After the French and Indian War
On January 6, 1759 Washington married the wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis. Letters suggest that he may have been in love at the time with Sally Fairfax. But he remianed faithful to Martha. They raised her two children from her previous marriage, Jackie and Patsy. George and Martha never had any children together, he had an earlier bout with smallpox that may have left him sterile. His marriage to Martha increased his property holdings and social standing and made him one of Virginia's wealthiest men. By 1775 he had doubled the size of Mount Vernon to 6500 acres and increased the slave population to more than 100. As a respected military hero and a large landowner, he was elected to the House of Burgesses, the Virginia legislature, beginning in 1758. He lived an aristocratic life of fox hunting, going to dances, parties, theater, races, and cockfights. He liked to play cards, backgammon, and billiards. In the 1760s to avoid bankruptcy, he had to switch Mount Vernon's cash crop from tobacco to wheat. Patsy's death in 1773 from epilepsy greatly affected the whole family, but he was able to pay off his British creditors since half of her inheritance passed to him. She gave him great joy and was very happy to help her grow. His son on the other hand was lazy and caused him much grief. Washington also received land bounties promised to him for serving during the French and Indian War. He received 23200 acres near the junction of the Kanawha and Ohio rivers. As a wealthy man, he also helped organize boycotts against the British when the began imposing harsh acts.
After Presidency
Washington returned to Mount Vernon in March 1797. He devoted most of his time to farming and business interests. However, by 1798 relations with France had deteriorated to the point that war seemed inevitable. Washington served as the senior officer of the United States Army for a year and a half. On Thursday December 12, 1799, Washington spent several hours inspecting his farms on horseback. He ate dinner without changing from his wet clothes. Friday morning he awoke with a sore throat and became worse as the day progressed. The doctors could not cure him. The medicines had no effect. Washington died around 10pm on Saturday December 14, 1799 at age 67 which was remarkable since most men in his family died decades before his age. The last recorded words he said were "Tis well".