George Washington was born on his father's manor in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on February 22, 1732. He was the eldest son of the wealthy Virginia farmer Augustine Washington; his mother was Mary Ball. The descends of the Washington family were two brothers named John and Lawrence Washington, who emigrated from England to Virginia in 1657. The family quickly became wealthy in the three generations leading up to George Washington because of steady application to farming, land buying, and development of local industries. George was educated by his father and, after his father's death in 1743, from his elder half-brother Lawrence. His preferred subject was mathematics, and he used it to acquire knowledge of surveying, which was a job greatly in demand since the people of the new America were seeking new lands in the West. George grew up a tall, strong young man, he was a stupendous athlete, liked music and theatrical performances, and although he was uncomfortable with girls, he was fond of dancing. His driving force was the aspiration to gain wealth and reputation and to do well in whatever he set himself to do.
             His first real adventure as a boy was accompanying a surveying party to the Shenandoah Valley of northern Virginia and going down the Shenandoah River by canoe. When he was seventeen he was appointed surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia; it was the first public office he held. In 1751, George had his first and only experience of foreign lands when he went with his half-brother Lawrence to the island of Barbados in the West Indies. The reason for going was that Lawrence was dying from tuberculosis and thought the climate might help, but the trip did him little good. What is more, George was suffering from smallpox. He had the scars from the disease for the rest of his life. Luckily, this experience gave him immunity to the disease, which was later to devastate colonial troops during the American Revolution.
             Washington's ...