Augustine Washington was "connected by marriage" with Colonel Eskridge. He probably met Mary Ball on one of his visits to Sandy Point. Sandy Point was an ideal place for romance but there is not even a traditional account of the courtship of Mary Ball. Even the scene of her marriage is not known, but it was probably at Sandy Point or at the Bonum home. Mary Ball and Augustine Washington were married by the Reverend Walter Jones, on March 6, 1731. Ministers at that time usually received "for marriage two shillings." Mary's new husband was "blond, of fine proportion, great physical strength and stood six feet in his stockings, and had a kindly nature." He was called Gus by his friends. Gus took his bride to his home on Popes Creek, in upper Westmoreland County. Mary was not the first mistress at Popes Creek, for Augustine had been married before, to Jane Butler, half-sister to Colonel Eskridge's second wife. Jane had been dead for about three years. At Popes Creek now there were the servants and little Jane, who was about nine years old. Augustine's other two children were teen-age boys, Lawrence and Augustine, who were then at Appleby's School in England. Gus himself had been educated at that school. Augustine Washington, while not a man of great wealth, owned land and buildings in at least three counties, and he was part owner of two iron furnaces. He was prominent in his community, having held at various times the positions of Justice of Westmoreland County court, Captain in the county militia, Sheriff of Westmoreland County, and he was a vestryman in the church. Although he was not one of the wealthiest planters in the Northern Neck, he was on an equal footing with them socially. _POPES CREEK_ When Mary came to Popes Creek to live she had some housefurnishings of her own to bring with her. There was the feather bed, and her mother had left her a bedstead to go with it, a quilt and a pair of blankets. She had also left Mary two table-cloths "marked M. B. with inck," two pewter dishes, two basins, one large iron "pott," one frying pan, one "Rugg" and "one suit of good curtains and fallens" (valance). It must have been with great joy that Mary arranged these things in her own home. The house at Popes Creek was not a magnificent residence such as Stratford Hall or King Carter's manor at Corotoman. It is believed to have been "a simple abode," but it was comfortable and it had a quality that was lacking in the splendid mansions--it was homely. It was the kind of place where a planter could sit with his family in the evening and feel close to them and close to his earth. The house was situated on the west side of Popes Creek, about three-quarters of a mile from the point where the creek emptied into the Potomac. About a mile to the northwest was the last habitation of John Washington, the immigrant, and near it was the family burying ground.