Willis was Washington's schoolmate. The teachers name is not given, but
there can be little doubt that it was James Marye.

[Footnote 1: George Washington and Mount Vernon. Introduction, p.
xxvii.]

The Rev. James Marye's brother-in-law, Rev. Theodosius Staige, had for a
time preached in the temporary structure in which the congregation of
St. George's, Fredericksburg, met before the church was completed. It
was probably during a visit to Mr. Staige that Mr. Marye made an
impression on the people of that place. At any rate the early
Vestry-book shows that, in 1735, the churchwardens, after the colonial
custom, asked leave of the Governor of Virginia to call James Marye to
their pulpit, and it was granted. He is described as "Mr. Marie of St.
James," being then officiating at St James Church, Northam Parish
(Goochland county, Virginia). At what time and why he left Manakintown
is not clear. He fixed his first abode eight miles out of
Fredericksburg, in a place which he called "Fayetteville;" and it is not
improbable that some of his Huguenot congregation had come with him, and
attempted to found there a village. Several infant churches in the
county (Spottsylvania), besides that of Fredericksburg, were under
supervision of the Rector of St. George's Parish.

The Rev. James Marye remained in active and successful ministry at
Fredericksburg from 1735 until his death, in 1767. He founded the large
Virginia family which bears his name, and which has always had eminent
representatives. On his death he was succeeded in St. George's Church,
Fredericksburg, by his son of the same name, whose honourable tradition
was maintained. His great-grandson, John L. Marye,--whose mansion,
"Brompton," stood on "Marye's Heights," so famous in the Civil War,--was
an eminent lawyer; as also is a son of the latter, John L. Marye Jr.,
former Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia.[1]

The founder of the Virginia Maryes, who should be ranked among American
worthies, was an eloquent clergyman, and built up a noble congregation
in Fredericksburg. He was also an accomplished gentleman and a scholar.
That he founded and taught the school is tolerably certain. The
Municipal Records, as we have seen, ascribe the school a French origin.
The name and condition of every respectable resident of Fredericksburg,
at the time of his settling there, when it was little more than a "paper
town" (in colonial phrase), is known. There was in the place no
one--certain