Winner of the 2023 National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution Stephen Taylor Award author James Bish will be doing a book talk and signing. He will talk about his book titled I Can’t Tell A Lie: Parson Weems and The Truth About George Washington’s Cherry Tree, Prayer at Valley Forge, and Other Anecdotes. His book will be available to purchase at the event, or Click Here to purchase it on Amazon.
Date: Friday, January 19th
Time: 11:00am
Location: RHJ Lecture Hall
The event is free, tickets required. Pick up tickets at the check out counter in the library.
I Can’t Tell A Lie: Parson Weems and The Truth About George Washington’s Cherry Tree, Prayer at Valley Forge, and Other Anecdotes examines the stories you have all heard and thought were false. You may want to rethink those conclusions.
This book contains first-time-written information about George Washington and his family including detailed information about George Washington’s close ties to his mother, Mary (Ball) Washington’s Ball family cousins and their influence upon George Washington. Also, examined is the emerging colonial iron industry which George Washington was surrounded by as a young boy as his parents, Augustine and Mary Washington, were engaged in the iron industry as were Washington’s close cousins, Nathaniel and Constantia (Pearson) Chapman and Charles and Sarah (Ball) Ewell. The work also examines close George Washington friend and relation, Dr. James Craik as well as examining the influential Maryland and Pennsylvania family members of Reverend Mason Locke Weems.
About the Author
James “Jim” Bish grew to adulthood on a cattle and horse ranch in Nebraska where at an early age he was fascinated with stories from his grandmother about his ancestors who homesteaded the area in the 1870s. In 1989 Bish helped to organize the Prince William County, Virginia Historical Society, known as Historic Prince William, where he served as the organizations first president. He continues to serve on the Board of Directors of Historic Prince William. He currently operates History Happened Here Tours and also volunteers with the National Museum of Americans in Wartime Experiences’ Voices of Freedom Project and the Museum of Culpeper County, Virginia where he also serves upon their Board of Directors.