Fatherless Children - Episode 2

This child was born into a prosperous family and well-educated in his early youth. But then his father died when he was just 10, and he was sent off to live with his older half-brother. His formal education largely ended at that point, and he was sent to learn the trade of surveying, which he went to work at full-time by the age of 16.

When he was 20, his half-brother died of tuberculosis. Weary of the drudgery of surveying, and fortuitously now in possession of an inheritance from his half-brother that relieved him from that, he joined the army. Within three years he rose to the rank of colonel.

His military career was not uniformly positive, however; he gained a reputation for being brash, occasionally rude to superior officers to whom he wrote multiple lengthy letters espousing his differing opinions, and impatient with authority.

By the time he was 26 he left the army, and then married an older wealthy widow with two children. With their combined money, he retired for a while to be a gentleman farmer and went into local politics. He became very interested in science and agriculture.

Not long afterward, however, he was recruited to lead an army of revolutionaries against the soldiers he formerly had commanded as a colonel. His success in these endeavors won him fame and honor that would persist for centuries. His bravery at bring bringing his troops through hardship and losses made him respected and greatly admired. His reputation for integrity and wise leadership made him a beloved hero and legend in his own time.

He became the first president of the United States.

George Washington, a boy from a "fatherless home."

The term "fatherless" is used in this series as it is in current research and policy rhetoric by the U.S. federal government, DHHS and the National Fatherhood Initiative, most U.S. states in connection with child custody law and policy, and various family values and fatherhood interest policy and lobbying groups.

See more Fatherless Children Stories.