George Washington
First U.S. President, 1789-1797
Amazing Facts About George Washington
* George Washington was 6 feet, 2inches tall and weighed 200 pounds. He wore shoes of size 13.
* George Washington suffered from the following illnesses : malaria, smallpox, tuberculosis, malaria, dysentery and pneumonia.
* The first holiday celebrated nation wide in the U.S. was the 100th anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration, April 30,1889.
* George Washington was offered a very nice salary for the time, $25,000, to take on the duties of being president.
* George Washington was in command of the first U.S. “navy,” created in 1775. It started with 4 ships. The ships were sold after the war and the “real” navy began in 1798.
* George Washington was the oldest son of his father’s second marriage. He grew up with nine brothers and sisters.
* George Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis. Martha was a wealthy widow from Virginia.
Interesting Facts About George Washington
* George Washington joined the British Royal Navy at age 14.
* Washington was the only Founding Fathers to free his slaves.
* His father and elder brother educated George. He did not attend any college.
* George Washington had no children of his own. But he helped raise Martha’s two children from her previous marriage, Jackie and Patsy.
* George’s first set of dentures were made from cow’s teeth. Later, he had a second pair made of hippopotamus ivory.
* According to Newsweek, 14 percent of all pre-school children think George Washington is still sitting in the oval office.
* George Washington was the only president to win a unanimous vote of the Electoral College.
* Washington used to snore loudly. He frequently got confused in spellings having letters ‘i’ and ‘e’. He is reported to have had an IQ of 125. Records show that he did his own book keeping.
