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MARY MONTAGUE--GRANDMOTHER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON? INTRODUCTION. A fair number of researchers believe that Mary Montague, dau. of Peter & Mary (Doodes/Minor) Montague, may have been the widow Mary Johnson, 2nd wife of Col. Joseph Ball. Why is this particular fact interesting? Because Joseph and Mary Ball's daughter Mary was, in fact and documented to be, the mother of George Washington. At the heart of this issue is the maiden name of Mary Johnson. What follows is a complete, source-based presentation of the facts surrounding the issue. It includes all documentation known to this writer, as of this writing, concerning Mary Montague, Joseph Ball, Mary Johnson, and Mary Ball. Unfortunately these facts are not sufficient to know her maiden name. For now, we can only judge the relative probability of Mary's maiden identity from a limited number of potential candidates. We open this treatment with the earliest known documented discussion of George Washington's presumed maternal grandmother from George William Montague's, History and Genealogy of Peter Montague of Nansemond and Lancaster Counties, Virginia, and His Descendants, 1621-1894. (Amherst, Massachusetts: Carpenter & Morehouse, 1894, p. 48 (Hereinafter cited as HGPM):

"A tradition has existed for fifty years or more, that George Washington was of Montague descent, through his mother Mary Ball. It probably originated from the fact that William Montague married, 1727, a dau. of Capt. Richard Ball, who was Mary Ball's cousin [their fathers were brothers]. This subject has been thoroughly investigated by Rev. Horace E. Hayden in his Va. Genealogies, published Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1891. The compiler also has made a thorough search, and left no means untried to obtain the truth. The result is, that the only place where such descent could be possible, was through Mary Ball's mother who was, before Col. Ball married her, a Mrs. Mary Johnson, a widow, of Lancaster Co., Va. A tradition exists in the Ball family that Mrs. Mary Johnson was born in England. This tradition has been traced to Mrs. Ann Shearman, whose mother was Esther Ball, the half sister of Mary Ball. If it is true, that she was born in England, then - any descent from Peter Montague was impossible. No record has been found to show the maiden name of Mrs. Mary Johnson, or who she was before her marriage to Johnson. If she was a Miss Montague, she would have to be a daughter of one of the sons of the emigrant Peter Montague. One of his sons did have a daughter whose name was Mary Montague, but church records prove that she married, Oct. 24, 1682, Thomas Payne, and no record exists to show that she ever afterward married any one else. Records of that time and locality are lost, and the maiden name of Mrs. Mary Johnson [Washington's grandmother] will probably never be known."