You probably know her as the woman who supposedly scolded the "Father of His Country" for not sending her butter during the Revolution. Or maybe you've heard the legend of her being a bit of a "shrew." Honestly, Mary Ball Washington gets a bad rap in the history books. But when you look at the Mary Ball Washington family tree, you don't just see a list of names. You see a roadmap of survival in a Virginia colony that was basically a death trap for families in the 1700s.
Mary wasn't born into the tip-top of the Virginia aristocracy. She was more like the "survivor" of a complicated, blended family that kept getting hit by tragedy. To understand George, you kind of have to understand the messy, resilient branches of the Ball family.
✨ Don't miss: Finding a Christmas List to Print That Actually Works for Your Brain
The Roots: Where the Ball Family Began
The story starts with William Ball. He was Mary’s grandfather and the first one to hop across the pond from England in the 1650s. He wasn't some poor peasant; the guy was a merchant and a planter who eventually became a Major in the Lancaster County militia. He brought over his wife, Hannah Atherold, and they set the stage for what would become a massive land-owning legacy.
Then comes Joseph Ball, Mary’s father. This is where it gets interesting—and a little confusing. Joseph was a wealthy widower when he married Mary’s mother, Mary Johnson. This was Joseph's second marriage. He was already in his 60s, which was ancient for that time.
Mary Johnson was a widow herself (twice over, actually). She was likely from a lower social rung than the Balls, maybe even a former servant. When they married, Joseph's kids from his first marriage weren't exactly thrilled. In fact, Joseph had to give his older children big chunks of land just to keep the peace before he wed the "Widow Johnson."
The Only Child of a Second Marriage
Mary Ball was born in 1708 at Epping Forest in Lancaster County. She was the only child of that second marriage. Here’s the thing: by the time she was three, her dad died. By the time she was twelve, her mom was gone too.
She was an orphan.
Imagine being a twelve-year-old girl in colonial Virginia with no parents. She was sent to live with her older half-sister, Elizabeth Bonum. This wasn't just a sad childhood; it was a crash course in managing property and people. Her mother, Mary Johnson Ball, had been a tough-as-nails woman who went to court to fight for her property rights. Mary watched that. She learned that a woman alone had to be fierce or she’d lose everything.
The Half-Siblings You Never Hear About
Most people think Mary was just "the mother of George," but her house was full of half-siblings from all those previous marriages.
- From her father’s first marriage: She had half-siblings like Joseph Ball II, Anne, Elizabeth, Esther, and Hannah.
- From her mother’s previous marriages: She had Elizabeth and John Johnson.
When her half-brother John died in 1721, he actually left Mary his estate. This was a huge deal. It moved her from "poor orphan" to "woman with a decent dowry."
The Washington Connection: A Blended Family 2.0
Mary didn't marry until she was 22. In those days, that was practically being an "old maid." She married Augustine Washington, a widower with three kids.
Basically, she stepped into a ready-made family. Augustine’s first wife, Jane Butler, had died, leaving him with Lawrence, Augustine Jr., and Jane. Mary wasn't just starting her own family tree; she was grafting herself onto an existing one.
She and Augustine had six children together:
👉 See also: Spring Hill FL Weather: Why This Week's Forecast Is Shaking Things Up
- George (The one everyone knows, born 1732)
- Betty (Elizabeth, who married Fielding Lewis)
- Samuel
- John Augustine
- Charles
- Mildred (Who died as a baby)
Why the Ball Lineage Matters for George
When Augustine died in 1743, Mary was only 35. She had five young kids and a farm to run. This is where the "difficult" Mary Ball Washington comes from. She refused to remarry. Why? Because in the 18th century, if she remarried, her new husband would legally own everything she had.
She wanted to protect the inheritance for her kids.
She stayed a widow for 46 years. She ran Ferry Farm with a legendary iron fist. When George wanted to join the British Navy as a teenager, she said no. She listened to her half-brother Joseph Ball (who was living in England) who told her the Navy would treat George like a dog. That one decision by a "stubborn" mother literally changed the course of world history. If George had gone to sea, there might not have been a United States.
Fact-Checking the "Shrew" Narrative
History has been kind of mean to Mary. 19th-century writers turned her into a saint, but 20th-century historians turned her into a villain. They claimed she was greedy because she asked George for money or supplies.
But look at the family tree again. She saw her mother struggle as a widow. She saw her father’s first set of kids try to squeeze out the second set. She knew that in the Virginia gentry, you were either a landowner or you were nothing. Her "greed" was actually just the survival instinct of a woman who had been orphaned twice before she could drive a carriage.
How to Trace Your Own Connection
If you think you might be related to the Ball family, you aren't alone. Because the Balls were so prominent in Lancaster and Westmoreland counties, their DNA is all over the Northern Neck of Virginia.
First, look for "Ball" or "Washington" surnames in your tree between 1650 and 1800 in Virginia.
Second, check the records of Saint Mary’s Whitechapel. That’s where the Ball family worshipped.
Third, don't just look for the "famous" names. Look for the marriages into the Downman, Chinn, or Burgess families. The Balls intermarried with almost everyone in the region.
The Mary Ball Washington family tree isn't just a dusty record of a dead president's mom. It's a story about a woman who took a messy, fragmented lineage and used it to build a foundation for the man who would lead a revolution. She wasn't perfect, but she was exactly what George needed.
To get started on your own research, you should visit the Mary Ball Washington House in Fredericksburg or dig into the digital archives at Mount Vernon. They have the most accurate, updated records on the Ball lineage that ignore the old myths and stick to the real census and land data.