Acknowledgments

The writing of this book would have been impossible without the cooperation of the staff at Mount Vernon and the editors of the George Washington papers. From the outset both institutions welcomed my inquiries and offered freely of their expertise, despite the sensitive nature of the topic. I drew heavily on their resources and advice, but the conclusions stated in this book are my own and do not necessarily reflect the thinking of the Mount Vernon staff or the editors of the papers.

I owe a very deep debt to Mary Thompson, research specialist for the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, who probably knows as much about life at Mount Vernon as any living soul and generously shared research and insights gathered over many years. I am grateful to James C. Rees, executive director, for his support, and to Dennis Pogue, associate director, for meeting with me at the start of the project and lending advice throughout. I thank Mount Vernon’s librarian, Barbara McMillan, for guiding me through the Washington collections, and Dawn Bonner for her gracious help gathering illustrations. In the field, Jinny Fox and Mike Robinson shared their research into eighteenth-century agriculture and made Mount Vernon’s daily routines come alive.

Philander Chase and Frank Grizzard opened the doors of the George Washington papers project to me. I spent many delightful hours on the fifth floor of Alderman Library in discussions with them, Beverly Runge, David Hoth, James Guba, and Beverly Kirsch. I am particularly grateful to Phil and Frank for allowing access to the project’s invaluable collection of ancillary research materials and for providing transcriptions of crucial documents. I thank Jennifer Stertzer and the other staff members of the Washington papers for the many courtesies they extended. Bill Abbot, former editor of the papers, shared his insights on Washington’s character and on the singular importance of the Custis family.

I am grateful to the family historians who shared their research with me. My deep thanks to Judith Saunders Burton and Ruby Saunders for their guidance on the West Ford story, to Anita Wills for inviting me to the Bowden reunion, to Karen E. Sutton for sharing her research and taking me through Christ Church, to Dr. Harry Carter for his help with the Custis/Costin line, and to ZSun-nee Matema for information about her forebears. The Latané family graciously opened Blenheim to me and shared important documents—the fabled Washington hospitality endures.

I thank Harvey Bakari, Lorraine Brooks, Kathy Thompson, Linda Rowe, and Aaron Wolf of Colonial Williamsburg; Wendy Kail, archivist at Tudor Place; Brent Tarter at the Library of Virginia for his archival help and expert advice; and Dr. David Stone of UVA. I am indebted to Evelyn Gerson for her fascinating study of Ona Judge.

My research got under way during a resident fellowship at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, where I thank Robert Vaughan, Roberta Culbertson, John d’Entremont, Holly Shulman, Jerome Handler, and Gail Shea. Additional thanks go to Shaye Areheart, Philip Morgan, Philip J. Schwarz, Anthony A. Iaccarino, Liz Varon, Rosemarie Zagarri, Martha J. King, Greg Massey, Vernon Edenfield, Amy Muraca, Jervis Hairston, Jane Colihan, Dorinda Evans, Merle and Rose Marie Aus, Brian and Mary McGinn, and Senator Nat W. Washington. From start to finish I was utterly dependent on the superb staff and facilities of the Library of Congress and the University of Virginia’s Alderman Library. It is easy to take such institutions for granted.

My demanding agent and sympathetic friend, Howard Morhaim, poked, prodded, and shaped this project from the start with his usual sharp insight and tenacity. In some ways this book had its genesis in a chance meeting in Mississippi with Elisabeth Sifton several years ago; a benign fate brought my proposal to her desk at just the right moment. Using hammer and nails where needed, and a scalpel elsewhere, she fixed what was broken while always offering encouragement. There are giants among us still. I am grateful to Danny Mulligan for his heavy lifting and cheerful e-mails as deadlines loomed, and to Robert C. Olsson for his splendid, lovely design. Thanks to my friend Stow Lovejoy for his advice on inheritance law, to David Mielke for his hospitality, and to my parents for their ardent support.

I have dedicated this book to my son, Henry (“the Next”), who shows ominous signs of having the writing gift in large measure. My wife, Donna, once again read every page through every draft, always making things better. Both endured the travails of composition without audible complaint—but they too are writers, so they know what it’s like. To both, my love always. I close with an old Virginia toast, heartfelt: “God bless General Washington.”

Charlottesville

June 2003