Transcription
OLDE
PRINCE WILLIAM
COUNTY
1776 - 1976
George Washington suffered from poor teeth in his adult life
and lost his last natural tooth at the age of 65, just two years
before his death.
A myth links Paul Revere with Washington's dentures,
implying that Revere carved a set of wooden dentures for
him. It is documented that Washington had at least six dentures
made in his life.
John Greenwood made Washington's first set of dentures
when Washington was 57, leaving a hole to accommodate the
remaining premolar.
When that tooth was extracted Greenwood had it embedded
in gold and wore it as a pendant on his watch chain.
Washington's first denture was equipped with eight human
teeth attached with gold screw rivets. Tinted wax was used to
resemble the gums.
Washington filed, sanded and carved his dentures to
alleviate any discomfort he experienced. He preferred carved
teeth although the technique for attaching sound human teeth
on bridges was well known.
In addition to his working teeth it is known that at least two
dentures were prepared for Washington merely for esthetic
reasons.
Artist Gilbert Stuart insisted that a set of dentures be
constructed that would fill out his cheeks and lips. A dentist
James Gardette, carved a set from hippopotamus ivory that
accomplished the artist's goal but the teeth were not practical
for eating/
When Peale painted Washington's portrait he had a set of
dentures made for him of lead which weighed a pound. If
Washington had relaxed his facial muscles his teeth would
have literally dropped out of his mouth. It is no mystery why
Washington looked so stern and dignified in his famous
portrait.
Americans didn't always love George Washington. Parson
Mason Locke Weems is credited with making him popular and
keeping him from being "just another politician."
When Washington died in 1799 he was not a hero to the
people. He was blamed because things didn't go as well as
they had expected after the revolution. The states quarreled
among themselves. Graftwas everywhere. Taxes were even
higher than they had been under the King of England and
many Revolutionary soldiers hadn't been paid.
Thomas Jefferson, who had become president in 1800, called
Washington a "monarchist," a man who wanted to be king.
He refused to allow books about Washington written by John
Marshall, chief justice of the United States, to be sold in any of
the post offices. At that time post offices were the biggest
source of book sales.
Weems a parson, preacher, story teller, violinist, orator,
doctor and book salesman, was asked to sell the book.
Because he made the attempt to sell the books, friends
deserted him and he was turned away from homes. Jefferson
is said to hav sent men to heckle Weems as he attempted to
make sales, and mobs broke up his meetings.
Weems began to worry about what would happen to this new
nation is the people continued to hate Washington. He recalled
stories the people of Washington's church (Pohick) told him
about Washington's childhood and he started talking about
Washington, the boy.
The people listened as he told them about the cherry tree
and the silver dollar. People started liking Washington the
boy and also Washington the General and the pesident.
Weems wrote his own "Life of Washington." The third
edition of the book became the most popular book about
Washington's life. It had hundreds of printings and reprintings.
He used the money he got from the sales to build a house
in Dumfries.Transcriber
Adam KitchenLanguage
English