The Washingtons. Volume 1: Seven Generations of the Presidential Branch

By Justin Glenn

This is the initial volume of a comprehensive history that traces the “Presidential line” of the Washingtons. Volume one begins with the immigrant John Washington who settled in Westmoreland Co., Va., in 1657, married Anne Pope, and was the great-grandfather of President George Washington. This volume continues the story of John and Anne’s family for a total of seven generations, collecting over 5,000 direct descendants. Future volumes will trace eight more generations with a total of over 63,000 descendants. Although structured in a genealogical format for the sake of clarity, this is no bare bones genealogy but a true family history with over 1,200 detailed biographical narratives. These in turn strive to convey the greatness of the family that produced not only The Father of His Country but many others, great and humble, who struggled to build that country. The Washingtons includes the time-honored John Wright line which in recent years has been challenged largely on the basis of DNA evidence. Volumes one and two will form a set, with a cumulative bibliography appearing at the end of volume 2. Volume two will highlight the most notable descendants and spouses from the later volumes, including such luminaries as General George S. Patton, the author Shelby Foote, and the actor Lee Marvin. All of the volumes, now estimated at fourteen in all, are virtually complete and are scheduled for release over the course of the next year.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jun 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781940669267

Justin Glenn

Justin Matthews Glenn was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and raised in Glendale and Phoenix, Arizona. He graduated from Stanford University [B.A., Classics, 1967; magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa] and was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Princeton University [M.A., Classics, 1969; Ph.D., Classics, 1970]. His career as a professor of Classics at the University of Georgia and Florida State University spanned thirty-five years, and he has published over seventy articles, notes, and reviews in his field. A distant cousin of George Washington, he has served as Registrar General of the National Society of the Washington Family Descendants since 2002.

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Generation One

1. John Washington (born presumably in either his mother’s home in Tring, near Oxford, England, or Purleigh Parish in Essex, England, probably in the latter part of 1634. Although estimates of his birth date by modern researchers range from 1631 to 1634, Peter Walne has convincingly argued that John’s parents were probably not married until Nov. 30, 1633 or very soon thereafter. As Walne points out, this was the date on which John’s father Lawrence formally resigned his fellowship at Oxford University, and he had formerly taken an oath to remain unmarried as long as he held the fellowship. In Nov. 1640 young John was placed on the waiting list at Sutton’s Hospital, an exclusive school in London. Eventually he was apparently placed in another school, although details are obscure. He was the first of his family to bring the Washington name to Virginia.

His father was the Rev. Lawrence Washington [born at Sulgrave Manor in the village of Sulgrave near Banbury in Oxfordshire, England, ca. 1602; entered Oxford U. at the age of seventeen in 1619 (B.A., 1623; M.A., 1626). He was rector of All Saints Parish, Purleigh, Essex, and biographers sometimes note that he was driven from his post in 1643 by Puritans who charged that he was a common frequenter of Ale-houses and oft drunk. Rarely cited is the fact that some of his parishioners and other friends vigorously defended him against these charges. Lawrence was permitted to continue preaching and to eke out a living in the impoverished parish at Little Braxted, Essex. He died in Jan. 1652/3].

John served as an administrator of the estate when his widowed mother died in 1655. By this time he had acquired some knowledge of sailing, and the following year he accepted an offer to join mariner Edward Prescott as his co-partner on his ketch, the Sea Horse of London. Prescott sailed the ship from Danzig in Poland and sailed through the Baltic, with stops in Lubec, Germany, and two ports in Denmark. Meanwhile, John traveled overland, securing tobacco contracts along the way, and he joined Prescott in Elsinore, Denmark. Later, probably about Nov. 1656, the ship sailed for the colony of Virginia, where it unloaded its cargo and took aboard a full load of tobacco.

The ship was just beginning its return voyage to England when it ran aground on a shoal in the Potomac River on or about Feb. 28, 1656/7. Before it could be freed from the sandbar, a storm struck and sank it. While Washington and the others toiled to raise the ship, he was befriended by a prominent and prosperous local colonial, Nathaniel Pope. [Some twenty years before, Pope had arrived from England in Maryland, serving there in the colony’s Legislature or Assembly in 1637-1638 and 1641-1642. He later moved to Virginia, settling first in Northumberland Co., where he was Justice of the Peace in 1652. He soon moved to Westmoreland Co., Va., where he became Lt. Colonel of the militia in 1655 and was Justice of the County Court at least by the same date, perhaps a year or two earlier].

By the time that the Sea Horse had been raised, repaired, and finally made ready to sail, Washington had already decided to stay on in Virginia and had obtained Prescott’s permission to do so. When Washington approached Prescott for his wages, however, Prescott responded that the young man owed him money and was responsible for part of the damage sustained by the ship. Nathaniel Pope promptly stepped forward to offer bond for young Washington in the form of beaver skins. In a deposition in Westmoreland County Court dated May 12, 1657, John Washington testified that by that date he had settled himselfe in Virginia. How the quarrel was settled is unclear, but soon Prescott was on his way back to England.

Socially speaking, it was arguably a step up for John Washington when he soon won Nathaniel’s blessing to marry his daughter Anne Pope [her birth date is unknown]. The wedding presumably took place late in 1658. On May 11, 1659, Nathaniel gave 700 acres of land to Anne and a loan of about 80 pounds to John as start up money. A son, Lawrence, was soon born to Anne and John Washington, and it may be safely presumed that his birth was shortly before he was christened in the first week of Oct. 1659. Meanwhile, John learned that his old enemy, Edward Prescott, with whom he had a score to settle, had returned to the colonies and was just across the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. John learned from some sailors that Prescott had hanged an unfortunate woman as a witch on his ship. Out of indignation or perhaps a thirst for revenge, John filed a complaint with Maryland authorities, and Prescott was arrested for murder. By coincidence, however, the date set for the trial conflicted with the scheduled christening date set for his baby Lawrence. After failing to obtain a postponement for the trial, John decided that the baptism took precedence, and Prescott went free for lack of evidence.

Nathaniel Pope died in the following spring of 1660 [his will was proved April 20, 1660]. Although his will brought no new land to Anne, it did include a cancellation of John’s debt. Bright and ambitious, John slowly began to win honors and carve out an ever larger estate in young Westmoreland County. Serving as a trustee of estates and guardian of children, he was elected vestryman of Appomattox Parish in 1661, Justice of the Peace in 1662, Major of the militia about the same time [he would eventually rise to Lt. Colonel], and member of the House of Burgesses [serving first in 1666, last in 1675-1676].

By 1668 he was busy growing tobacco on holdings that well exceeded 5,000 acres. Anne by now had presented him with five children, of whom three would live to maturity. That year she died, however, and with three young children John soon took a second wife. His new bride was Anne [maiden name unknown, though often erroneously given as Gerard], the widow of Walter Brodhurst and Henry Brett. Various writers, including J. T. Flexner in his well known biography, George Washington: Forge of Experience, wrongly identify this Anne as the daughter of Dr. Thomas Gerard. In 1973, however, John Walton thoroughly sifted the available evidence to show that Dr. Thomas Gerard’s numerous daughters did not include one named Anne.

His role as Lt. Colonel of the militia embroiled John Washington in an incident which continues to arouse controversy to this day. In early Sept. 1675, Washington was ordered to lead a force of Virginia militia, in cooperation with Maryland forces, against a band of Indians accused of murdering three colonials. During the course of the expedition, five Indians who had surrendered but claimed to be innocent were apparently murdered. The Marylanders and Virginians blamed each other, and conflicting testimonies have left the incident under a dark cloud. Very soon afterward in late 1675 or early 1676, Washington’s second wife died; there were no children from this union. About this same time, a neighbor Frances [(Gerard)-Speke-Peyton] Appleton lost her husband. Frances was the daughter of Dr. Thomas Gerard, and she had been twice widowed prior to her marriage to John Appleton. Widower John Washington and Frances were clearly married soon after a pre-nuptial agreement dated May 10, 1676.

That fall Bacon’s rebellion struck Virginia like a whirlwind. While Washington’s estate suffered some plundering and was temporarily seized by Bacon’s supporters, the crisis soon passed and no permanent harm was done. Within a few months, however, John was dead. The approximate date is closely framed by two events: his attending a meeting about taxes and Bacon’s rebellion on Aug. 14, 1677, and his will being admitted to probate on Sept. 26, 1677. His estate consisted mainly of land, more than 8,500 acres. The order of his children is somewhat uncertain. The genealogist John A. Washington [hereafter J.A.W.] argues that Anne was probably the second child, because her surviving son John Wright was already married while his first cousins [the orphans of Anne’s brother John Washington] were still quite young and requiring guardians. Before I had learned of J.A.W.’s plausible argument for the more likely birth-order of the children, however, I had already aligned many thousands of their descendants with daughter Anne in the third position, following various sources like Burke’s American Families with British Ancestry).

Children (order uncertain):

+2. Lawrence Washington.

+3. John Washington, Jr.

+4. Anne Washington.

5. (child) Washington (died young ante Sept. 21, 1675).

6. (child) Washington (died young ante Sept. 21, 1675). [Quotations from (1) a deposition taken by an English parliamentary committee in 1643 (for details see M. H. QUITT, English Cleric and Virginia Adventurer, VMHB, 97 [1989] 171-172 [see also 163-184]) and (2) B. FLEET, John Washington Settles in Virginia, VMHB, 53 (1945) 126 (see also 124-125). See also: C. HOPPIN, W.A., 1:139-223 (including, pp. 205-207, a transcription of the will of the immigrant Col. John Washington, and p. 142, a deposition sometimes used to estimate the birth of the immigrant John Washington, but the critical word there is estimate, as P. WALNE clearly demonstrates); P. WALNE, The English Ancestry of George Washington, NEHGR, 129 (1975) 106-132; D. S. FREEMAN, George Washington, 1:15-30, 527-529; C. E. HATCH, Popes Creek Plantation, 1-9; W. STANARD, Colonial Va. Register, 79-81; T. FLEXNER, George Washington: The Forge of Experience, esp. p. 10; J. WALTON, Gerard’s Daughters, MHM, 68 (1973) 502-503; BURKE, AFBA, 2961; Burke’s Pres. Fam., 24; R. HEADLEY, Married Well and Often, 365 (note that HEADLEY gives John Washington and Anne Pope’s marriage date as Dec. 1, 1658, which is apparently an estimate based on their oldest child’s birth late Sept. 1659 [see C. HOPPIN, W.A., 1:224]); J.A.W., Outline, 1, who tentatively places Anne before John Washington, Jr. I have used the term "John Washington, Jr. for the sake of convenience and clarity, but in fact Jr." was very rarely used in the early colonial period]

Generation Two

2. Lawrence Washington (born presumably on his parents’ plantation in Westmoreland Co., Va., not long before his christening in the first week of Oct. 1659; he was apparently sent to England for his education, and he was still in the mother country when his father died in 1677. He returned to Virginia by about 1679. He soon followed in his father’s footsteps as Justice of the Peace, an extremely important position in early colonial Virginia, wielding executive powers as well as broad jurisdiction over nearly every case except those involving capital crimes. The date of his commission is not recorded, but at an extraordinarily young age he was serving as Justice at a session on July 28, 1680. By age 25 he had been elected to represent Westmoreland County in the House of Burgesses. Elected in 1684, he definitely served in the session that began Nov. 2, 1685. After traveling to England very late in 1685, apparently on business, he returned to Virginia in 1687. He went on to serve again in the House of Burgesses [sessions of 1691 and 1692], and later he held the office of Sheriff of Westmoreland Co., ca. 1692-1694.

He increased his landholdings only modestly by some 440 acres, making few improvements to his estate. The name of his first wife, whom he married ante Oct. 1679 [and who died ante Feb. 1691/2], is unknown. He later married [2nd, ca. 1691] Mildred Warner. Leaving her a widow with three young children, Lawrence Washington died in Virginia, at the age of 38 [his will was dated March 11, 1697/8 and proved March 30, 1698]. His widow Mildred was daughter of the distinguished Augustine Warner II, Speaker of the House of Burgesses and a member of the Council. After the death of her husband Lawrence in 1698, Mildred married [in the spring of 1700] George Gale. In the fall of that same year, George took his wife Mildred and his young Washington stepchildren back to England. Soon after arriving in White Haven, Co. Cumberland, the pregnant Mildred fell seriously ill, and she made out a will on Jan. 24, 1700/1. She died not long afterward, for her will was proved March 18, 1700/1. At this point her surviving husband George Gale took custody of her Washington children in violation of their father’s will. For the resulting legal battle, see below under Mildred’s son, Augustine Washington).

Child (by his 1st wife):

7. John Washington (born ca. July 1680; died Jan. 10, 1690/1).

Children (by his 2nd wife):

+8. John Washington (II).

+9. Augustine Washington.

10. Mildred Washington (born between 1695 and 1696, she died at age five or six months on Aug. 1, 1696).

+11. Mildred Washington (II). [C. HOPPIN, W.A., 1:224-247, including (pp. 239-243) a transcription of the will and estate inventory of Lawrence Washington; abstract of the will of Lawrence Washington in A. FOTHERGILL, Wills of Westmoreland Co., Va., 19-20; D. S. FREEMAN, G. Washington, 1:30-33; J. F. DORMAN, Adventurers, 2:518, 548-551 (note: in a very rare error, 2:518 of this work states that Lawrence Washington’s will was proved April 30, 1698; in correspondence April 6, 2009, Mr. Dorman confirmed that March 30, 1698 is the correct month. The source of this slip was a rare error in J. F. DORMAN’s earlier book, Westmoreland County, Va., Deeds & Wills No. 2, 1691-1699, 58-59); C. E. HATCH, Popes Creek Plantation, 6-9; W. STANARD, Colonial Va. Register, 84; J. BURKE, AFBA, 2962; J.A.W., Outline, 11. The existence of the first wife [name unknown] of Lawrence Washington was first noticed by J.A.W., who published his findings in A New Step-Grandmother for George Washington, VG, 24 (1980) 259-263]

3. John Washington, Jr. (born ca. 1662 or 1663; married [ca. 1685] Anne [Wickliffe?; she died ca. 1704. The suggestion that her maiden name may have been Wickliff(e) is based on the fact that she is named in the will of Henry Wickliffe (proved in Westmoreland Co., Va., April 26, 1699) as the executrix of his will]. Capt. John Washington, of Bridge’s Creek, Westmoreland Co., Va., became a successful landholder, adding substantially to his inheritance, and assuming various positions of authority in his county: attorney and trustee for various persons and estates, as well as captain of the militia and vestryman of Washington parish. He resided in Washington Parish, Westmoreland Co., Va. His will was dated Jan. 22, 1697/8 and proved Feb. 23, 1697/8, both in Westmoreland Co., Va. All four sons were named in their father’s will as well as in the will of their aunt Martha Washington Hayward, in the order listed below, strongly suggesting that is the correct order).

Children:

12. Lawrence Washington (born ca. 1686; died ante April 1705, when [according to W. B. McGroarty, Champe of Lambs Creek, VMHB, 44 (1936) 178] Nathaniel [the third son] was sued as son and heir of John Washington Gent. in Westmoreland Co.).

13. John Washington III (born ca. 1688; d.s.p. ante April 1705, when his younger brother Nathaniel [the third son] was sued as son and heir of John Washington Gent., as pointed out by W. B. McGroarty).

+14. Nathaniel Washington.

+15. Henry Washington. [C. HOPPIN, SDCJW, 7-48, which includes [pp. 31-38] a transcription of the will of Capt. John Washington, Jr.; for another transcription of this will, see J. F. DORMAN, Westmoreland County, Va., Deeds & Wills No. 2, 1691-1699, 51-53; abstract of the will of John Washington in A. FOTHERGILL, Wills of Westmoreland Co., Va., 19; W. STANARD, Washington, VMHB, 22 (1914) 213; J. BURKE, AFBA, 2961; W. B. McGROARTY, Champe of Lambs Creek, VMHB, 44 (1936) 87; A. FOTHERGILL, Wills of Westmoreland Co., Va., 19-20, 29; J.A.W., Outline, 13]

4. Anne Washington (born in Westmoreland Co., Va., ca. 1661; married [ca. 1680] Francis Wright [born ca. 1658-1661; like his Washington in-laws, he was a prominent colonist in early Westmoreland County. Although named last among the three children in his father’s will, Francis appears to have inherited the largest and most valuable part of his father’s estate. His share was 1400 acres along the Potomac, bounded by Nomini Bay and the Lower Machodoc River. During his lifetime he greatly improved this largely undeveloped land and built a great house on it. He married at an early age, about 20, and by Dec. 20, 1682 he had joined his brother-in-law Lawrence Washington in holding the important office of Justice of the Peace. By Jan. 29, 1690, he held the important post of Sheriff of Westmoreland County. In addition to being responsible for serving court papers and having custody of prisoners, a Sheriff of that period was also, in effect, a county treasurer and tax-collector. Complementing his other duties and honors, he was commissioned Major in the county militia on June 3, 1699, and he was one of the founders and vestrymen of Yeocomico Church, built in 1706 and still standing today.

In 1701 he was presiding Justice of the county court; one of the other Justices was Andrew Monroe, ancestor of President James Monroe. Francis was reappointed sheriff in 1712, but he died a short time later, between May 28, 1713 and June 24, 1713]. Anne predeceased her husband, and she presumably died ante March 1698, as we infer from the burial instructions in the will of her brother Lawrence. We infer that she had more than one child but only one surviving child. Evidence for this is that her brother Lawrence left a legacy to each of his sister’s children, but the papers surrounding her estate [as painstakingly gathered by C. Hoppin] show only one child, John, receiving such a legacy).

Child:

+16. John Wright. [C. HOPPIN, W.A., 1:233, 338-363; C. HOPPIN, Washington-Wright Connection, TQ 4 (1923) 153-186; C. HOPPIN, Some Desc. of R. Wright, TQ 1 (1919) 484-493; J. BURKE, AFBA, 2961; J.A.W., Outline, 12. Sources sometimes ascribe a second child, Ann Wright, to this union. Indeed, Charles A. HOPPIN (TQ 4 [1923] 159) refers to the two children of Anne (Washington) Wright, and the will of Lawrence Washington (older surviving son of the immigrant Col. John Washington) refers to my sister Anne Writts children (see C. HOPPIN, W.A., 1:239). This second child, Ann Wright, supposedly became the wife of Gerard Davis and is otherwise an extremely shadowy figure. Gerard and Ann (Wright) Davis reportedly had five daughters: Ann, Mary, Esther, Catherine, and Frances (see C. HOPPIN, Washington-Wright Connection, TQ, 4 (1923) 206; A. R. RITCHIE’s 3-vol. history of the Wright family has nothing to add). I am convinced, however, by John A. Washington’s arguments (correspondence, 8/17/1994) that John Wright was the only child of Maj. Francis Wright and his first wife, Anne (Washington) Wright:

Ann Washington was born 1661-1668, probably 1663-1665, and became the first wife of Francis Wright by 3 Jan. 1682/3. Her son John Wright was born before Mar. 1686, and probably before Sep. 1684. If Anne Wright, who married Gerard Davis was the daughter of Anne Washington, she was probably born in the mid 1680s. We don’t know when Anne Washington died, although it was clearly before her brother Lawrence’s will dated 11 March 1697/8. So any child of Anne Washington was certainly born before then.

Gerard Davis’s grandparents, James Johnson and Mrs. Elizabeth Gerard, were married 27 July 1687, so Gerard Davis’s mother was born no earlier than 1688. Gerard Davis, himself, was therefore born about 1708, and certainly not much earlier.

It is unreasonable, therefore, to suppose that Anne Wright, born probably in the 1680s, married Gerard Davis, born about 1708. Anne must have been the child of Francis Wright’s late second marriage to Martha Cox, and been a full sister of Richard Wright, the son of the second marriage.

While Lawrence Washington’s will does indeed refer to my sister Ann Writt’s children, plural, still only one such legacy appears to have been paid, in the accounts. See C. HOPPIN, W.A., 1:242, 239]

Generation Three

8. John Washington (II) (born in Westmoreland Co., Va., Nov. 12, 1692; resided in Gloucester Co., Va. He married [July 9, 1716] Catherine Whiting [born doubtless in Gloucester Co., Va., May 22, 1694; her distinguished father, Colonel Henry Whiting of Gloucester Co., had served as a Burgess, Councilor, and Treasurer of the Colony. Catherine died Feb. 7, 1743, and she was buried at their estate Highgate, Gloucester Co., Va. Here the Whiting arms appear on her tombstone that bears this inscription:

Underneath this Stone lyeth Interred

The Body of Mrs. Catherine Washington

Wife of Major John Washington

and Daughter of Coll Henry Whiting by

Elizabeth his wife

Born May the 22 1694

She was in her several Stations

A Loving and Obedient Wife a tender and

ever indulgent Mother, a kind and Compassionate

Mistress and above all

An Exemplary Christian

She Departed this life February ye 7th 1743

Age 49 years

to the Great Loss of All that had ye Happiness

of her Acquaintance.]

He built his home Highgate about one mile from the Piankatank River, on a plantation of ca. 2,000 acres that he had inherited from his maternal grandfather, Augustine Warner. A vestryman of Petsworth Parish in Gloucester County, Maj. John Washington died Sept. 1, 1746. His once fine home was already in a badly deteriorated state when it was destroyed by the devastating category-four Hurricane Hazel on Oct. 15, 1954).

Children:

17. Elizabeth Washington (born June 21, 1717; died unm. Feb. 5, 1736/7, and she was buried at Highgate. A brief obituary [a gentlewoman of great merit and beauty] appeared in the Virginia Gazette, Feb. 25, 1736/7. Her tombstone extols her as virtuous without reservedness, wise without affectation, beautiful without knowing it).

18. John Washington (born July 15, 1718; died young).

19. Mildred Washington (born Jan. 8, 1720/1; married [1st, ante 1750] Bayley Seaton [born ante 1715; held the militia post of Captain in Gloucester Co., Va. He died ante Sept. 4, 1751, as inferred from the vestry records of Petsworth Parish]. She married [2nd, ante Feb. 14, 1760] John Bushrod [born ca. 1706; died ante Dec. 30, 1760]. She d.s.p. ante July 5, 1785).

+20. Warner Washington.

+21. Catherine Washington.

+22. Henry Washington.

23. Matthew Washington (born Sept. 3, 1732; died young).

+24. Hannah Washington. [Quotations from C. A. JONES, Maj. John Washington of ‘Highgate,’ NNVHM, 26 (1976) 2868 (see also 2866-2873). See also: J. F. DORMAN, Adventurers, 2:548; H. RANDOLPH, Funsten-Meade, 74; N. A. REED, Family Papers, 240-241; J. BURKE, AFBA, 2962; J.A.W. Outline, 112]

9. Augustine Washington (born in Westmoreland Co., Va., between Aug. 1693 and April 1694; orphaned at an early age, he was later taken to England by his mother Mildred [Warner] Washington Gale and her second husband, George Gale, in the fall of 1698. They settled in White Haven, County Cumberland, and George Gale enrolled his young stepchildren in Appleby School, which was located about 50 miles away in County Westmorland, England. When Mildred fell seriously ill and died [apparently early in 1701], she made out a will on Jan. 26, 1701. She died not long afterward, and her surviving husband George Gale took custody of her Washington children in violation of their father’s will.

Back in Virginia, young Augustine’s Washington relatives were upset to learn that George Gale had usurped both the role of guardian for his Washington stepchildren and the income from their extensive Virginia holdings. Meanwhile, in England Augustine attended Appleby School for about three years, until he was about nine years old. He clearly had considerable respect for this school, for he later sent his two oldest sons to study there. After a lengthy legal dispute, young Augustine [along with his brother and sister] were returned to Virginia and the guardianship of their father’s cousin, John Washington of Chotank. [This guardian was the only son of the immigrant Lawrence Washington, who in turn was the younger brother of Augustine’s grandfather, the immigrant John Washington]. Augustine spent much of his youth at Chotank in what was then Stafford [later King George] Co., Va. His early adulthood was preoccupied with settling the very confused estate of his father. Gus Washington was described as blond, six feet tall, and a man of great physical strength.

Soon after reaching the age of twenty one, he married [1st, on April 20, 1715] fifteen year-old, well-to-do heiress Jane Butler [born presumably in Westmoreland Co., Va., Dec. 24, 1699]. With Jane’s lands now supplementing his own, Augustine began his career as a planter with more than 1,740 acres. For the third generation in his family, he became Justice of the Peace of Westmoreland County Court. Unlike his father, Augustine was an ambitious and avid land-speculator, and he added substantially to his original holdings. After long delays he completed [1726 or 1727] a modest home, later called Wakefield, on the west side of Pope’s Creek, less than a mile from where that stream flows into the Potomac.

Meanwhile, Augustine added iron ore to his interests in land and tobacco, and he accumulated more honors and positions of trust: church warden [1724] and Sheriff [March 1727]. To clarify his complicated partnership in an iron ore business, the Principio Company, Augustine began an extended visit to England in the summer of 1729. When he returned on May 26, 1730, he was shocked to learn that his wife Jane had died the previous November [Nov. 24, 1729]. The father of three young motherless children [a fourth had died young], the 37-year-old Augustine soon courted and married [2nd, on March 6, 1731] a moderately well-to-do orphan named Mary Ball [born ca. 1708, presumably on the 720-acre farm at the head of the Corotoman River in Lancaster Co., Va., where her parents had resided. While the date of her birth is unknown, it is framed by two documents. The first, a deed dated Feb. 7, 1707, conveying land from her grandfather William Ball to her father, Colonel Joseph Ball, included a phrase that if [his son] the said Colonel Joseph Ball [Jr.] shall take a wife. The second is the will of Mary’s father, dated June 25, 1711, naming her as one of his heirs.

The reputation of Mary Ball Washington has undergone some remarkable transformations. In the nineteenth century she was a saintly paragon of virtue, hailed as the good angel of the hearthstone. In the twentieth century she was typically vilified, as when the famous historian Samuel Eliot Morison? castigated her as grasping, querulous and vulgar, a selfish and exacting mother, whom most of her children avoided as soon and as early as they could … It is true that in her last years she complained much and caused her famous son George great aggravation. For much of that period, however, she was suffering a painful, lingering death from breast cancer, and extrapolating from that correspondence to reconstruct her relationship many years earlier with her young children is risky at best. Helping to balance the negative and grating aspects of her old age are the words of her son George, when in 1784 he acknowledged his debt to her, by whose Maternal hand (early deprived of a Father) I was led to Manhood. She would present Augustine with six children, of whom the first five lived to maturity].

The co-ownership of an iron works located on his land consumed much of Augustine’s time. To spur on the workers, he sometimes joined them in the heavy manual labor, inspiring legendary accounts of his strength. In his old age, a neighbor recalled that as a young man Augustine could lift single-handedly into wagons a large mass of iron which two other men could barely lift off the ground. Augustine went on to acquire sizeable holdings near Fredericksburg in Spotsylvania Co., Va., and he was named a trustee of the town.

He eventually amassed an estate of over 10,000 acres, but, like his father and grandfather, he too was destined to die relatively young. He fell seriously ill in the spring of 1743 and died at the age of about 49 on April 12, 1743. On his death bed he is said to have thanked God that he never struck a man in anger,

For if I had, I am sure that from my remarkable muscular powers I should have killed my antagonist and then his blood at this moment would have lain heavily on my soul. As it is, I die in peace with all men.

Augustine’s young widow, Mary Ball, lived on for another 46 years. She died at Ferry Farm, Stafford Co., Va., Aug. 25, 1789, four months after her first son, George, had taken the oath of office as the first president of the United States of America).

Children (by his 1st wife):

25. Butler Washington (born in Va., ca. 1716; died ante Nov. 24, 1729).

+26. Lawrence Washington.

+27. Augustine Washington, Jr.

28. Jane Washington (born in Va., ca. 1722; died Jan. 17, 1735).

Children (by his 2nd wife):

+29. George Washington.

+30. Betty Washington.

+31. Samuel Washington.

+32. John Augustine Washington.

+33. Charles Washington.

34. Mildred Washington (born June 21, 1739; died Oct. 23, 1740). [Quotations from C. H. JETT, Where Was Mary Ball Washington Born? NNVHM, 51 (2001) 6062, citing Lancaster Co., Va., Deeds and Wills 9:246 (Feb. 7, 1707); J. D. WARREN, Jr., Childhood of G. Washington, NNVHM, 49 (1999) 5795; S. E. MORISON, The Young Man Washington, 10; W. W. ABBOT et al. (Eds.), Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series, 1:122-123 (Feb. 14, 1784); and G. W. P. CUSTIS, letter in NEHGR 11 (1851) 5 (see bibliog. s.v. Charles Brown, General Washington). See also: Fam. Bible Record of Augustine and his second wife Mary (Ball) Washington in A. WELLES, Pedigree and History, 115-116 and E. B. WASHINGTON, Mother and Birthplace of Washington, Century Magazine 43 (1892) 831; J. F. DORMAN, Adventurers, 2:549-551; D. S. FREEMAN, G. Washington, 1:31-72; R. HEADLEY, Married Well and Often, 365; Burke’s Pres. Fam., 25-44; for the text of Augustine Washington’s will, see C. HOPPIN, The Will of Augustine Washington, Sr., TQ 9 (1927) 34-38, and for Mary Ball Washington’s will see Anon., In Memoriam: Mary Ball Washington, NNVHM, 39 (1989) 4340-4341; J.A.W., Outline, 113]

11. Mildred Washington (born between Oct. 1696 [allowing nine months after the latest likely birth of her parents’ previous child] and March 1698 [when she was named in her father’s will]. Orphaned at an early age, she was raised by her father’s first cousin, John Washington of Chotank in Stafford Co., Va. [He was the son of the immigrant Lawrence Washington, who in turn was the younger brother of the immigrant Colonel John Washington of Westmoreland County]. Mildred married [1st, ca. 1713-1714] John Lewis [born ca. 1694; died April 7, 1718]. She married [2nd, shortly post July 10, 1718] Roger Gregory [resided in Stratton Major Parish in King and Queen County. Colonel in the militia and a man of substance, he had inherited a valuable plantation on the Mattaponi River near its junction with the Pamunkey River (at which point the York River is formed) opposite the present town of West Point. This place is now called ‘Chain Ferry’ or ‘Shepherd’s Warehouse.’ He died between Oct. 1730 and May 1731].

Shortly after being widowed for a second time, she learned that her kinswoman, Mildred (Brown) Willis had died. The news caused her to weep and grieve inconsolably, and a puzzled friend finally asked young widow Mildred Gregory why she was so deeply moved by the loss of a cousin. Mildred explained that it was not just the loss of her cousin, though she loved her dearly. No, the worse part of it was that old Henry Willis would be down there to see her and she did not know what to do with him. Prophetic words, for the old cock sat himself down before her door and commenced a regular siege; she held out for some time, but finally capitulated.

Already twice a widow, Mildred now controlled a sizeable estate, and she did insist that her impetuous suitor sign a pre-marital agreement that assured her continued control of her estate and property that she would bring into their marriage. She then married [3rd, on Jan. 5, 1733/4] Henry Willis [born 1691 or 1692; appointed sheriff of Gloucester County as a young man, he was later represented Gloucester County in House of Burgesses, 1718, 1720-22, 1723-26. In the summer and fall of 1727 he spent some time in Spotsylvania Co., Va., and he succeeded in getting elected from that county to the House of Burgesses, serving from 1728-1734.

Described as an enormous man with a steam roller personality to match, he managed the unusual achievement of winning an appointment to the Spotsylvania County court in 1726, even before taking up residence there. During the 1728 session of the Assembly, he successfully sought an appointment as temporary Auditor to examine the account of the King’s Quit Rents. This gave him an excellent vantage point from which to scoop up cheap land because of lapsed tax payments. He thus obtained a patent for 10,000 acres in the Little Mountains of Spotsylvania County, which he later sold in large tracts for a hefty profit.

For most of this period, Willis had been living in King and Queen County, but he finally moved his family to Spotsylvania County by the fall of 1729. Earlier, in the spring of that same year, Henry Willis dramatically intervened to save the fledging town of Fredericksburg. The land on which it would stand belonged to the Royston and Buckner families, and the founding legislation stipulated that streets were to be laid out and lots sold within six months. The funds generated from this were to be used to pay off the Roystons and Buckners. No one took charge of these important civic obligations, until Henry Willis suddenly showed up in court at the last minute in May 1729. He produced two receipts for £50 each, signed by John Royston and Mrs. Sarah Buckner, which satisfied the conditions of the founding legislation. Where he got the money remains a mystery, but as Felder notes, without his action, the town would probably have disappeared in 1729.

Willis soon had his hand in just about every aspect of Spotsylvania County in general and Fredericksburg in particular. In 1730 alone, he was in charge of altering the town’s main road, served as town trustee, obtained appointments as county coroner and Lt. Colonel in the county militia, and played key roles in implementing the colony’s new and critically important Tobacco Act. By 1731 he was senior warden of St. George’s Church, and the following year he was instrumental in moving the county court house from Germanna to Fredericksburg. His warehouses by now had become the hub of tobacco trading, and thus the heart of the local economy. Fredericksburg now needed facilities like a courthouse and a prison, and Willis happened to have them available—at a good price for himself.

By 1734 the essential tradesmen in the new town [a merchant, a tailor, and a smith] were all operating out of land owned by Willis. That same year he had the ferry moved to his warehouse landing. In 1735 he landed the prestigious and highly lucrative post of clerk of the newly created Orange County court. When the new court first convened on Jan. 21, 1735, he conveniently produced a letter from the colonial Governor with instructions that the court was to be temporarily located in a house owned by Willis himself. While there is some evidence that local Orange County residents were highly disgruntled at the power yielded by a non-resident clerk, Willis tenaciously clung to the lucrative post for the rest of his life.

He was placed in charge of building the new courthouse, which was finally completed in 1740. Meanwhile, Willis was juggling so many ventures and projects that he was unable to manage them all properly. A notable example was his abject failure to provide adequate warehouse space for the county’s vital tobacco crop. He managed to hold his lucrative virtual monopoly of the warehouses, but only after receiving a stern rebuke from the Assembly and promising to reimburse the county from his bloated profits in 1738. That same year, however, he was elected for a second time to the prestigious post of senior warden of St. George Church.

Expanding his real estate empire became an increasing obsession, and on Aug. 5, 1740, Willis bought up seventeen lots that constituted one fourth of the town of Fredericksburg. This was no small feat, since the legislation that created the town explicitly forbade any individual from buying more than two lots. Willis circumvented the law by enlisting the help of various middle men and agents who went through the motions of buying the lots and then turned around and sold them to Willis. This bold coup was the last for Willis. He died five weeks later Sept. 14, 1740. He did not die a wealthy man. For all his scheming, his profits never far outstripped his debts and expenses, and his grandson Byrd Willis described him as a careless and extravagant man. As Paula Felder summed up, Surely there cannot have been another like him in the frontier counties. Even now, in the terse and archaic prose of the ancient record books, one can sense the friction and indignation he engendered with his steam roller tactics and chaotic methods]. Mildred survived her third husband Henry Willis, and she died Sept. 5, 1747).

Children (by her 2nd husband):

+35. Frances Gregory.

+36. Mildred Gregory.

+37. Elizabeth Gregory.

Child (by 3rd husband):

+38. Lewis Willis. [Quotations from M. H. HARRIS, Capt. Edward Lewis (1667-1713), VMHB, 62 (1954) 481-482 (this article in toto is an excellent source for the ancestry of Mildred’s first husband, John Lewis); B. C. WILLIS-R. H. WILLIS, Sketch of the Willis Fam., 27 (see also 26-45 for Henry Willis’s marriages and descendants); and P. FELDER, Forgotten Companions, 73, 75, 98 (for an excellent treatment of Henry Willis and his colorful career, see also 74-98). For Mildred Washington see also J. F. DORMAN, Adventurers, 2:551-552 and C. TORRENCE, A Virginia Lady of Quality, VMHB, 56 (1948) 42-56. Mildred’s first marriage (to John Lewis) is overlooked by early genealogists, but it is proved by various contemporary documents. As pointed out by Prentiss Price, G. H. S. KING, Overwharton Parish Registry, 1723 Quit Rent roll, shows Mildred Lewis paying quit rent on 2,500 acres. This property is obviously what later came to be called Mount Vernon: cf. the original lease in Morgan Library in New York City, dated 7/10/1718, where Mildred Lewis of King and Queen Co. leases 150 acres of this property (within the bounds of Mount Vernon) to William Sparks of Stafford Co. on Little Hunting Creek in Stafford Co. This proves that she was alive, proves she was a widow, and proves that she owned this land on Little Hunting Creek where her Mount Vernon property lay. In Mss. Division, Library of Congress papers of Joseph Toner, Roger Gregory and wife on 5/17/1726 sold this property that would become Mount Vernon to Augustine Washington, George Washington’s father. The best source for all of this material (as pointed out by Prentiss Price) is the periodical Genealogy and History (copy in the Library of Va.) items #3106 and #8447. See also: L. G. TYLER, Willis, WMCQ, 6 (1898) 206-214, esp. the Fam. Bible Record on pp. 509-511; W. STANARD, Colonial Va. Register, 102-108; P. CLARKE, Old King William, 58; J. BURKE, AFBA, 2962; J.A.W., Outline, 115]

14. Nathaniel Washington (born probably ca. 1690; he had not yet reached age 21 when he chose Nathaniel Pope as his guardian in Nov. 1708, meaning he was at least age fourteen but under 21. He married [ca. 1715] Mary [Dade?] [born ante 1694; died Oct. 23, 1747], and he died Sept. 15, 1718).

Child:

+39. John Washington. [W. STANARD Washington, VMHB, 22 [1914] 213, states that this Nathaniel Washington was alive and under age in 1708 when he chose a guardian. No further record of him has been noted. According to J. BURKE, AFBA, 2961, he married Mary Dade and was ancestor of the Washingtons of Caroline Co., Va. Death dates of Nathaniel and Mary are from G. H. S. KING, Reg. St. Paul’s, 148-149; J.A.W., Outline, 133]

15. Henry Washington (born in Westmoreland Co., Va., ca. 1694; chose Nathaniel Pope as his guardian on March 31, 1708. He moved to Stafford Co., Va., soon after his marriage [ca. 1720] to Mary Butler [she died Jan. 19, 1734/5. Many writers (including Douglas S. Freeman and Charles A. Hoppin) have misidentified her maiden name as "Mary Bailey. She was actually the daughter of John Butler, Jr., and Jane (Gullocke) Jackson. He, in turn, was the son of John Butler, Sr., and his wife Ann Baynham, who as the widow Butler married (2nd) Alexander Webster, and, again widowed, she married (3rd) Joseph Bayley. Widowed yet again, as the elderly Ann Bayly she left a bequest to her granddaughter Mary (Butler) Washington. Thus the name Bailey" (as it was later spelled) entered into the family.

Ann Bayly wrote her will in Westmoreland Co., Va. (Deeds & Wills, 8:88, dated March 13, 1731/2 and proved 25 Oct. 1732). It mentions her granddaughter Mary Washington and Mary’s husband Henry Washington, as well as Ann’s great-grandson Bayly Washington. Her husband Joseph Bailey left a will in Westmoreland Co., Va., making clear that he left no issue of his own, but naming a goddaughter (more accurately his step-granddaughter) Mary Butler (will dated Dec. 5, 1717 and proved Jan 29, 1717/8). Also surviving is the will of Caleb Butler (Westmoreland Deeds & Wills, 192-194, dated Feb. 16, 1708/9, proved May 5, 1709), which makes a bequest to Mary Butler, daughter of John Butler deceased … to my loving sister Anne wife of Mr. Joseph Bayley. Caleb thus calls Anne (Baynham) Butler Webster Bailey his loving sister, although she was actually his sister-in-law, having been married to his brother John. This same will confirms that Caleb had only one child of his own, viz., Jane Butler. This same Jane later was the first wife of Augustine Washington, who subsequently married Mary Ball and thus became the father of George Washington. Finally, a Stafford Co., Va., deed dated Oct. 7, 1691, conveys some land previously given on June 8, 1662 by Dorothy Baldridge to Anne Baynham, then the wife of John Butler, and now the wife of Alexander Webster].

In Stafford Co., Va., Henry Washington resided on Chotank Creek at Hylton. Rising to prominence there, he was commissioned a Justice in 1731 and 1745, and he was Sheriff of Stafford County in 1737. He died Oct. 22, 1748).

Children:

+40. Henry Washington II.

41. Nathaniel Washington (born Jan. 16, 1726; d.s.p. Nov. 28, 1745).

42. Mary Washington (born Aug. 9, 1728; d.s.p. ante Feb. 2, 1748).

+43. John Washington.

+44. Bailey Washington. [C. HOPPIN, SDCJW, 49-64; G. H. S. KING, Register of St. Paul’s Parish, 148-149; A. B. FOTHERGILL, Wills of Westmoreland Co., Va., 45 (will of Caleb Butler) and 64 (will of Joseph Bayley); J. F. DORMAN (ed.), Westmoreland Co., Va., Deeds and Wills No. 6, 1716-1720, 36-38 (will of Joseph Bailey); R. and S. SPARACIO, Deed and Will Abstracts of Westmoreland County Virginia, 1732-1734, 3 (will of Ann Bailey); R. and S. SPARACIO, Deed and Will Abstracts of Stafford County, Virginia, 1689-1693, 74-75; D. S. FREEMAN, G. Washington, 1:225; J. BURKE, AFBA, 2961; W. STANARD, Desc. of Two John Washingtons, VMHB, 22 (1914) 213-214; Prentiss Price, 3/30/1964 (citing Executive Journals of the Council, 4:392 and Henry Washington’s will in H. HAYDEN, Va. Genealogies, 519) in J.A.W., GSU #5; J.A.W., Outline, 134]

16. John Wright (born ca. 1682-1685; apparently the only surviving child, he inherited his father’s estate along the Potomac in Westmoreland Co., Va. He was a surveyor and Justice of Westmoreland County [commission dated Dec. 23, 1720] and he married [ca. 1703] Dorothy ____ [her last name is unknown. Hoppin and countless followers have given her surname as Aubrey or Awbrey, and have identified her as the granddaughter of the wealthy immigrant and prominent landholder Henry Aubrey, and daughter of his son Richard Aubrey. (This surname is variously spelled Aubrey, Aubry Awbrey, Aubery, and several other variations). The identification of Mrs. Dorothy Wright’s maiden name as Aubrey is almost certainly erroneous and is due to an apparently fallacious argument made by Charles A. Hoppin (Washington Ancestry, 1:360-366). Here Hoppin compiles a list of seventeen young Dorothys of marriageable age in the Northern Neck of Virginia, and then abruptly announces that only one of these is otherwise unaccounted for and must therefore be the wife of John Wright: Dorothy Awbrey. In 2004, however, the attorney Robert N. Grant of Menlo Park, Cal., effectively demolished Hoppin’s theory. Author of numerous works based heavily on the primary sources of Colonial Virginia, Grant skillfully pointed out that the Dorothy Aubrey in question is definitely not unaccounted for. Grant cites a deed in Essex Co., Va., dated Feb. 11, 1729, which clearly identifies John Billups & Dorithy my wife … Daughter & heir Apparent of Richd. Aubery Decd Son of Henry Aubery Decd. Since Dorothy Aubrey is thus established as the wife of John Billups on Feb. 11, 1729, it is very unlikely that this same woman was the wife (and mother of the children) of the John Wright (son of Maj. Francis Wright) whose death is plausibly dated by Hoppin himself to 1729-1730 (see C. Hoppin, Washington Ancestry, 1:386)].

In any event, John Wright had a respectable if not spectacular record of public service. Appointed county surveyor on April 27, 1715, he moved up to the prestigious post of Justice of the Peace on Dec. 23, 1720. In the summer of 1723, however, the Wrights moved about 50 miles up the Potomac to the northwestern frontier of Stafford County, which soon became Prince William County. There, as pioneers, they established a 1,000 acre estate near Powell’s Run and within a few miles of the county seat, Dumfries. He undoubtedly was a man of some influence there, but the destruction of that county’s records for that period deny us further information. He died ca. 1729-1730, and was survived by his widow Dorothy, who died intestate ca. 1738-1739 [for their death dates see C. Hoppin, Washington Ancestry, 1:386-387]. There is clear proof that they had a son, Francis. In spite of Charles A. Hoppin’s claims for equal certainty for a younger son John, the evidence of such a son is clearly circumstantial. Hoppin’s argument in favor of the existence of a younger son John [see C. Hoppin, Washington Ancestry, 1:394-408] went virtually unchallenged for over 70 years until the genealogist Robert N. Grant raised serious arguments against it in Feb. 2008).

Children:

+45. Francis Wright.

+46. John Wright II. [C. HOPPIN, Washington-Wright, TQ, 4 (1923) 187-210; C. HOPPIN, Desc. of R. Wright, TQ 1 (1919) 186-209; C. HOPPIN, W.A., 1:367-369; R. GRANT, Identification of 1809 William Wright, 9-13; A. R. RITCHIE, 21, 37-38; J.A.W., Outline, 121]

Generation Four

20. Warner Washington (born presumably at Highgate, Gloucester Co., Va., Sept. 22, 1722; married [1st, ca. Dec. 1, 1747] Elizabeth Macon [born Feb. 15, 1728/9; her father Colonel William Macon lived in New Kent Co., Va. Elizabeth died April 28, 1763]. He married [2nd, on May 10, 1764] Hannah Fairfax [born Aug. 1742; wrote her will in Frederick, now Clarke Co., Va., at her home Fairfield, and she died May 29, 1804. She was the younger half-sister of Anne Fairfax, who married Gen. George Washington’s older half-brother Lawrence Washington]. He was a close friend of his first cousin, President George Washington, and they often enjoyed each others’ hospitality. Warner served as vestryman of Petsworth Parish in Gloucester Co., Va., from 1747 to 1769. J.A.W. points out that as the eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son of the elder immigrant John Washington, he [Warner Washington] is the primogeniture head of the Washington family in America in his generation.

Warner lived at the farm called Highgate in Gloucester Co., Va., until about 1770, when he joined a large migration of wealthy Virginians from the first-settled, tidewater part of Virginia into the Shenandoah River valley country. About the time of his second marriage in 1764, Warner acquired 1,600 acres in Frederick (now Clarke) Co., Va. About 1784 he acquired the beautiful mansion Fairfield, which still stands. It seems probable that the house was actually built a short time before by John Ariss. Warner frequently held the office of magistrate in Frederick County from 1769 to ca. 1788, and in 1776 he was one of the original trustees for the newly created town of Bath [Berkeley Springs]. He died presumably at Fairfield, Frederick Co., Va., June 23, 1790. Two unnamed twins, a son and daughter by his first wife, were born and died Aug. 1, 1748).

Children (surviving; by his 1st wife):

47. John Washington (born Aug. 5, 1749; died Nov. 1758).

+48. Warner Washington II.

Children (by his 2nd wife):

+49. Mildred Washington.

+50. Hannah Washington.

+51. Catherine Washington.

52. Frances Mosley Washington (born Nov. 30, 1770; died Nov. 30, 1772).

53. Elizabeth Washington (born presumably at Fairfield, Frederick Co., Va., Sept. 21, 1773; married at Fairfield [June 11, 1795] Dr. George Booth. She died a few months after her marriage).

54. Louisa Washington (born presumably at Fairfield, Frederick Co., Va., 1775; married at Fairfield [Feb. 1798] Thomas, 9th Lord Fairfax [born 1762; resided as Vaucluse, Fairfax Co., Va.]. She d.s.p. April 28, 1798).

+55. Fairfax Washington.

+56. Whiting Washington. [Birth date of Warner, Sr. from a very old copy of a Family Record in H. RANDOLPH, Funsten-Meade, 74-76. For the Fairfax family (Anne, Hannah, and Lord Thomas), see Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage, 105th ed., 976-977. See also: J. F. DORMAN, Adventurers, 2:549, citing Frederick Co., Va., Superior Court Will Bk. 1, 1790-1802, pp. 104-108, and Frederick Co. Will Bk. 7:238-240; M. HAIT-C. SCOTT, Implied Marriages of Fairfax Co., Va., 69, 234; J. WAYLAND, Washingtons, 169-181, who gives Warner’s year of birth as 1715 and includes a detailed summary of the will of Warner Washington, Sr. (p. 177) and his widow Hannah (Fairfax) Washington (pp. 177-178); T. T. WATERMAN, Mansions of Va., 334-336; G. N. MacKENZIE, CFUSA, 2:278, who gives 1771 as the year of birth for Elizabeth Washington (#53); BURKE, AFBA, 2962; J.A.W., Outline, 1124. As J.A.W. and J. F. Dorman attest, by far the most credible source for the disputed dates of this family is the old copy of a still older Bible record, reproduced in H. RANDOLPH, Funsten-Meade, opposite p. 74 (see also transcription on pp. 75-76)]

21. Catherine Washington (born presumably at Highgate, Gloucester Co., Va., Feb. 11, 1724/5; married her 2nd cousin [Oct. 18, 1746] Fielding Lewis [born in Gloucester Co., Va., July 7, 1725; he was noted for both his close association with George Washington and his contributions to the cause of American independence. In addition to marrying Washington’s first cousin, Catherine, by whom he had three children, Fielding later married Washington’s only surviving full sister, Betty, by whom he had eleven more. For Fielding Lewis, see further below the entry for his second wife, Betty Washington [#30]. Catherine never fully recovered from the difficult delivery of her third child, Warner, who lived only about a week. A few weeks later Catherine died at the age of 25 on Feb. 19, 1749/50, survived by just one of her three children).

Children:

+57. John Lewis.

58. Frances Lewis (born Nov. 26, 1748; she was a godmother of her younger half-sister Betty Lewis [who married Charles Carter]. Frances was almost certainly alive in 1771, since her father’s Family Bible Record of deaths was quite complete up until that time. Neither she nor any child of hers is mentioned in her father’s will dated Oct. 19, 1781). Two letters by George Washington dated Sept. 25, 1783 and May 2, 1792 make it clear that she died without issue.

59. Warner Lewis (born Nov. 27, 1749; died Dec. 1749). [Birth date of Catherine from a very old copy of a Family Record in H. RANDOLPH, Funsten-Meade, 74-76; M. SORLEY, Lewis, 131-250, passim; P. FELDER, Fielding Lewis, esp. 68-69 and Fielding Lewis’s valuable Fam. Bible Record on 72-73; J. C. FITZPATRICK, Writings of George Washington, 2:71-72; W. W. ABBOT, D. TWOHIG et al. (eds.), Papers of George Washington. Presidential Series, 10:335; Catherine and her husband Fielding Lewis were grandchildren of two Warner sisters, Mildred and Elizabeth; J.A.W., Outline, 1125]

22. Henry Washington (born presumably at Highgate, Gloucester Co., Va., Sept. 13, 1727 or 1728; married [1st, on Jan. 9, 1749] Anne Thacker [born Aug. 3, 1728; she was the daughter of Colonel Edwin Thacker of Middlesex Co., Va.]. He married [2nd, on March 3, 1759 or 1760] Mrs. Charlotte [Foushee] Montague [died 1791; she was the widow of John Montague]. He died in Middlesex Co., Va., ca. 1765, where he left a will dated Dec. 29, 1765).

Children (by his 1st wife):

60. John Washington (born May 27, 1750; died May 30, 1750).

+61. Thacker Washington.

+62. Elizabeth Washington.

63. Catherine Washington (born ca. 1756; married ___, and she died post 1783).

64. Anne Washington (born ca. 1758; married [May 11, 1776] Thomas Peyton [son and heir of Sir John Peyton, Baronet, of Isleham; Thomas was born in Kingston Parish, Gloucester Co., Va., ca. 1751; attended William and Mary College, and he was a vestryman of Kingston Parish. He died ante 1809]. Anne died Jan. 10, 1777). [H. HAYDEN, Va. Genealogies, 471; BURKE, AFBA, 2962; PEYTON SOC., Peytons of Va., 2:4; birth date of Henry Washington from a very old copy of a Family Record in H. RANDOLPH, Funsten-Meade, 74-76; J.A.W., Outline, 1126]

24. Hannah Washington (born Jan. 10, 1734/5; married [ca. 1753] Matthew Whiting [born Nov. 21, 1730; after Hannah’s death he remarried. He died Nov. 19, 1810, and his will mentions no children]. They resided in Prince William Co., Va., and she died ante Feb. 26, 1763).

Child:

65. Matthew Whiting (born ca. 1754; J.A.W. identifies him with the Matthew Whiting who attended William and Mary in 1772 and who served in the Continental Army as 2nd Lt. of the 3rd Va. Regt. in 1776-1777. He died unm. late in 1779. As George Washington wrote on Sept. 25, 1783, Hannah Washington had one child only. This son perished in the same vessel on which Mr. Lynch and others of Charleston were lost. This refers to Thomas Lynch, signer of the Declaration of Independence, who was lost when his ship went down with all hands late in 1779 on a voyage from Charleston, S.C. to the West Indies). [J. C. FITZPATRICK, Writings of George Washington, 2:71-72; M. Whiting, Sr.’s obit. in Alexandria Gazette, 12/1/1810 and his will proved in Prince William Co., 12/4/1811; DAB (s.v. Thomas Lynch); J.A.W. Outline, 1128]

26. Lawrence Washington (born 1718; in history he has become defined and overshadowed by his being the elder half-brother of General George Washington. In his brief lifetime, however, the roles were reversed. The eldest and most favored son of Augustine Washington, Lawrence returned to Virginia in 1738 after completing a fine British education at the Appleby School in Co. Westmorland, England. His grace, manners, and bearing presumably impressed his then five-year old half-brother George, who, according to most historians and biographers, admiringly took Lawrence as something of a role model and inspiration. This orthodoxy has been cogently challenged, however, by Jack D. Warren, Jr., who argued in 1999:

Not once, in all of the thousands of pages of his surviving papers, did George express admiration for Lawrence, or gratitude for anything Lawrence may have done for him. He rarely mentioned Lawrence at all.

Warren attributes this not to any ingratitude on George’s part, but rather to a relatively small and peripheral influence that Lawrence probably exerted on his much younger half-brother.

In any event, the following year of 1739 brought war between England and Spain, and the British Admiral Edward Vernon immediately achieved a brilliant victory by seizing the Spanish town of Porto Bello in Panama. Vernon was now authorized to raise a large force, including 400 Virginians, to make an attack on the rich city of Cartagena. The sons of the leading Virginia planters contended fiercely to command one of the four Virginia companies, but Lawrence won the highest honor: he was named first among the four Virginia captains. The expedition, however, ended in failure, beaten by disease and an incompetent British general who frustrated Vernon’s strategies. Like most of the colonials, Lawrence and his company never saw any action, but viewed the disastrous siege from shipboard.

Upon his return to Virginia in 1742, the 24-year-old Lawrence was appointed to the newly vacant post of Adjutant-General of Virginia and elected to the House of Burgesses for Fairfax County, an honor which he retained until 1749. Upon his father’s death in 1743, Lawrence inherited the largest share of his sizeable estate, and less than three months later he married [July 19, 1743] Anne Fairfax [born ca. 1728; she was the half-sister of Bryan, 8th Baron Fairfax]. Anne’s wealthy father, Colonel William Fairfax, was first cousin and agent of the powerful, sole Proprietor of Virginia, Thomas Lord Fairfax. Soon Lawrence began a traditional two-story Virginia plantation house, formed around a central hall with two rooms on either side, with a similar arrangement upstairs. In honor of his much admired naval commander, he named it Mount Vernon.

While serving in the House of Burgesses in winter of 1748-1749, Lawrence had to ask for a leave-of-absence due to illness. He resumed his duties as a Burgess when the session convened in 1749, but by May his worsening health forced him to return home. During this same year, his third and youngest child, Mildred, died; their other two children had also died in infancy. In search of medical treatment, and to promote a colonial business enterprise, Lawrence sailed for England in the summer of 1749, and returned without any medical relief by early November. His cough continued to worsen, and on Sept. 28, 1751 Lawrence set sail for Barbados in the hope of regaining his health. His companion in the voyage was his half-brother, George. Though George soon returned to Virginia, Lawrence went on to Bermuda, where his health only worsened. Resigned to his fate, he returned home to Virginia by June 16, 1752, to settle his affairs and die among his wife and kinsmen. The end came on July 26, 1752 at the age of 34 or 35—young even by Washington standards. Sometime that same year, his fourth and last child, Sarah, like her three siblings, died in infancy. His wife Anne [Fairfax] Washington died March 14, 1761).

Children:

66. Jane Washington (born Sept. 27, 1744; died Jan. 1745-1746).

67. Fairfax Washington (born Aug. 22, 1747; died Oct. 1747).

68. Mildred Washington (born Sept. 28, 1748; died 1749).

69. Sarah Washington (born Nov. 7, 1750; died 1752). [Quotation from J. D. WARREN, Childhood of George Washington, NNVHM, 49 (1999) 5809 (see also passim). On the Fairfax family, see J. T. FLEXNER, George Washington, The Forge of Experience, 26-33, and Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage, 105th ed., 976-977, although the latter oddly gives the marriage date of Lawrence Washington and Anne Fairfax as July 10, 1743. See also: D. S. FREEMAN, G. Washington, 1:57-267 (and esp. p. 76 for the Washington-Fairfax marriage date); J. F. DORMAN, Adventurers, 2:550 (agreeing with Freeman on the marriage date); W. STANARD, Colonial Va. Register, 114-125; Burke’s Pres. Fam., 25; J.A.W., Outline, 1132]

27. Augustine Washington, Jr. (born in Va., ca. 1720; usually styled Austin, he was educated at the British school Appleby, like his father and his older brother Lawrence. Upon his father’s death in 1743, he inherited the family estate on Pope’s Creek in Westmoreland County. He apparently enjoyed the quiet life of a gentleman farmer and lacked his father’s burning zeal for acquiring mercantile, industrial, and far-flung land development interests. Like most of the early Washingtons, however,