29-Year-Old George Washington’s Original Accounting and Receipt for the Rent of Mount Vernon and Use of Its Slaves For the Years Before He Took Inheritance of the Estate

A remarkably early document, entirely in Washington's hand, covering the period of his service in war, marriage to Martha, and groundbreaking on his iconic Mount Vernon home

The name of George Washington is indelibly connected with that of Mount Vernon, his legendary home and plantation.  Its stately appearance is a perfect compliment to our vision of the historic leader, and with its contents and grounds evokes his memory and even his presence.  Mount Vernon is also a testament to the interplay between agriculture and slavery in America’s early years.  Yet Washington did not always own Mount Vernon, and his path to ownership was not smooth.

The land came into the Washington family generations before when his great-grandfather, John Washington, acquired it in 1674. From there, the land passed to George’s grandfather, Lawrence, then briefly to his aunt, then to his father, Augustine, who left it to Lawrence Washington, George's half-brother.  Lawrence had four children, but only one survived, and that daughter died soon after him.  At that point, George was next in line to inherit the property. According to Lawrence’s and his father’s wills, after the death of Lawrence’s last surviving child, Mount Vernon passed to George.  But Lawrence’s wife, Anne Fairfax, retained a life interest.  This meant that Anne would retain control of the land and slaves, and George Washington would only take over after her death.

After Lawrence died, Anne soon married Col. George Lee, uncle of the grandfather of Gen. Robert E. Lee, and moved out of Mount Vernon.  After the death of her final child, she agreed to let George live there.  In a lease dated December 1754, George Lee and Anne agreed to grant Anne’s life interest in Mount Vernon, including land and slaves, to George for 15,000 pounds of tobacco annually or the monetary equivalent. The agreement to allow George Washington to come into possession of Mount Vernon read as follows:

“The said George Lee and Ann his wife for and in Consideration of the Rents and Covenants hereinafter Expressed and Reserved hath Demised set and to Farm Let and by these presents for themselves their Heirs Executors administrators and Assigns doth Demise set & to Farm Let unto the said George Washington his heirs and Assigns all them two messuages Tenements or parcels of Land the one scituate one Little Hunting Creek the other on Doeg Creek in the County of Fairfax whereof Lawrence Washington Late of the County of Fairfax Esqr died Siezed and Possesd and Whereof the said Ann Lee Late the Widdow & Relict of the said Lawrence Washington Esqr. is Tenant for Life in Virtue of the Last will and Testament of the said Lawrence, also one Water Grist Mill on part of the said Lands and Tenements Erected Together with the following Negroe slaves Viz: Nan James Dula Grace Dublin Harry Roger Phillis Kate Ceasar Charles Farrow Doll Sue: George Lydia Murreah & Glasgow. To Have and to hold the said two Tracts of Land Water Grist Mill with all and Singular the Appurtenancies thereunto Belonging Together with the said negroe slaves unto the said George Washington his heirs and Assigns and to his and their own proper use and Behoof from the day of the date of these presents for and during the Natural Life of her the said Ann Lee Yielding and Paying yearly and Every year during the said Term unto the said George Lee his Certain Attorney Heirs Executors administrators or Assigns on the Twenty fifth day of December the sum or Quantity of Fifteen thousand pounds of Tobacco…”

This was a formative period for the 22-year-old George Washington.  In many ways, the events from 1753 through 1761 were extraordinarily important in his life, and made him the General and President we know today. Washington was determined to pursue a military career, and the New World territorial dispute between France and Britain known as the French and Indian War proved his first great opportunity.  In 1753, he volunteered his services to Virginia Lt. Governor Robert Dinwiddie, who sent him to deliver an ultimatum to the French. During his service, he came face to face with challenge and defeat.  In July 1754, given a command and sent West, Washington was forced to sign a surrender document with the French at Fort Necessity and to deal with the desertion of his men as he headed back to Dinwiddie.  The Lt. Governor sought to regularize the army after this and offered Washington a standard, full-time commission but a lower rank, and he declined, instead returning in October to his farm.  Just two months later, he would sign his lease with George and Anne Lee for Mount Vernon.  

Washington would return to military life during the war, but also set about organizing and operating Mount Vernon.  This required making rent payments to George Lee, Anne’s husband, which he did both in goods, credit and cash.

In 1758, at age 26, Washington was first elected to public office as a delegate to the Virginia House of Burgesses; he would retain the seat until 1775.  There he mingled with Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Thomas Jefferson, among others.  Also that year, Washington began the construction of a new home near where another built by Lawrence stood. This home, which stands today as his historic residence at Mount Vernon, was built in stages and would be completed in 1778.

Such enterprises, running a plantation and building a home, were not cheap.  As Paul Haworth notes in his book, George Washington, Farmer, “Up to 1759 Washington was so constantly engaged in fighting the French and Indians that he had little time and opportunity to look after his private affairs and in consequence they suffered…  His pay hardly sufficed for his personal expenses and on the disastrous Fort Necessity and Braddock campaigns he lost his horses and baggage. Owing to his absence from home, his affairs fell into great disorder from which they were extricated by a fortunate stroke.  This stroke consisted in his marriage to Martha Custis, widow of the wealthy Daniel Parke Custis.” In 1759, he married Mrs. Custis, who became Mrs. Martha Washington, and both were living as renters at Mount Vernon. Washington paid his rent in one year for the previous year. And being often away in military service or attending to political duties, he left management of his estate to his brother, John Augustine Washington. It was John who generally dealt with Lee, and who reprovided Lee with rye grown on the farm.

In 1760, Washington prepared a reconciliation of accounts pursuant to his agreement with the Lees, showing his rent, and the offsets for what he had paid previously, and what the Lees had obtained from his farm. Since he requested Lee's acknowledgment and signature, this document was also a receipt for his rent on Mount Vernon.

Autograph document signed, Mount Vernon, May 15, 1760,
"Col. George Lee to George Washington…"

By Rent of Mount Vernon Land etc [slaves and other] for the years 1757, 1758, 1759 at £87.10 per annum – £262.10"

George Lee has written out and signed, "Recd the above Balance of Mr. John Washington.  May 20th 1760."

On the verso, Washington has listed the denominations of bills given to Lee by his brother Jonathan Washington and also docketed it for his personal files.

This document was proof that Washington had fulfilled the terms of his possession of Mount Vernon. It is also interesting to note that prior to his marriage to Martha, Washington appears to have paid in trade, whereas after his payments were made in cash. In 1756, a dispute had arisen with regard to Lawrence’s will, and the Lees attempted to wrest control of the estate for their heirs.  When judges ruled in George’s favor, the two continued amicably doing business but it could explain Washington’s desire to have detailed records pertaining to his possession of Mount Vernon.

Early in 1761, just months after this document was signed, Anne died, leaving Washington the unencumbered owner of Mount Vernon.  Although Washington back paid for the previous year after Anne’s death, this document was the final payment made before he fully inherited the property.

In an auction room in Philadelphia in 1891, Lawrence Washington sold the Washington family relics he had inherited from his father, Col. John Augustine Washington, the last private owner of Mount Vernon, and which had previously been given by George Washington to his nephew, Bushrod Washington.  Among these was this very document, meaning Washington retained this piece in his personal files from the age of 29 until his death in 1799 at 68.  The auction catalog reads, "By the request of Mr. Lawrence Washington, we state that this catalogue embraces all the Relics of Genl Washington owned by the Washington family, consequently this will be the last public sale under their auspices."  Whether receipts exist for 1755 and 1756 we could not determine. They were not sold at this sale, which catalog is available.

It is extraordinary to think that Washington retained this piece of paper for his entire adult life and passed it along to Bushrod Washington and beyond. Apparently he had an attachment to the document, which evidenced his coming into possession of Mount Vernon.