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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