Ravencrest Historical Writing

George Washington was plagued with severe dental problems nearly his entire adult life. In a diary entry he wrote at age 24 he mentions paying a doctor to remove one of his teeth. By the time he was inaugurated as president, he only had one tooth remaining, and it was pulled a few years later.

So, Washington was forced to wear dentures. Although they were state-of-the-art technology at the time, the dentures were ill-fitting and extremely uncomfortable when worn. It is generally believed that Washington’s famous reticence and aversion to public speaking were due at least in part to his concern over how his missing teeth affected his appearance and to his discomfort when wearing the dentures.

By the way, the long-repeated story that Washington’s dentures were made of wood is false. His dentures were made of metal alloys, connected with springs, and to which cow, horse, and human teeth were affixed.

Another oft-repeated claim is that Washington’s dentures were made using teeth taken from his slaves. The only evidence which could possibly support that claim is a May 1784 entry in the Mount Vernon account book by Washington’s plantation manager (and distant cousin) Lund Washington for payment of 122 shillings to “Negroes for 9 Teeth on acct of the French Dentist Doctor Lemay.”

Beginning in 1781 Washington’s dentist was Jean-Pierre Le Mayeur, a Frenchman who had previously been the dentist of British general Henry Clinton and other British officers. Selling teeth to dentists for use as transplants was a common way poor people could earn money at the time, and Le Mayeur frequently placed notices in newspapers advertising his availability to perform tooth transplants and seeking “Persons who are willing to dispose of their Front Teeth.” (Interestingly, in his advertisements in Virginia, Le Mayeur specifically stated that he would not buy teeth from slaves.) For transplants, healthy teeth from living persons were necessary. And while such teeth could also be used in dentures, so could teeth from animals, from human corpses, or human teeth that had fallen out naturally. In other words, for use in dentures (as opposed to transplants) it wasn’t necessary that healthy teeth be extracted from a living person. There would have been no reason, therefore, to buy teeth this way for Washington's dentures.

We know that George Washington never received any tooth transplants. But were the nine teeth purchased by Lund Washington on Le Mayeur’s behalf to be used in Washington’s dentures? There is simply no way of knowing, although as is pointed out on the Mount Vernon website, the notation that the purchase was “on the account” of the dentist suggests that the dentist was the intended end user, not Washington. Presumably had the teeth been for Washington, the ledger would have simply indicated the item and amount of payment, as was done when Washington purchased other items from slaves on the plantation.

Likewise, whether the persons who Lund Washington paid for the teeth sold to Le Mayeur were slaves or free blacks cannot be determined from the ledger entry. And if the sellers were slaves, we have no way of knowing if they sold their teeth voluntarily (as many poor people in those days did) or whether they were forced to sell them (which a slaveowner would have been able to do).

The bottom line is that while it is possible that the nine teeth that Mount Vernon plantation manager Lund Washington bought from “Negroes” ended up in George Washington’s dentures, it is also possible (indeed more likely based on the way the transaction is recorded in the ledger) that they were for other patients of Dr. Le Mayeur or for his tooth inventory.

The image is Gilbert Stuart’s 1798 portrait of Washington.

Colonel William Crawford was a historic figure essential to the early history of the Pittsburgh and Ohio Country regions. We're happy to announce the release of our new portrait of Crawford, depicting the frontiersman in his Virginia Regiment uniform during the French & Indian War, in which he served alongside his friend George Washington. Crawford later acted as Washington's right-hand man in frontier land speculation, having surveyed and claimed the Washington tracts in Mount Pleasant Township, Washington County, PA, as well as several others in the region. Crawford was captured, tortured, and executed during his infamous 1782 Revolutionary War campaign at Upper Sandusky, Ohio.

This is the latest of multiple other portraits of the colonel. Learn more about these depictions in the accompanying article "Face of a Frontiersman: The Portraits of Colonel William Crawford." Check out the article in the comments below, and be sure to stop by our Etsy shop to buy a print!

in 1748, Pennsylvania-employed interpreter Conrad Weiser met with American Indian leaders at Logstown to open negotiations between the Ohio Valley Indians and the British government.

Tanaghrisson, a Seneca Indian, told Conrad Weiser, "Brethren, you came a great way to visit us and many sorts of evils might have befallen you by the way which might have been hurtful to your eyes and your inward parts, for the woods are full of evil spirits. We give you this string of wampum to clear up your eyes and minds and to remove all bitterness of your spirit, that you may hear us speak in good cheer."

A wampum is a bead made from the Quahog clam shell. The shell is broken into white or purple cubes to make into beads. White beads signified peace and purple signified more serious or political matters. The beads were woven into intricate patterns on belts to narrate histories, traditions, and treaty negotiations.

🇺🇸 American Fort LeBoeuf 🇺🇸... in Allegheny County??
Did you Know?

After the American Revolution , most of Northwest Pennsylvania actually resided in Allegheny County. It wasn't until March of 1800 that Erie County would be created!

The men that were tasked with building Fort LeBoeuf & Fort Presque Isle in 1794-95 were recruited from Allegheny, Westmoreland, & Washington Counties. These areas were not densely populated as they are now and turnout was much less than desired for volunteers. A militia "draft" was instituted to raise the men needed to build the forts and protect the land surveyors that would lay out Waterford and then Erie. Circumstances would change when Captain Ebenezer Denny arrived at the site of Fort LeBoeuf as he would be ordered to go no further until the "Erie Triangle" discussions with the Six Nations (Haudenosaunee) were concluded.