by Flora Fraser
“desirous of improvement”: GW to Tobias Lear, October 10, 1790, PGW.
“Otaheitian [Tahitian] dress”: Decatur, Private Affairs of Washington, 265, 226, 318–19, 322–23.
“I was down”: MW to FBW, June 15, 1794, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 268–69.
for outdoor activities: Decatur, Private Affairs of Washington, 290, 313.
“of Architectural abilities”: GW to Tobias Lear, July 30, 1792, PGW.
“their number myself”: GW to Thomas Jefferson, April 1, 1791, PGW.
“already acquainted with”: GW to Tobias Lear, September 21, 1792, PGW.
a “fair experiment”: Tobias Lear to GGW, July 21, 1792, PGW.
“a longer continuance”: Thomas Jefferson’s Conversation with GW, October 1, [1792], PGW.
“put them altogether”: GW to Anthony Whitting, October 14, 1792, PGW.
and Mr. Madison: Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on a Conversation with Washington, February 7, 1793, PGW.
“of your Sufferings?”: Elizabeth Willing Powel to GW, November 17, 1792, PGW.
“make me unpopular”: John Adams to Abigail Adams, December 28, 1792, AFP.
“away upon me”: GW to Henry Lee, January 20, 1793, PGW.
“of responsible persons”: GW to FBW, February 24, 1793, PGW.
“Envious and Malignant”: Elizabeth Willing Powel to GW, November 17, 1792, PGW.
27: SECOND TERM, 1793–1797
“all these occasions”: Jackman, “A Young Englishman Reports,” 118.
“people, &c. &c.”: “To the Noblesse and Courtiers of the United States…,” General Advertiser (Philadelphia), January 2, 1793.
“modern republican Principles”: John Adams to Abigail Adams, January 2, 1793, AFP.
“conform to it”: Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on a Conversation with Washington, February 7, 1793, PGW.
“drawn into it”: Tobias Lear to GW, April 8, 1793, PGW.
“too refined caution”: Jackman, “A Young Englishman Reports,” 104.
“bad, becoming worse”: GW to Thomas Jefferson, March 1, 1792, PGW.
“the belligerent powers”: Neutrality Proclamation, [April 22, 1793], PGW.
“from their smell”: Flexner, Doctors on Horseback, 101.
“into the Country”: Henry Knox to GW, September 15, 1793, PGW.
“& more fatal”: GW to Tobias Lear, September 25, 1793, PGW.
“of our Friends”: Elizabeth Willing Powel to GW, September 9, 1793, PGW.
as many weeks: PSC; data for Lieut. John Wigton, d. 1793, Ancestry.com.
“the Post Office”: Oliver Wolcott to GW, October 20, 1793, PGW.
“have been propagated”: GW to William Pearce, December 23, 1793, PGW.
“of any infection”: Samuel Fraunces to GW, October 23, 1793, PGW.
“dress of the city”: MW to FBW, January 14, 1794, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 254–55.
“spend their time agreeably”: MW to FBW, February 10, 1794, ibid., 256–57.
“younger sister [Nelly]”: MW to FBW, February 15, 1794, ibid., 257–58.
“a deserving girl”: MW to FBW, March 2, 1794, ibid., 259–60.
“Pinnacle of Happiness”: GW to Elizabeth Parke Custis, September 14, 1794, PGW.
“myself and family”: Elizabeth Parke Custis to GW, September 7, 1794, PGW.
“he moves in”: GW to Elizabeth Parke Custis, September 14, 1794, PGW.
he had written: GW to FBW, February 24, 1793, PGW.
“keep a house”: GW to FBW, March 17, 1793, PGW.
“for the rooms”: GW to William Pearce, January 12, 1794, PGW.
“manage it right”: MW to FBW, September 15, 1794, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 274–75.
“in matrimonial concerns”: MW to FBW, September 29, 1794, ibid., 276–77.
“his principal ailment”: GW to William Pearce, January 12, 1794, PGW.
“may always be had”: MW to FBW, November 30, 1794, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 281.
“better of it”: MW to FBW, April 6, 1795, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 283–85.
life in Philadelphia: Brady, Washington’s Beautiful Nelly, 21.
impresario Filippo Trisobio: Ibid., 32; Britt, Nothing More Agreeable, 54.
a “gloomy mortal”: Hoyt, “Self-Portrait: Eliza Custis,” 96.
“them every day”: MW to EPC, January 3, 1796, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 288–90.
“look over them”: MW to EPC, January 14, 1796, ibid., 290–91.
“to at all”: MW to FBW, September 29, 1794, ibid., 276–77.
“of the senate”: Response to the Boston Selectmen, [July 28, 1795], PGW.
“repose in me”: GW to Alexander Hamilton, May 15, 1796, [First Draft] Farewell Address, PGW/EA.
“detestable of mankind”: Cutler and Cutler, Life of Manasseh Cutler, 2:56–57.
“answer the End”: John Adams to Abigail Adams, March 1, 1796, AFP.
“80 feet Diameter”: John Adams to Abigail Adams, February 23, 1796, AFP.
“of his constituents”: Simpson, Lives of Washington and Jefferson, 256.
“would be Aristocratical”: John Adams to Abigail Adams, February 23, 1796, AFP.
“Nuptials are Solemnized”: GW to Thomas Law, February 10, 1796, WGW.
“proof of this”: Barratt and Miles, Gilbert Stuart, 152–53.
“Ideas with Fortitude”: Elizabeth Willing Powel to GW, June 1, 1796, PGW/EA.
her native Virginia: Frederick Lawler, Jr., “Oney Judge,” with link to two 1840s articles on Oney Judge, PHP.
“violent measures”: GW to Joseph Whipple, November 28, 1796, and Joseph Whipple to GW, December 22, 1796, both in PGW/EA.
“always in Cash”: Elizabeth Willing Powel to GW, February 8, 1797, PGW/EA.
“and Miss Custis”: Elizabeth Willing Powel to GW, March 11[–13], 1797, PGW.
“to my release”: Nicholls, “Henrietta Liston’s Journal,” 516.
“all possible happiness”: Sparks, Life of Washington, 477.
“an arduous task”: Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Gray Otis, [February] 1797, AP/EA.
“persons and Characters”: Abigail Adams to MW, February 9, 1797, AP/EA.
“at dancing assemblies”: MW to Abigail Adams, February 20, 1797, AP/EA.
“more tranquil theater”: MW to Catharine Littlefield Greene Miller, March 3, 1797, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 297.
28: RETIREMENT, 1797–1798
“cloudy all day”: Diaries, entry for March 16, 1797, PGW.
“a constant serenading”: Brady, Washington’s Beautiful Nelly, 31.
“your usual Accuracy”: Elizabeth Willing Powel to GW, March 11[–13], 1797, PGW.
to the flames: GW to Elizabeth Willing Powel, March 26, 1797, PGW.
to acquire them: GW to Bartholomew Dandridge, [March 3, 1797], PGW.
“to part with”: Elizabeth Willing Powel to GW, February 8, 1797, PGW/EA.
no longer required: Inventory of Goods in President’s House, February 1797, PGW/EA; and GW to Mary White Morris, May 1, 1797, PGW.
of the president: Tobias Lear to GW, March 15, 1797, PGW.
“mind & body”: GW to Elizabeth Willing Powel, March 26, 1797, PGW.
“a decaying state”: MW to David Humphreys, June 26, 1797, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 304–5.
“into the Cellar”: GW to Bartholomew Dandridge, December 13, 1797, PGW.
and much else: Tobias Lear to GW, March 20, 1797, and n.1, PGW.
“authority over them”: MW to Elizabeth Willing Powel, May 1, 1797, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 301–2.
“of my time”: MW to Betsy Aylett Henley, August 20, 1797, ibid., 307.
“of our Duetts”: Brady, Washington’s Beautiful Nelly, 32.
“things œconomically used”: GW to Samuel Fraunces, September 7, 1785, PGW.
“am sadly plagued”: MW to Elizabeth Dandridge Henley, August 20, 1797, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 307.
to no av
ail: GW to Frederick Kitt, January 10, 1798, PGW.
“not yet supplied”: GW to George Lewis, November 13, 1797, PGW.
“variety of visitors”; MW to David Humphreys, June 26, 1797, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 304.
“and going likewise”: MW to Sarah Cary Fairfax, May 17, 1798, ibid., 314–17.
“this Terrestrial Globe”: GW to Lawrence Augustine Washington, September 3, 1797, PGW.
“very acceptable Service”: GW to Lawrence Lewis, August 4, 1797, PGW.
“firmness of mind”: Latrobe, Journal, 57–58.
“young adopted brother”: Brady, Washington’s Beautiful Nelly, 39.
“even in Europe”: Niemcewicz, Under Their Vine and Fig Tree, 97.
“upon your secrecy”: Brady, Washington’s Beautiful Nelly, 36.
“spinster for life”: Ibid., 39.
“Grandmama so lonesome”: Ibid., 43.
“meanness and irregularity”: Virginia Kays Creesy, “George Washington as a Princeton Parent,” in Merritt, The Best of PAW, 24–28.
accounts to pay: GW to Samuel Stanhope Smith, October 9, 1797, PGW.
“you to them”: GW to GWPC, January 7, 1798, PGW.
“always with him”: GW to David Stuart, January 22, 1798, PGW.
distance “too heartrending”: Ibid.
“you omit this”: GW to GWPC, June 13, 1798, PGW.
“prudent it will be”: GW to GWPC, April 15, 1798, PGW.
“wealth,” she wrote: Brady, Washington’s Beautiful Nelly, 51–52, 48–49, 56, 55.
“of that place!”: GW to GWPC, June 1798, PGW.
“from my thoughts”: GWPC to GW, June 17, 1798, PGW.
“a momentary impression”: GW to GWPC, May 10 and July 24, 1798, PGW.
“posture of defence”: November 23, 1797, SJ.
“many an Army”: John Adams to GW, June 22, 1798, PGW.
the revolutionary conflict: GW to John Adams, July 4, 1798, PGW.
honored by Nelly: GW to James McHenry, July 27, 1798, and n.1; and James McHenry to GW, August 13, 1798, nn.3 and 4, both in PGW.
Reverend Davis officiated: Diaries, entry for July 4, 1798, and n., PGW.
“of the U. States”: GW to Henry Knox, August 9, 1798, PGW.
would be crucial: GW to Alexander Hamilton, July 14, 1798, PGW.
“excluded from Company”: GW to David Stuart, August 13, 1798, PGW.
“good,” the general wrote: GW to John McDowell, September 2, 1798, n.2, PGW.
“of any one”: GW to David Stuart, December 30, 1798, PGW.
“until past nine”: GW to Lawrence Lewis, December 2, 1798, PGW.
were also his hosts: Diaries, entries for November 16–December 2, 1798, PGW.
“Third Street, afterwards”: GW to Elizabeth Willing Powel, November 17, 1798, PGW.
day, a Sunday: GW to Elizabeth Willing Powel, December 1, 1798, PGW.
the day before: Elizabeth Willing Powel to GW, December 3, 1798, PGW.
“in this City?”: GW to Elizabeth Willling Powel, December 4, 1798, PGW.
“affectionate afflicted Friend”: Elizabeth Willing Powel to GW, December 7, 1798, PGW.
“obliged Hble Servant”: GW to Elizabeth Willing Powel, December 7, 1798, PGW.
“our daily labour”: GW to Elizabeth Willing Powel, December 9, 1798, PGW.
“be too prone”: GW to David Stuart, December 30, 1798, PGW.
“but not expensive”: GW to James McHenry, July 14, 1799, and n.2, PGW.
“of friendship only”: GW to James McHenry, February 1799, PGW.
sister was romancing: GW to Bartholomew Dandridge, January 25, 1799, PGW.
29: THE DEATH OF A PRESIDENT, 1799
“my first remembrance”: Brady, Washington’s Beautiful Nelly, 58–60.
for the nuptials: GW to Lawrence Lewis, January 23, 1799, PGW.
“Mr Lawe Lewis”: Diaries, entry for February 22, 1799, PGW.
followed the wedding: Brady, Washington’s Beautiful Nelly, 62.
mind his mother: Vail, ed., “A Dinner at Mount Vernon,” 76–77.
“is quite well”: Brady, Washington’s Beautiful Nelly, 61–64.
it was ready: GW to Lawrence Lewis, September 20, 1799, PGW.
of a neighbor: GW to Roger West, September 19, 1799, and n.1, PGW.
“showed to them”: MW to Frances Bassett Washington, May 24, 1795, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 287–88.
“& dangerous” precedent: GW to Burwell Bassett, Jr., August 11, 1799, and n.1, PGW.
at the estate: George Washington’s Last Will and Testament [July 9, 1799], PGW.
“affected his spirits”: Nicholls, “Henrietta Liston’s Journal,” 517.
“will afford them”: GW to Alexandria General Assemblies Managers, November 12, 1799, PGW.
“settled cold Rain”: Diaries, entries for November 20, 27, December 9, 11–12, 1799, PGW.
“upon his hair”: I. The Journal Account, [December 15, 1799], PGW.
“but not hard”: Diaries, entry for December 13, 1799, PGW.
“would permit him”: II. The Diary Account, December 14, 1799, PGW.
“not survive it”: I. The Journal Account, [December 15, 1799], and II. The Diary Account, December 14, 1799, both in PGW.
“half a pint”: II. The Diary Account, December 14, 1799, PGW; Thompson, “ ‘The Lowest Ebb of Misery,’ ” 15 and n.20, MVLA.
“was seriously alarming”: I. The Journal Account, [December 15, 1799], PGW.
for safekeeping: II. The Diary Account, December 14, 1799, PGW.
vault once more: Washington, Letters and Recollections, 137.
“softened by tears”: Tobias Lear to Mary Lincoln Lear, December 16, 1799, typescript, MVLA.
“floods of tears”: McCallister [Clark], “Law’s Description of the Last Illness,” 29.
30: DISSOLUTION, 1799–1802
“or funeral Oration”: George Washington’s Last Will and Testament, [July 9, 1799], PGW.
“our nation mourns”: Lee, Funeral Oration, 10.
Mrs. Washington weep: Mitchell, ed., New Letters of Abigail Adams, 227.
“and political life”: John Adams to MW, December 27, 1799, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 327–28; December 23, 1799, HJ.
told her sister: Mitchell, ed., New Letters of Abigail Adams, 226–28.
“of public duty”: MW to John Adams, December 31, 1799, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 332–33; January 8, 1800, SJ.
after Martha’s death: Clark, “Doctor and Mrs. William Thornton,” 91–92.
“during her life”: March 28, 1800, HJ.
“friends, however sincere”: MW to Janet Montgomery, April 5, 1800, in Fields, “Worthy Partner,” 371–72.
“her heart breaking”: Nicholls, “Henrietta Liston’s Journal,” 519–20.
on the estate: Thompson, “ ‘To Follow her Departed Friend,’ ” 15 n.29, MVLA; ibid., 12–16.
“uncovered and motionless”: Morris, Autobiography, 12.
“has ever experienced”: Thompson, “ ‘To Follow her Departed Friend,’ ” 7 n.16, MVLA.
“their best days”: Harrison, Philadelphia Merchant, 113.
“every day face”: John Pintard, ms. Diary, entry for July 31, 1801, NYHS.
had her memorial: Robert Field, Martha Washington, [miniature], 1801; Field, George Washington, [miniature], 1801, both in YUAG.
to each other: Adams, Life and Writings of Sparks, 2:46–47.
who was ill: Ford, “Diary of Mrs. William Thornton,” 174–76.
long in coming: McCallister [Clark], “This Melancholy Scene,” 15.
the same day: Harrison, Philadelphia Merchant, 112; Thompson, “ ‘To Follow her Departed Friend,’ ” 18, MVLA; McCallister [Clark], “This Melancholy Scene,” 15.
“on every occasion”: Alexandria Advertiser, May 25, 1802.
after his birth: Torbert, Eleanor Calvert, 99–100; Ribblett, Nelly Custis, 67.
“the Vineyard Inclosure”: GW, Last Wi
ll and Testament, [July 9, 1799], PGW.
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