Oct 27, 2022 - Sale 2619

Sale 2619 - Lot 90

Price Realized: $ 35,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 25,000 - $ 35,000
"I WISH YOU WOULD ENQUIRE IF A GOOD SHE-ASS COULD BE HAD" WASHINGTON, GEORGE. Autograph Letter Signed, "G:Washington," to his nephew George Augustine Washington ("Dear George"), forwarding letters addressed to him [not present], offering his own jackass for breeding and remarking upon the usefulness of donkeys [to any newly-married couple], reporting that all at home are well and wishing well to him, his family, and friends. 1/2 page, tall 4to; silked on verso, complete separations at folds expertly repaired with tissue verso, faint scattered soiling. Mount Vernon, 24 December 1785
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". . . I wish you would enquire if a good She-Ass could be had upon purchase from any one below, and upon what terms; If not to be obtained upon purchase, whether the possessor of one would send her to my Jack, & breed upon the Shares--and what. It might be a private & public convenience, & advantage to get Asses bred from my Jack & the best females. . . ."
George Augustine Washington (1759-1793) was the first child of General Washington's brother, Charles. In the Spring of 1785, after serving in the Continental Army and as aide-de-camp to both Washington and Lafayette, George Augustine married Frances "Fanny" Bassett at Mount Vernon, where the couple lived as part of George and Martha Washington's household. Occasionally, George Augustine visited his in-laws in New Kent County, VA, "below," or to the south of, Mount Vernon. After George Augustine's death, the surviving family moved to the house in Alexandria, VA, which General Washington gifted to them.