Through the Willis family Mary Washington's descendants became allied to the Bonapartes. The second child of Byrd C. Willis (son of Lewis Willis) was Catherine. Her mother was the daughter of George Lewis, Betty Washington's son. Thus Mary Washington was ancestress of Catherine Willis, who at thirteen years of age married, and at fourteen was a widow, having lost also her child. She accompanied her parents to Pensacola, where she married Achille Murat, ex-prince of Naples and nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was very beautiful--this child--twice married and a mother before she was fifteen. The Murat and Bonaparte families at first opposed the marriage, but all opposition vanished when they learned that she was nearly related to General Washington. [Illustration: Prince Murat.] It is said that she was well received abroad: "In London she stood up for her country and fought its battles in all companies." She was once accompanied by John Randolph of Roanoke and other distinguished personages on a visit to the London art galleries. In one of these the portraits of Washington and Napoleon hung side by side, and Randolph (who was always dramatic), pointing to the pictures, said, "Before us we have Napoleon and Washington, one the founder of a mighty Empire, the other of a great Republic." Then turning to Catherine with extended hand, "Behold!" he exclaimed, "in the Princess Murat the niece of both--a distinction which she alone can claim." As the century neared its highest noon Fredericksburg became the home of one and another of the men destined to earn immortal fame in the Revolution. James Monroe lived there, whose hand, long since mingled with the dust, has yet the power to stay the advance of nations. Men of wealth secured the pleasant society all around by a residence in the town. As many as ten coaches were wont to drive out in company when the summer exodus to the springs set in. There was a famous tailor in Fredericksburg who made the lace-trimmed garments for these gentry,--William Paul, a Scotchman. Hanging in his shop, was a handsome portrait of "my sailor brother John" as he explained to his customers. Anon the tailor died, and John came over to administer upon his estate. He found friends--Colonel Willy Jones and Doctor Brooke--who aided him materially in the first years of his life in Fredericksburg. In gratitude to the former he assumed the name of "Jones," and the latter he made surgeon of the _Bon Homme Richard_--for this was John Paul Jones the great, the brilliant naval officer of our Revolution. Congress gave him a commission and a ship, _The Alfred_, and on board that ship he hoisted before uelphia, with his own hands, the flag of freedom--the first time it was displayed. He claimed and received the first salute the flag of the infant Republic received from a foreign power. He served through the war, and at his death was the senior officer of the United States navy. CHAPTER XIX