removal from that locality prevented any further religious influence from
this clergyman, and it probably first came from the Rev. Charles Green, of
Truro parish, who had received his appointment through the friendship of
Washington's father, and who later was on such friendly terms with
Washington that he doctored Mrs. Washington in an attack of the measles,
and caught and returned two of his parishioner's runaway slaves. As early
as 1724 the clergyman of the parish in which Mount Vernon was situated
reported that he catechised the youth of his congregation "in Lent and a
great part of the Summer," and George, as the son of one of his vestrymen,
undoubtedly received a due amount of questioning.

From 1748 till 1759 there was little church-going for the young surveyor
or soldier, but after his marriage and settling at Mount Vernon he was
elected vestryman in the two parishes of Truro and Fairfax, and from that
election he was quite active in church affairs. It may be worth noting
that in the elections of 1765 the new vestryman stood third in popularity
in the Truro church and fifth in that of Fairfax. He drew the plans for a
new church in Truro, and subscribed to its building, intending "to lay the
foundation of a family pew," but by a vote of the vestry it was decided
that there should be no private pews, and this breach of contract angered
Washington so greatly that he withdrew from the church in 1773. Sparks
quotes Madison to the effect that "there was a tradition that, when he
[Washington] belonged to the vestry of a church in his neighborhood, and
several little difficulties grew out of some division of the society, he
sometimes spoke with great force, animation, and eloquence on the topics
that came before them." After this withdrawal he bought a pew in Christ
Church in Alexandria (Fairfax parish), paying £36.10, which was the
largest price paid by any parishioner. To this church he was quite
liberal, subscribing several times towards repairs, etc.