What was George Washington’s early life like that we know of? Augustine Washington (George’s father) was a strong man and he took care of his land. Unluckily after he was out surveying his land on a wet day he was hit with a throat infection (this same illness stuck down George 7ish decades later) he died when George was only 11 years old. His older half-brother Lawrence became the head of the house. He consoled George and when George was 16 instead of joining the military he became a surveyor for William Fairfax. This happened because his mother didn’t “...want my baby boy to die” (Mothers everywhere). At 17 George’s brother Lawrence contracted an illness and they went to the West Indies Trading Company (is in a tropical place) to get better.