CHAPTER IX

COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE OF MARY PHILIPSE

MARY

ARY Philipse, sister of the Third Lord of the Manor, was esteemed one of the most beautiful and accomplished young women in the Colony of New York. She was born in the Manor Hall July 3, 1730, and when she attained young ladyhood she was the admired of the eligible young men, not only of her own Colony but of distant parts. Among her admirers at the age of twenty-six was one whose suit, had it been successful, might have changed either the destiny of the Philipse family for the better or that of the Colonies for the worse. This admirer was no other than Col. George Washington, who had already won distinction in the French and Indian War. The circumstances in which the two were brought together were briefly these: The opening of the year 1756 found Washington in command at Fort Cumberland, Md., with a difficulty on

*

In

* Lorenzo Sabine, in his "Loyalists of the American Revolution" (1864), says that in a conversation with a grandnephew of Mrs. Roger Morris he remarked: "Her fate how different had she married Washington! stantly the grandnephew replied: 'You mistake, sir. My aunt Morris had immense influence over everybody; and had she become the wife of the leader of the Rebellion which cost our family millions, He would not have been a traitor. She would have prevented that, be assured, sir.”

his hand. There was at Fort Cumberland one Captain Dagworthy, who claimed a royal commission and refused obedience to any provincial officer. To settle the perplexing question of authority, Washington was despatched to Boston, Mass., to confer with General Shirley, commander-in-chief of His Majesty's forces in America. This involved a journey of 500 miles on horseback in the depth of winter - a journey which, notwithstanding its hardships, had many pleasant incidents, for his bravery and miraculous escape at Braddock's defeat had already won him much renown and he was the object of no little popular curiosity. He was therefore entertained with cordial hospitality in the principal cities on his journey. So far as the writer has been able to ascertain, this was Washington's first journey to the Hudson valley and the New England States, where he was destined twenty years later to display his genius in a way little dreamed of at that time. Hearing of Washington's prospective visit, Beverly Robinson, who had known him intimately as a schoolmate in Virginia, invited him to visit him in New York City, and the invitation was accepted. Washington was in New York from February 18 to 25, and again on his return from Boston in the middle of March.

The consequences of this visit were just what might have been expected. Washington was very

susceptible to feminine charms.* At the age of fifteen he had fallen in love with Frances Alexander, and in the interval between fifteen and his present age of twenty-four he had experienced unrequited passions for Mary Carey, Lucy Grymes and Betsey Fauntleroy. Now, for the first time, he came under the influence of the charms of a New York Colony girl, with results thus described by the historian Sparks, in his "Life of Washington: "

"While in New York he was lodged and kindly entertained at the house of Mr. Beverly Robinson, between whom and himself an intimacy of friendship subsisted which indeed continued without change till severed by their opposite fortunes twenty years afterwards in the Revolution. It happened that Miss Mary Phillips, a sister of Mrs. Robinson, and a young lady of rare accomplishments, was an inmate in the family. The charms of this lady made a deep impression upon the heart of the Virginia Colonel. He went to Boston, returned and was again welcomed to the hospitality of Mr. Robinson. He lingered there till duty called him away; but he was careful to intrust his secret to a confidential friend, whose letters kept him informed of every important event. In a few months, intelligence came that a rival was in the field and that the consequences could not be answered for if he delayed to renew

Washington's bill of traveling expenses on his trip to Boston contains several items for entertaining “ladies." In New York, among other things, he took them to see a show called "The Microcosm." Possibly Mary Philipse was one of them.

his visits to New York. Whether time, the bustle of a camp or the scenes of war had moderated his admiration or whether he despaired of success, is not known. He never saw the lady again till she was married to that same rival, Capt. Morris, his former associate in arms and one of Braddock's aides-de-camp."*

To the foregoing testimony of Sparks, Washington's later biographer, Irving, bears further witness, in his "Life of Washington." He says:

When we consider Washington's noble person and demeanor, his consummate horsemanship, the admirable horses he was accustomed to ride, and the aristocratical style of his equipments, we may imagine the effect produced by himself and his little cavalcade as they clattered through the streets of Philadelphia, and New York, and Boston. It is needless to say, their sojourn in each city was a continual fete.

Washington remained ten days in Boston after which he returned to New York. Tradition gives very different motives from those of business for his two sojourns in the latter city. He found there an early friend and schoolmate, Beverly Robinson, son of John Robinson,

* Mr. William S. Pelletreau, in the Magazine of American History (1890, p. 169), attributes the origin of the statement about Washington's attachment for Mary Philipse to a romantic tale in "The Telegraph, a paper published in New Jersey about 1848; "but it may be found, as above quoted, in Sparks' "Life of Washington," published two years earlier than that date, namely, in 1846. Furthermore, the reality of Washington's interest in Miss Philipse is established beyond question by the letters of Joseph Chew to Washington, quoted on another page.

Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was living happily and prosperously with a young and wealthy bride, having married one of the nieces and heirs* of Mr. Adolphus Philipse, a rich land-owner, whose Manor House is still to be seen on the banks of the Hudson. At the house of Mr. Beverly Robinson, where Washington was an honored guest, he met Miss Mary Philipse, sister of and co-heiress with Mrs. Robinson, a young lady whose personal attractions are said to have rivaled her reputed wealth.

That he was an open admirer of Miss Philipse is an historical fact; that he sought her hand but was refused is traditional and not very probable. His military rank, his early laurels, and distinguished presence were all calculated to win favor in female eyes; but his sojourn in New York was brief; he may have been diffident in urging his suit with a lady accustomed to the homage of society and surrounded by admirers. The most probable version of the story is that he was called away by his public duties before he had made sufficient approaches in his siege of the lady's heart to warrant a summons to surrender.”

While Washington was engaged with affairs of state in Virginia, continues Irving, "he received a letter from a friend and confidant in New York warning him to hasten back to that city before it was too late, as Captain Morris, who had been his fellow aide-de-camp under Braddock, was

* Sparks errs as to the relationship. Susannah Philipse, who married Beverly Robinson, was not the niece of Adolphus Philipse, but was the daughter of Adolphus' nephew, Frederick, Second Lord of the Manor.