George Washington: Biography George Washington was born in Virginia on Feb. 22, 1732 to Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington. George spent his early years on the family estate on Pope's Creek along the Potomac River. His early education came by way of studying mathematics, surveying, the classics, and "rules of civility." His father died in 1743. This caused George to live with his half brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon, Lawrence's plantation on the Potomac. Lawrence became a substitute father for his brother, he'd married into the Fairfax family, prominent and influential Virginians who h