Some Common Myths Thought to be True - Myth 12
Myth 12: George Washington had Wooden Teeth
Washington suffered from problems with his teeth throughout his life. He lost
his first adult tooth when he was twenty-two and had only one left by the time
he became President. John Adams claims he lost them because he used them
to crack Brazil nuts but modern historians suggest the mercury oxide, which he
was given to treat illnesses such as smallpox and malaria, probably contributed
to the loss.
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George Washington | |
The most famous story about Washington's childhood is that he chopped down his
father's favorite cherry tree and admitted the deed when questioned: "I can't
tell a lie, Pa." The anecdote was first reported by biographer Parson Weems,
who after Washington's death interviewed people who knew him as a child over a
half-century earlier. The Weems text was very widely reprinted throughout the
19th century, for example in McGuffey Readers.
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