Page 34 - Family cookbook v30_Neat
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Betty Washington and Fielding Lewis
Betty Washington, the daughter of Augustine Washington and Mary Ball, was only 16‐years‐old when she married
the widower, Fielding Lewis. Fielding Lewis was the son of John Lewis of Gloucester County, Virginia, a
prominent landowner and planter, who also operated a vast shipping business. In the 1740’s, Fielding started
his long and varied career as the proprietor of his father’s newly erected Mercantile in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
There he sold items ranging from food and household furnishings to clothing, sewing supplies and snuff boxes.
When his father died in 1754, Fielding inherited the store.
Fielding and Betty had eleven children between 1751 and 1771. Along with two of Fielding’s children from his
first marriage, they had quite a houseful. Their first born, Fielding Lewis Jr. is our line of descent. As far as we
can tell from the records available, Fielding, the father, did not have extravagant tastes, but he did live in a
style appropriate for the gentry. He owned a “light post chariot” imported from London and he also had a
The Fielding and Betty Washington Mansion House, later named Kenmore