She spent a large part of her life in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where several monuments were erected in her honor and a university, along with other public buildings, bear her name.

[3][4] Her father died when she was three and after her mother's death, at the age of twelve Mary Ball was placed under the guardianship of Jane Washington's brother, the lawyer George Eskridge.

George Eskridge supposedly arranged an introduction between his friend, Washington, and his ward Mary Ball, [2] with the two marrying on March 6, 1731, when she was 23.

[8] However, Mary's half-brother, Joseph Ball (1689–1760), wrote in reply to her letter requesting advice, that the Navy would "cut and staple him and use him like a negro, or rather, like a dog.

She lived to see that her son, George Washington, commanded the Continental Army to independence and was inaugurated as the first president of the United States in 1789.

After learning that he had been elected president in April 1789, George Washington traveled from Mount Vernon to visit his mother in Fredericksburg.

"[10][11] After a lengthy illness, on August 25, 1789, Mary Ball Washington died of breast cancer[12] at her home in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

[1] She is buried near Meditation Rock in an unmarked grave which was located on the grounds of the Kenmore plantation, the former home of her daughter and son-in-law.