Hi Mr. Wiencek &7 all,
 My comment you used below was not stated as a fact but only as something I had
read a few places. But I never said it was a known fact.

All I initially wanted to respond to was that Washington never wanted a King in
this country, he was opposed to that, and that he himself has never been proven
to have any children.

And I personally am done with this subject please no one send me any more e-
mails privately about this. Thank you.

Beth
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> I am at work on a book about George Washington and slavery
> so I have looked into this question of GW's children, which
> has long been the subject of a great deal of speculation.
> New information on this continues to emerge.  I have been
> very carefully studying the oral history passed down by
> slave descendants which says that he was the father of a
> slave named West Ford, who was freed and given land by GW's
> relatives.  I think it is unlikely that GW was Ford's
> father but I can't rule it out.  I'm actually writing a
> chapter on that question right now.
>
> I have not seen information that "he had many liasons
> before marrying," as Beth Bond wrote.  It is well
> documented that he had strong romantic feelings for Sally
> Fairfax but there is no indication that anything ever
> happened between them.  There is rumor that he had a
> "fondness" for Elizabeth Powel, wife of the Philadelphia
> mayor.
>
> There are very vague hints in the records which could
> suggest, if you looked at them from a certain angle, that

> Washington might have had relationships with some of his
> slave women.  I say this out of a wish to be open and
> honest about the question.  Right now, we just don't know.
> There's a lot we don't know about slavery time, and may
> never know.  The interpretation of these records rests on
> one's view of GW's character and his thinking about
> slavery.  My feeling is that it is highly unlikely that
> Washington would ever have done anything of any sort that
> could have brought disrepute on himself.  There is strong
> evidence that in the last decade of his life Washington
> became utterly disgusted with slavery.  The question is:
> did this disgust arise out of regret for things Washington
> had done himself earlier in his life?
>
> Henry Wiencek
> Charlottesville
>
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