When he was eleven years old, Washington’s father died, and his older half-brother, Lawrence, who inherited the estate now known as Mount Vernon, became his guardian.  Lawrence had married the daughter of a neighbor, William Fairfax, agent for the large Fairfax estate.  Fairfax and he had served with the Colonial forces at Cartagena under Admiral Vernon, from whom the Washington manor took its name.  Lord Fairfax, William’s cousin and head of the family, offered George work on the survey of his domain.  George, then a sturdy lad of sixteen, accepted gladly, and for more than two years he carried it on.  The Fairfax estate extended far into the west, beyond the immediate tidewater district, beyond the fringe of sparsely settled clearings, into the wilderness itself.  The effect of his experience as surveyor lasted throughout George Washington’s life.  His self-reliance and his courage never flagged.  Sometimes he went alone and passed weeks among the solitudes; sometimes he had a companion whom he had to care for as well as for himself.  But besides the toughening of his character which this pioneer life assured him, he got much information, which greatly influenced, years later, his views on the development, not only of Virginia, but of the Northwest.  Perhaps from this time there entered into his heart the conviction that the strongest bond of union must sometime bind together the various colonies, so different in resources and in interests, including his native commonwealth.

From journals kept during some of his expeditions we see that he was a clear observer and an accurate reporter; far from bookish, but a careful penman, and conscious of the obligation laid upon him to acquire at least the minimum of polite knowledge which was expected of a country gentleman such as he aspired to be.

Here is an extract in which he describes the squalid conditions under which he passed some of his life as a woodsman and surveyor.

We got our suppers and was lighted into a Room and I not being so good a woodsman as ye rest of my company, striped myself very orderly and went into ye Bed, as they calld it, when to my surprize, I found it to be nothing but a little straw matted together without sheets or any thing else, but only one thread bare blanket with double its weight of vermin, such as Lice, Fleas, etc.  I was glad to get up (as soon as ye light was carried from us).  I put on my cloths and lay as my companions.  Had we not been very tired, I am sure we should not have slep’d much that night.  I made a Promise not to sleep so from that time forward, chusing rather to sleep in ye open air before a fire, as will appear hereafter.

Wednesday 16th.  We set out early and finish’d about one o’clock and then Travelled up to Frederick Town, where our Baggage came to us.  We cleaned ourselves (to get rid of ye game we had catched ye night before), I took a Review of ye Town and then return’d