The Father of His Country -- Not Actually a Father
George Washington was the Father of His Country and remains a paternal figure to generations of Americans. However, Washington had no children of his own and died without leaving any direct descendants.
Washington was 26 years old when he married Martha Dandridge Custis, a 28-year-old widow who had given birth to four children during her first marriage. George and Martha were married for over 40 years, but Martha never even became pregnant during their union. Many historians believe that Washington may have been sterile -- a possible result of his battle with smallpox when he was 19.
Being the ultra-masculine alpha male that Washington was, he couldn't accept the possibility that he might have been sterile. Throughout his marriage with Martha, Washington put the blame on her for their failure to have children, and as he got older, he felt that he could father children if he were married to a younger woman. Considering the fact that Martha had borne four children in her first marriage (which only lasted 7 years), it seems that the Father of His Country was likely the problem.
Interestingly, Washington's lack of children may have contributed to the way the United States has chosen its leaders. After the Revolutionary War, most Americans were hoping that Washington would become the King of the United States. A "President" was still a foreign, unfamiliar role to many Americans, who had lived their lives under a monarch and didn't have as much of a problem with the idea of a monarchy as they did with a tyrannical monarch. Washington easily could have become King instead of President. There are many reasons why he didn't choose to establish a monarchy (the main one being that he had just led a fight for independence from a King and genuinely believed in the American attempt at establishing a democratic republic), but one potential issue may have been the fact that Washington would have had no heir to the throne.
By all accounts, Washington enjoyed being around children. He helped raise two of Martha's children, several of his step-grandchildren, and was a surrogate father to his nephew, Bushrod Washington. George Washington paid for Bushrod's tuition and supported Bushrod as he studied law. After George Washington left office, President John Adams appointed Bushrod Washington to the Supreme Court where he served for 30 years. When Washington died in 1799, Bushrod was the executor of his will and inherited Washington's sacred estate, Mount Vernon.
