluckily tried the edge of his hatchet on the body of a beautiful young English cherry-tree, which he barked so terribly, that I don’t believe the tree ever got the better of it.” Augustine Washington was flabbergasted, confused, and wanting to know who did it.
With George Washington now enlisted and marching along with Braddock’s expedition, Shirley’s primary focus unabashedly serves Mary’s son and his exploits in the field, with bits and pieces of letters from home showing the matriarch’s voice and concerns—but otherwise no traces of substance or value are found that would portray her character or actions. Upon selling his childhood home to Hugh Mercer and installing his mother in a more comfortable setting at Fredericksburg, George Washington—all too often at odds with his mother—was unsurprised to learn Mary was not a fan of this change in circumstance. This is a rare occurrence in the text, where by now the over the top and obvious abuse of filler content carries through to the end of the American Revolution and into the Founding era. Indeed, only snippets of Mary’s opinions and alleged conversations from various acquaintances are added in—along with brief appearances of her attendance at dinners and balls in honor of both her son and independence from Great Britain.
Unfortunately, Shirley’s biography is a classic bait-and-switch tactic of fooling the audience with an enticing title, and delivering to them instead something dramatically unrelated and deceiving—a bold, frustrating, and unnecessary move. Indeed, there would have been nothing wrong with publishing a history of the colonies until the formation of the United States, as he devotes much more attention to events such as the Constitutional Convention of 1787—and that of Washington’s leadership and ascent—than he does his protagonist. Forgettable and altogether regrettably disappointing, Shirley concludes with Mary’s final two years battling breast cancer, which go in tandem with George’s difficulties in handling her estate, as well as his death years later. While absent of illustrations, the book is accompanied by a helpful Family Tree and index.
Born on or around 1708, it’s evident from the opening that there already may be a few signs of speculation—always a red flag for a subject that has been previously left alone. Shirley from there moves into a drawn-out yet meticulously researched social history of early to mid-eighteenth century Great Britain and its Thirteen Colonies, discussing the farming and mercantile prospects of the populace, the fashion articles that Mary perhaps wore, and the traditional gender roles that she would have embraced. While indeed interesting, this extra detail can at times be unrelated to Mary, and rather leans toward the categorization of blatant filler content—with over-extended instances of Shirley delving and spending far too much time on the etymological background of the Ball and Washington surnames.
Setting aside the question of whether or not this biography perhaps could have been more appropriate as a broad genealogical focus on George Washington’s ancestry, it is interesting to point out that his great grandfather William Ball had already made a name for himself as an immigrant of property and prestige in Lancaster, Virginia, rising in rank from major to colonel. Both of these traits and aspirations would no doubt be mirrored and inherited down the line decades later to young Washington. Upon investigating Mary’s upbringing, Shirley fortunately gives a much more in-depth look at the controversy surrounding her birth year—as well as the two-part scandal of perhaps being born out of wedlock to her father’s own maid. Brief snippets of her early life are taken from her parent’s last wills and testaments, though for the most part little can be gathered here apart from dreary periods of being an orphan and experiencing a constant reminder of death—and the inheritances that come with it.
Shirley notes that unfortunately there is not a likeness of Mary that survives, so it is difficult to picture her youth and maiden appearance upon marrying and becoming the second wife of Augustine Washington. A recurring theme both at this stage of the biography and further on is the fact that Shirley seems to pull mostly from secondary sources and nineteenth century accounts—which even he acknowledges can all but be verified or relied upon—as they are known for their tendency to border along the lines of hagiography. Furthermore, a good portion of the facts and research being presented to his audience are summaries and passages from prior works, quoting liberally from the likes of Benson J. Lossing and other earlier biographers, as well as Douglas Southall Freeman, Ron Chernow, and Williard Sterne Randolph.
The newlyweds matrimonial bliss is brief as they bring the future first President of the United States into existence the following year, accompanied by five other children—each being born at the astonishing rate of almost one year after the next. It’s here that the reader familiar with the faults of Jill Lepore’s Book of Ages will be equally frustrated by the similar circumstances found in Shirley’s biography, where Martha takes a backseat most of the time while the story focuses and centers around young George Washington and his childhood circumstances and upbringing. Extensive tangents that feature prominent individuals that the Washington’s were intimate with, as well as pivotal legends and events are found throughout, which constantly overshadow Mary—including the background of her husband Augustine and his landholdings, the births of George III and Thomas Jefferson, and the apocryphal myths of her son:
George Washington grew up here. Here, also, stories of his youth developed. Parson Weems, the origin of many of these fanciful tales, recounts the most famous of all these stories, as told to him by an anonymous “aged lady, who was a distant relative”in 1833: “One day,” he wrote, “in the garden, where he often amused himself hacking his mother’s pea-sticks, he unluckily tried the edge of his hatchet on the body of a beautiful young English cherry-tree, which he barked so terribly, that I don’t believe the tree ever got the better of it.” Augustine Washington was flabbergasted, confused, and wanting to know who did it.
With George Washington now enlisted and marching along with Braddock’s expedition, Shirley’s primary focus unabashedly serves Mary’s son and his exploits in the field, with bits and pieces of letters from home showing the matriarch’s voice and concerns—but otherwise no traces of substance or value are found that would portray her character or actions. Upon selling his childhood home to Hugh Mercer and installing his mother in a more comfortable setting at Fredericksburg, George Washington—all too often at odds with his mother—was unsurprised to learn Mary was not a fan of this change in circumstance. This is a rare occurrence in the text, where by now the over the top and obvious abuse of filler content carries through to the end of the American Revolution and into the Founding era. Indeed, only snippets of Mary’s opinions and alleged conversations from various acquaintances are added in—along with brief appearances of her attendance at dinners and balls in honor of both her son and independence from Great Britain.
Unfortunately, Shirley’s biography is a classic bait-and-switch tactic of fooling the audience with an enticing title, and delivering to them instead something dramatically unrelated and deceiving—a bold, frustrating, and unnecessary move. Indeed, there would have been nothing wrong with publishing a history of the colonies until the formation of the United States, as he devotes much more attention to events such as the Constitutional Convention of 1787—and that of Washington’s leadership and ascent—than he does his protagonist. Forgettable and altogether regrettably disappointing, Shirley concludes with Mary’s final two years battling breast cancer, which go in tandem with George’s difficulties in handling her estate, as well as his death years later. While absent of illustrations, the book is accompanied by a helpful Family Tree and index.
January 10, 2020
Meandering. The first few chapters were a confusing genealogy of GW's ancestors. Assertions are made with no support. When the story of the lightning bolt at dinner was dismissed but the author insisted "something" happened to alter Mary Ball Washington's personality when she was pregnant--I was done.
January 5, 2020
Calling this book The Untold Story of George Washingtons Mother is akin to calling me the worlds top supermodel: no proof, no data, nothing but me telling you it is so.
Author Shirley admits up front there is extremely little source material on Mary Ball Washington, and then proceeds to craft a 290 page book around everything BUT Mary Ball Washington.
Go figure.
Author Shirley admits up front there is extremely little source material on Mary Ball Washington, and then proceeds to craft a 290 page book around everything BUT Mary Ball Washington.
Go figure.
January 25, 2020
Not surprisingly, since little is known about George Washington's mother, this book is mostly about George and their relatives. It's still interesting, and I'd recommend it.
The book is difficult to read, partly because of the small, odd typeface chosen by the publisher and partly because of the author's preference for strange, overcomplicated sentences.
The book is difficult to read, partly because of the small, odd typeface chosen by the publisher and partly because of the author's preference for strange, overcomplicated sentences.
September 2, 2023
Two star book, here is why. If this book had a different title, it would have been b; after four hundred pages, The Untold Story of George Washington’s Mother is still untold.
Most of the book talks about all the things happening at the places where she is known to have lived and the important people around her, like her son. One chapter talks about how the War of Independence started and the key people involved; now, while this is informative, nothing says how Mary was involved or even if she had anything to say. When Mary is mentioned, it would be “ we assume, or we speculate.” I only found one new thing…spoiler alert: no one knows where exactly she is buried! How? FYI, this question is not answered. Like I said if the title was different this book would have been a three star book.
Most of the book talks about all the things happening at the places where she is known to have lived and the important people around her, like her son. One chapter talks about how the War of Independence started and the key people involved; now, while this is informative, nothing says how Mary was involved or even if she had anything to say. When Mary is mentioned, it would be “ we assume, or we speculate.” I only found one new thing…spoiler alert: no one knows where exactly she is buried! How? FYI, this question is not answered. Like I said if the title was different this book would have been a three star book.
April 11, 2022
So much of the content in this book is about the men in Mary Bell Washington's life. An unimpressive and rather obnoxious biography.
June 6, 2021
I usually enjoy non-fiction history, but I didn't like this one. I've been to the Mary Washington House in Fredericksburg and driven around the area of Ferry Farm, so I was hoping to learn more about Mary. My main issue with the book is the author used too many suppositions ("No one knows, perhaps that motherly protection kicked in") and too little facts. It was also boring IMO, as I don't care who all was named Lawrence, how many times she visited Betty and Fielding or all the times she asked George for money. The one interesting part of the book was not about Mary, but the mention of a woman who helped with the war when she dressed like a man and pulled a gun on a Hessian soldier. This was my least favorite of the 100 plus books we've discussed in our Traveling Book Club over the last 12 plus years.
January 14, 2020
There really was precious little to go on, Washington's mother was apparently a peevish person who hit up her son for more and more money because she had trouble living within her means. But there are few records that show much about her, i.e. much of this book is history and not much biography. Also a lot of speculation, some of it justified and some of it not-so. At the end of the book, I learned a little, though not a lot.
January 14, 2022
I absolutely loathed this book. The author is repetitive and confusing. One minute he's praising her and the next she is a demon. He makes a lot of simple mistakes. He, evidently, doesn't know the difference between a half-brother and a stepbrother. We don't know where Mary's grave is, but there is a monument on her grave.
February 17, 2020
This was fine, but I agree with other reviewers who've noted that there really isn't a lot of source material to warrant a full book on this subject matter.
The biggest aspect was the nature of George and Mary's relationship, and the text was undecided as to whether it was of a positive or negative regard.
The biggest aspect was the nature of George and Mary's relationship, and the text was undecided as to whether it was of a positive or negative regard.
March 27, 2022
As a professional editor for 40+ years, I found this book incredibly difficult to read. There were so many missteps that I hardly know where to begin. Although the author thanks many people who served as “editors,” I find little evidence of any real editing. The book is full of tortured sentences, incorrect word usages, lack of narrative flow, inconsistencies (was he Lord Thomas Fairfax or Thomas Lord Fairfax — pick one, right or wrong, and stick with it), minor historical fumbles (George Washington Parke Custis didn’t go by George — his friends and family called him Wash), and other inaccuracies (a half brother is not the same thing as a step brother, something an editor should have caught even if the author didn’t). And what’s with the lack of photographs? The author owns two houses in Virginia — one or maybe two day trips could have netted him all the pictures he needed and greatly increased the informational value of this book. Don’t just tell me about Mary’s monument. Show it to me as well. Show me her house in Fredericksburg. Show me what’s at Ferry Farm these days. Other reviewers have spoken to other problems eloquently enough that there’s no need to rehash them here, except to say that I agree with all of them. Unlike many of them, however, I stuck with this book to the end. It damn near killed me (ask my husband how many times I shrieked “Let me read you THIS!”), but I finished it. Not sure what that says about me. If you’re reading this before you actually crack the cover, think twice before you do.
July 8, 2020
I’m a huge George Washington fan so this was the perfect book for me to read. The author really brought his mother to life as much as can be done with limited information and records that exist on her. He told everything that is known about Mary Ball Washington and quite effectively reviewed her other biographies which range in sentiment from “she was a controlling, Tory mother” to “she was a saint and an angel.” Shirley seemed to find a realistic middle ground. I learned a lot about her personal life and her ancestors and the early Washington family. Mary Ball actually had a sad life in many ways, she was fatherless at around age 3 and orphaned at 12. She wasn’t poor though, she inherited a fair amount every time a parent or guardian died. She was taken care of by her half-siblings and grew close to them and viewed her brother-in-law as a bit of a father figure. Then sadly, he too died in her teen years. She married a widower who had lots of land and they started their own family and then he died after 15 years of marriage and on top of that she lost 3 children before she died in her 80’s. She never remarried and raised her kids on her own. She took great interest in her oldest son George’s life and her motherly fears of him becoming a sailor in his late teens probably played an important role in his being in the army instead and later leading Patriot forces to victory in the Revolutionary War. This book doesn’t go into too much detail on how she might have shaped him in other ways, since much of that would be speculation. It shared what is known about her: she had a limited education and had poor spelling her whole life, she was close to her much older half-brother Joseph Ball who lived in England and they wrote each other regularly, she preferred life in the country but was moved to the city of Fredericksburg by George as she got older. She constantly asked George for money something he always noted in his journal. Despite her prominent position as the mother of General George Washington (who was revered even then) she dressed in nice but plain clothes. She was religious most of her life and stayed loyal to the Church of England even after the war. Mary often irritated George, was close to her daughter Betsy and eventually she died a long drawn-out and painful death from breast cancer just shortly after George was elected President of the United States.
Being a mother myself, I’m quick to give her and all mothers the benefit of a doubt when it comes the criticisms of her as a mother, for there are some who say she wasn’t a good mother. I’m sure when she was raising her kids all on her own on a large country estate that she was also managing on her own at the same time, she probably never dreamed that people would look into her life and mothering skills for centuries to come and critique and question them.
Being a mother myself, I’m quick to give her and all mothers the benefit of a doubt when it comes the criticisms of her as a mother, for there are some who say she wasn’t a good mother. I’m sure when she was raising her kids all on her own on a large country estate that she was also managing on her own at the same time, she probably never dreamed that people would look into her life and mothering skills for centuries to come and critique and question them.
January 22, 2020
The scholarship for this book seems good. The summary of the history of times she was alive was fair and represents about 65% of the book. I would almost recommend that as a quick primer on the Revolution but for the other flaws.
I think there was a bit of an editing problem, things were redundant, weirdly phrased. The author calls Mary Washington a helicopter parent twice. Now the author should not used this term but how could anyone proofing or reading any drafts of this not say something after these words punch you in the eyes and then again.
Sons are always embarrassed by their mothers, Mothers don't want their children fighting in a war and they mostly still love each other. The book tries desperately to create some sort of grand rift between them which is at least sensationalist but likely a lie. The book also has a profound misunderstanding of honor and an underestimation of the humility of both characters jumping to the worst conclusions on all of their motives.
I think there was a bit of an editing problem, things were redundant, weirdly phrased. The author calls Mary Washington a helicopter parent twice. Now the author should not used this term but how could anyone proofing or reading any drafts of this not say something after these words punch you in the eyes and then again.
Sons are always embarrassed by their mothers, Mothers don't want their children fighting in a war and they mostly still love each other. The book tries desperately to create some sort of grand rift between them which is at least sensationalist but likely a lie. The book also has a profound misunderstanding of honor and an underestimation of the humility of both characters jumping to the worst conclusions on all of their motives.
October 2, 2023
A bit too much social history presented in a less-than pleasing way (did you know that Mary could have died in childbirth?); a terrible approach to proving a point (could you try to convince me that Mary was a domineering mother, instead of repeating it incessantly, as if it's common knowledge?); a dearth of citations for needful statements (such as "Whatever her personal thoughts on independence from the Crown, Mary still cared about her son and his safety." And on for several large paragraphs, for which there was only one citation that seemed only to refer to a direct quote); very little documented information on the faith of George and his mother (which would seem to be one of the strongest shared elements, from what I could glean); and a rather random choice of detailing events of the war and George's life (so we go into detail about the British Army's offer of liberation to the American slaves, but not into the reports of Washington's faith, as it may have been instilled to him by his mother?). There was also little analysis of the credibility of the sources the author did use, and therefore I had no way of deciding for myself between the apparently conflicting reports of Strict/Domineering Mary Washington and Kind/Affectionate Mary Washington.
July 27, 2020
Dreadful. I understand that primary source material does not exist for many women in history. Many authors supplement with historiography of that time period setting the background of their subject. There seems to be so little documentation of Mary Washington's life, there is only one surviving letter from her son George, so Mr. Shirley's got nothing and is filling pages with nothing. He literally spends the first TWO chapters talking about the origins of the names Ball and Washington. I tried two more chapters but it's just as dull as dirt. Couldn't finish.
July 6, 2021
This book uses mostly supposition and heresay to tell the "story" of Mary Ball Washington. I feel the author was unduly harsh on Mary especially with so little evidence to base his theories and opinions on. Rather than citing documentation, of which there is barely any that exists, he cites other authors as his "research". If you want to learn about George Washington then read this book, but if you hope to learn about Mary don't bother.
February 12, 2021
Did not finish. As others have described, use of second-hand info, not much about Mary Ball Washington, difficult sentence structure, speculation on odd topics like who breastfed George Washington ...
January 24, 2020
I couldn't get halfway through this. Pedantic biography of a not so interesting person. Felt like i was reading a textbook.
July 19, 2020
If there is something untold about Mary Washington in this book, I have yet to find it. I have given it two stars for the bibliography and footnotes.
January 15, 2021
Lots of quoting of other authors rather than original sources. Pedestrian writing. I was disappointed and quit after a couple chapters.
June 21, 2021
I wanted to be interested, but I kept falling asleep while I was reading.
August 4, 2021
Since learning that George Washington's mother was a Ball, I have always wondered if my Ball genealogy connected with her. This book from Daudalus has convinced me that is not so. Her Ball's were all straight from England to Virginia while mine came down from New England to New Jersey and then headed west to Ohio. The author takes not much real information and stretches it into a nearly 300 page book. Apparently Mary was a simple but strong woman who never sought the limelight and like any mother worried about her firstborn son going to war against the King. Author Shirley has obviously read every other biography on Mary as well as some on George. He disagrees with some and having just read an irritating biography on George Marshall, I can understand that some biographers have axes to grind or their own viewpoints to stress. Shirley can't seem to make up his mind if Mary loved her son or just made his life miserable. Unfortunately a lot of parenthood has this problem. Here is the Shirley's best description of Mary:
"From an unknown date around 1708 to August 25, 1789, Mary Washington nee Ball, lived a long and active life. An orphan, a wife, a mother, a widow, an owner of plantations, manager of servants and slaves, she was at times overbearing to her children, at times protector of them. She had been a widow for over 40 years, refusing to remarry and looking toward her children's future."
I'm not sure who reads books like this except people really interested in history and genealogy. George was apparently quite a guy and let's just assume he had a pretty good mom.
"From an unknown date around 1708 to August 25, 1789, Mary Washington nee Ball, lived a long and active life. An orphan, a wife, a mother, a widow, an owner of plantations, manager of servants and slaves, she was at times overbearing to her children, at times protector of them. She had been a widow for over 40 years, refusing to remarry and looking toward her children's future."
I'm not sure who reads books like this except people really interested in history and genealogy. George was apparently quite a guy and let's just assume he had a pretty good mom.
August 1, 2021
Mary Ball Washington:The Untold Story of George Washington’s Mother unfortunately has been told and not by Craig Shirley. I learned some interesting facts about her life, but with the constant references to other recent authors like Ron Chernow there is no way to consider anything “untold.” Much of the detail of George’s early life that was included could be considered insight into Mary’s life at that time as well, but as more and more detail of his life is included, the title holder of this work is almost lost. For example, why include the long, tedious detail of the fight for representation during the Continental Congress? This long chapter made me wonder if I tried to hard to accept the role of the other stories in developing her character. I appreciated learning about what her later life and death might have been like, but I will warn others before recommending this particular telling of it.
June 20, 2021
An interesting look at an influential woman who, despite being George Washington's mother, seems to be little known. It didn't help her popularity that she was a Loyalist during the Revolutionary War, and somewhat of a financial drain on George. (After being widowed, she refused either to remarry or move in with one of her children, so was constantly needing money.)
I was intrigued by the author's description of the Constitutional Convention (imagine a group of men actually creating a new country's governmental structure!) and by some of George's choices. Also, what was it specifically that made George the unanimous choice for responsible positions--including the new presidency? And I hadn't known that he, although the eldest of six siblings, outlived them all.
This was a worthwhile read that worked well for a discussion among history buffs.
I was intrigued by the author's description of the Constitutional Convention (imagine a group of men actually creating a new country's governmental structure!) and by some of George's choices. Also, what was it specifically that made George the unanimous choice for responsible positions--including the new presidency? And I hadn't known that he, although the eldest of six siblings, outlived them all.
This was a worthwhile read that worked well for a discussion among history buffs.
October 21, 2021
I was very disappointed in this book. After reading the first 2 chapters I wondered how the author could have written a book about Mary Ball Washington. All through the book the fact that little was known about her was reiterated. Besides that, the countless references to other authors and their comments about her became tedious. Fine to use a quote but then put the author reference in the footnote not the paragraph. I was also left thinking that if these other authors had found sources on Washington's mother why didn't the author go to the original source for inspiration and not the second hand analysis.
I would not recommend this book for information about Mary Ball Washington and if you are looking to read a book about George Washington, read the book by Chernow, it seems he addresses the relationship between George and his mother.
I would not recommend this book for information about Mary Ball Washington and if you are looking to read a book about George Washington, read the book by Chernow, it seems he addresses the relationship between George and his mother.
April 16, 2020
I thought about rounding up to 3 stars, but I just can’t do it. I was determined to finish it, but the book got on my nerves tremendously. First, the title. I get that we have very little knowledge of Mary’s life. Then either write a shorter book or article, or title the book something else. There was no “untold story” revealed here, and most of it was about much other than Mary Washington. Second, the writing. I was an editor for 3 years, and sentences like this made me crazy: “Mary Ball Washington was now the wife of her husband Augustine, and Augustine Washington was the husband of his wife.” That’s just unnecessary padding. I’m not even mentioning the sentence about conjugal relations upon the marriage of Mary and Augustine. Sorry - I wanted to like this book, but no. (Library)
May 14, 2020
Being a Virginian and native of the Middle Peninsula this book was most interesting with local facts. Some known and some not. Craig Shirley did an outstanding job presenting facts and scenarios in order to better understand the mother of George Washington. Which allowed you to walk vividly through that time as his book unfolded. Given Martha’s life circumstances it is obvious they shaped her to be a strong individual. Giving her son maybe not tender loving traits, but confidence, independence and responsibility and need of faith. Which we as Americans can thank both of them for!
March 23, 2021
Since there is not a lot known or documented about Mary Ball Washington, Craig Shirley researched and compiled information creating this book. If you want to read it to learn exact details about Mary Ball Washington, that is not this book as the information does not exist. Read this book as a background of the start of the United States and her influences on her son, future General and future President. Life must have been challenging for anyone during that part of history. Interesting background and will have to visit Virginia to visit Mrs. Washington's monument.
July 28, 2021
I realize there is little if any info on most women of Ms Washington’s era, and was prepared for this book to be 90% George. Reading did not change my mind - not the writer’s fault. The material is there, or oral history is available, and/or facts & information are scarce to nonexistent.
Respect to the author. He did the best with what small factual bits exist and fluffed up the volume’s pages with info about George’s military history, his relationship with his mother, the money she constantly required and he seemed to grudgingly give her.
Respect to the author. He did the best with what small factual bits exist and fluffed up the volume’s pages with info about George’s military history, his relationship with his mother, the money she constantly required and he seemed to grudgingly give her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2022
Let’s not fool anyone about this book. As the author admits, it’s as much a historiography as it is a biography—and too much of the references he uses are secondary sources written in the 19th century.
But the worst thing about the book is its utterly putrid, melodramatic writing. The book is filled with stuff like this:
“Mary Ball Washington was now the wife of her husband Augustine, and Augustine Washington was the husband of his wife.” (p. 73)
The horrid writing detracts from the worthy compilation of secondary and hearsay sources.
A great disappointment.
But the worst thing about the book is its utterly putrid, melodramatic writing. The book is filled with stuff like this:
“Mary Ball Washington was now the wife of her husband Augustine, and Augustine Washington was the husband of his wife.” (p. 73)
The horrid writing detracts from the worthy compilation of secondary and hearsay sources.
A great disappointment.
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