Question: 'George Washington prayer book'

27 April 2002 | me - vanity

[Vigilant1]

Perhaps some of you can help me find the truth here. There are many prayers attributed to George Washington, and the source of all of them seems to be a book found many years after Washington's death. Here, Franklin Steiner claims that the book is a fraudulent document, in this excerpt from his book, The Religious Beliefs of our Presidents: From Washington to FDR:

Link to this article

Washington must have been "powerful in prayer" if we are to believe two other stories told of his attempts to reach the "throne of grace." Some 30 years ago it was proclaimed that in his youth he composed a prayer book for his own use, containing a prayer for five days, beginning with Sunday and ending with Thursday. The manuscript of this prayer book was said to have been found among the contents of an old trunk. It was printed and facsimiles published. Clergymen read it from the altar, one of them saying it contained so much "spirituality" that he had to stop, as he could not control his emotions while reading it.

Yet, while this prayer book was vociferously proclaimed to have been written by Washington, there was not an iota of evidence that he ever had anything to do with it, or that it even ever belonged to him. A little investigation soon pricked the bubble. Worthington C. Ford, who had handled more of Washington's manuscripts than any other man except Washington himself, declared that the penmanship was not that of washington. Rupert Hughes (Washington, vol. 1, p. 658) gives facsimile specimens of the handwriting in the prayer book side by side with known specimens of Washington's penmanship at the time the prayer book was supposed to have been written. A glance proves that they are not by the same hand.

Then in the prayer book manuscript all of the words are spelled correctly, while Washington was a notoriously poor speller. But the greatest blow it received was when the Smithsonian Institute refused to accept it as a genuine Washington relic. That Washington did not compose it was proved by Dr. W.A. Croffutt, a newspaper correspondent of the Capital, who traced the source of some of the prayers to an old prayer brook in the Congressional Library printed, in the reign of James the First.

Even the Rev. W. Herbert Burk, rector of the Episcopal Church of Valley Forge, although a firm believer in Washington's religiosity, thus speaks of these prayers:

"At present, the question is an open one, and its settlement will depend on the discovery of the originals, or upon the demonstration that they are the work of Washington."

Since FDR is mentioned as the last president in the title, it is reasonable to conclude that the book was written during or soon after FDR's presidency. That would put the time that the prayer book was brought forward as likely between 1900 and 1915.

Can anyone provide me with an verification that the Smithsonian did, in fact, reject this document as 'non-authentic'? After a person I've been corresponding with contacted them, they couldn't find any records of it. Any other material referring to this book would be helpful (except David Barton - got that already).

Thanks for your help!

[Vigilant1]

A "help!" bump....