Women are pretty amazing. Through the ages there have been women who see a need and step in. These needs could be small, like bringing in a meal or watching someone else’s children, to demanding rights and freedom for their country. History is peppered with stories of women who have moved forward with more faith than fear.

I just learned something about some women that I would like to share with you.

Mary Washington, the mother of George Washington, is credited, by her famous son, for teaching him about God, as well as the moral values he is best known for. Granted, a little credit has to go toward George’s personal desires for righteousness, but it’s clear he honored his mother very much. Can you imagine raising a son who turned down the request to be king, as well as president, of The Promised Land? How humble he must have been, and how valiant, in carrying out the responsibility he finally accepted. After two terms, he was the one who stepped down and never looked back. All he wanted was to tend his farm back home at Mr. Vernon.

His mother, Mary, lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia, near her daughter, Betty. As George lead so many battles against the British army, she would walk to the nearby river, collecting her grandchildren along the way, and pray by the water’s edge. The rock she prayed at is now called Meditation Rock, in memory of her many hours spent there. Her son, serving as Commander in Chief of all the armies at the time, would periodically send messengers assuring her of his safety.

Because Fredericksburg was in proximity to where leaders met, she hosted dinners and attended balls occasionally. One report says, “The foreign officers were anxious to see the mother of their Chief. They had heard indistinct rumors respecting her remarkable life and character; but forming their judgments on European examples, they were prepared to expect in the mother that glare and show which would have been attached to the parents of the great in the old world. How they were surprised when the matron, leaning on the arm of her son, entered the room! She was arrayed in the very plain yet becoming garb worn by the Virginia lady of the olden time. Her address always dignified and imposing was courteous though reserved.”

In 1789, Washington was elected President. Leaving Mt. Vernon, he first went south to Fredericksburg, to bid his mother farewell. She was ill at this time and most likely he knew he would never see her again. He asked from her a blessing for him and the work that lay before him. Then he traveled all the way to New York to assume his new responsibility. His mother died just a few months later. George Washington said of her: “All that I am I owe to my mother”.

A Mr. Silas Burroughs wished to erect a monument to this great woman, but when he lost his fortune all plans were ended. In 1889, one hundred years after her death, the women of Fredericksburg decided to take matters into their own hands. They founded the Mary Washington Monument Association. Appealing to women throughout the nation, they asked for money to erect a monument. Women from all over sent in $5. A monument now stands at her graveside, where she once prayed for her son’s safety, at Meditation Rock.

Mt. Vernon was also being neglected, and at risk of being forgotten, even though a grand-nephew was living on the property. Another group of women formed themselves in 1853, calling themselves the Mt. Vernon Ladies Association, raising enough money to purchase the land for $200,000, a ridiculous amount for the time. This former home of George Washington is cared for today by this same organization that sees to the maintenance of this beautiful home, and working farm, the president loved so much.

One final note of the greatness of women. In Pres. Washington’s will, he specified that the slaves he owned should be set free at the time of his wife’s death. Martha lived two years after he passed away. However, one year after his passing, she set the slaves free anyway. Martha, who was so supportive, and beloved, of her husband took the initiative of this great act.

In contrast, Bathsheba Lincoln, grandmother of Abraham Lincoln (whose husband our president was named for) is buried in a property now owned by Fort Knox (a government owned army base). This cemetery is neglected and is unable to be reached due to thick growth. At one time there was talk of preserving this place of rest, but for some reason it never happened. If only there had been some enterprising women who could have created an honorable site for this noble woman.

With our busy schedules and long to-do lists, do we have time to organize ourselves in doing monumental works of charity? As a Relief Society, do presidents conduct everlasting acts of service? Is there something we, in our small communities, can be doing of notable worth?

Information about Mary Washington comes from The Mary Washington Branch of The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities founded in 1889.

Mt. Vernon is cared for by the Mt. Vernon Ladies Association, which has been in existence since 1853, originally organized by Ann Pamela Cunningham.