I grew up hearing from my father that I was somehow related to the famous General Nathaniel Greene. The folklore that ran in my family basically said that in his day, Greene was more popular than George Washington, himself. (I guess his wife Catherine had something to do with that).
It's popularly held that had Nat Greeene not suffered from heat/sun stroke while out surveying his land on a hot Georgia day, he might have become the first President of the United States. He died in 1786.
In May 1787, George Washington headed the Virginia delegation to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and was unanimously elected presiding officer. His presence lent prestige to the proceedings, and although he made few direct contributions, he generally supported the advocates of a strong central government. After the new Constitution was submitted to the states for ratification and became legally operative, he was unanimously elected president (1789).
Had Nat Greene lived and become the First President of these United States, our paper currency might have come to be known as "Greenebacks"...
"After the war, Greene moved his family to his new estate, Mulberry Grove, just north of Savannah, Georgia. He attempted to settle down to the life of a Southern planter, while spurning attempts by prominent Georgians to involve him in local politics. He was forced to sell additional property awarded to him by the states of North and South Carolina in order to solve severe financial problems caused by the war. Tragically, he died at the age of forty-four on 19 June 1786 of a stroke, possibly caused by overexposure to the sun. His remains and those of his son, George Washington Greene, rest beneath a monument in Johnson Square in downtown Savannah. Eventually, Congress would pay off his debt and erect a monument to his memory in the nation's capital. It will never be known to what great heights he would have risen had he lived a longer life."