Craig Shirley, author of “Mary Ball Washington: The Untold Story of George Washington’s Mother,” addressed the Nov. 16 meeting of the Richard Henry Lee chapter of the Virginia Society Sons of the American Revolution at Indian Creek Yacht & Country Club, Kilmarnock.

Shirley said he undertook the book about Mary Ball Washington because there were many books about her son George but a scarce few about his mother.

One of the reasons for this scarcity, he opined, was that there was so little factual knowledge known about her—some letters, mostly from her son George, and little more.

The picture on the cover of his book, Shirley said, was painted by an artist some 20 years after her death based upon sketchy information. He said it is believed she was born sometime between 1707 and 1709 either at her family’s plantation at Epping Forest in Lancaster County or at another plantation near Simonson, Va.

Shirley summed up her life in relation to that of her family and children, sa...