Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Epsewasson

Greetings from the home of Top Chef DC!

The show, which I've been watching for the first time only because it was filmed here on location, is about to begin, so this will be a short entry. True to my purpose, I began my first biography on Sunday afternoon. It is a slow read, but quite enjoyable. It is filled with wonderful details and descriptions, so much so that I am not able to speed read through it (this is a good thing). Here's are a few tidbits from Chapter 1:

  • George Washington was born on February 22, 1732
  • George was born to his father, Gus, and Gus' second wife, Mary Ball. George was close to neither of his parents.
  • His role models were his older, half brother, Lawrence, and George William Fairfax, Lawrence's neighbor. Both educated in England, George emulated his entire demeanor after these two men in order to "refine" himself
  • Mount Vernon was originally named Epsewasson, but Lawrence renamed it after Admiral Edward Vernon, whom he served with during the invasion of Cartagena
  • George Washington was the person who actually started the French & Indian War (called The Seven Years' War in Europe). Tensions were building up to it, but George's attack on a small group (40) of French soliders actually kicked the whole thing off.
Stay tuned...there's more to come

2 comments:

Botania said...

Hey Lori!
Glad to see you've started a blog. What an ambitious project. Are you going to read the bios in chronological order? I am pretty sure I know what I'd do - skip Millard Fillmore, and probably about 40 others...

Thanks for your note on my blog - I didn't see it until now. Thought I was supposed to get notified of comments, but apparently not!

Rachel

Marv Crowe said...

Who would have thought ... GW starting a war.This is going to be interesting... I had always thought of him as a reluctant soldier.