THE WASHINGTONS Such was the world and such the community which counted as a small fraction the Washington family.

Our immediate concern is with that family, for before we approach the man we must know his ancestors.

The greatest leader of scientific thought in this century has come to the aid of the genealogist, and given to the results of the latter's somewhat discredited labors a vitality and meaning which it seemed impossible that dry and dusty pedigrees and barren tables of descent should ever possess.

We have always selected our race-horses according to the doctrines of evolution, and we now study the character of a great man by examining first the history of his forefathers.
Washington made so great an impression upon the world in his lifetime that genealogists at once undertook for him the construction of a suitable pedigree.

The excellent Sir Isaac Heard, garter king-at-arms, worked out a genealogy which seemed reasonable enough, and then wrote to the president in relation to it.