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George Washington (1732-1799). Petition to the General Assembly, with survey, 21 October 1790. 12 1/2 x 16 1/4 inches. On 21 October 1790, George Augustine Washington presented a petition to the Virginia General Assembly on behalf of his uncle George Washington. The younger Washington, after service as a major and as an aide to the Marquis de Lafayette during the American Revolution, had married in 1785 and soon thereafter taken up residence at Mount Vernon. It was in April 1789, when George Washington journeyed to New York to take the oath of office as president of the United States, that the general's nephew assumed the day-to-day management of the Mount Vernon estate. One year later, he submitted the petition to the assembly. George Washington had recently purchased the property that contained the south landing of a Potomac River ferry that the General Assembly had authorized in 1783. Because the ferry had become unprofitable, Washington wished to discontinue it. Accompanying the petition as supporting documentation were a list of receipts for the last year and the neatly drawn survey of the ferry route, landings, and roads. The remarks included on the survey are in George Washington's handwriting and refer to the lettered areas on the drawing. Perhaps not surprisingly, the General Assembly granted Washington's request. Location: Virginia Legislative Petitions, Fairfax County, Record Group 78 |
