(Front):
George Washington: Surveyor
George Washington loved mathematics, a passion he put to work when he learned to survey land, a useful trade in colonial America. At the age of 15, his first surveying job was to map his brother's turnip field. Washington accompanied the official survey party to map the frontiers in western Virginia when he was 16 years old. At 18, he was appointed surveyor for Culpeper County, Virginia. George relished the work despite the discomfort of sleeping in the field under "one thread Bear blanket with double its Weight of Vermin...."
(Back):
George Washington: Family Man
Born into a planter family in 1732, George Washington received schooling in the morals, manners, and body of knowledge required for an 18th century Virginia gentleman. He loved outdoor sports - hunting, fishing, riding - and earned a reputation for himself as one of Virginia's best horsemen.
When George was eleven years old, his father died, leaving him to move back and forth between several Washington family estates, first with his mother and then with his favorite older half brother Lawrence. In 1759, George married Martha Custis, wealthy widow with two children, and became one of the richest men in Virginia. Martha proved to be an excellent companion for George for the rest of his life; he, in return, was a steadfast husband and devoted father to her children.
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