Washington family

The Washington family is an American family of English origins. It was prominent in colonial America and rose to great economic and political eminence especially in the Colony of Virginia, owning several highly valued Plantations, mostly making their money in tobacco farming. They are best known as the family of the first president of the United States, George Washington (1732–1799), and of his nephew, Bushrod Washington (1762–1829), who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

For the painting by Edward Savage, see The Washington Family.

Washington family
Coat of arms
Pedigree and arms of the Washington line until George Washington
Current region	Virginia, United States
Earlier spellings	de Washington, earlier; de Wessington
Etymology	Derives from Wessington (Washington) in the County of Durham
Place of origin	Washington Old Hall, England
Founded	12th century
Traditions	Anglicanism / Episcopalian
Estate(s)	Washington Old Hall, Mount Vernon, Abingdon (plantation), Arlington House, Beall-Air, Blakeley (West Virginia), Blenheim (Wakefield Corner, Virginia), Bushfield (Mount Holly, Virginia), Cedar Lawn, Claymont Court, Germantown White House, Fairfield (Berryville, Virginia), Ferry Farm, Harewood (West Virginia), Kenmore (Fredericksburg, Virginia), River Farm, Sulgrave Manor, Tudor Place, Washington Bottom Farm, George Washington Birthplace, Mary Ball Washington House, White House (plantation), Woodlawn (Alexandria, Virginia)

The Washington Family (1789–1796) by Edward Savage

The family traces its descent from John Washington, born, 1631 in Tring, Hertfordshire, England, who arrived in the Colony of Virginia in 1657 after being shipwrecked.[1][2] President Washington's immediate ancestry entirely traces back to England, save for at least two lines. A paternal great-great-great-grandfather, Nicolas Martiau, was a Huguenot from Île de Ré, France and naturalized Englishman, who arrived at Virginia aboard the Francis Bonaventure in 1620.[3]

Roots in England

The Washington family traces its roots to Sir William de Hertburn who was a paternal descendant of the Earls of Northumbria. During the Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror, William de Hertburn was granted the lordship of Wessyington in northeast England and adopted the name of the estate "de Wessyington" later becoming the surname "Washington". For the next 500 years or so the Washington family would continue to be distinguished members of the County Durham landed gentry. However they were never made members of the English Peerage.

Old Hall, the Washington ancestral home.

The direct ancestral home of the Washington family from 1180 to 1613 is Washington Old Hall, a manor house located in the centre of the Washington area of Tyne and Wear, England.[4] It is owned by the National Trust.[5] Lawrence Washington (1602–1652), President George Washington's great-great-grandfather, was a notable English rector. His brother, Sir William Washington married the half sister of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham.[1][6]

History in Virginia

First generation

The Washington family arrived in the Colony of Virginia in 1657, when John Washington, the son of Lawrence Washington and Amphillis Twigden,[7] was shipwrecked. John sailed on the ship the Seahorse.[8][9] He was a planter, soldier, and politician in colonial Virginia in North America and a lieutenant colonel in the local militia. He settled in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

John Washington married Anne Pope in 1658 and had the following children: Lawrence Washington (the paternal grandfather of President George Washington), John Washington II and Anne Washington.[7] There were two additional children, names unknown, mentioned as deceased when he wrote his will on 21 September 1675.[2][10][7] Anne Pope was the daughter of Englishman Nathaniel Pope and Lucy Fox.[11]

Second generation

The family, especially Lawrence Washington rose to great economic prominence, especially in regards to real estate, owning servals plantations, mostly for Tobacco cultivation.[2][12][7] Lawrence married Mildred Warner in 1686 and had three children, John Washington III (1692–1746), Augustine (1694–1743) and Mildred (1698–1747).[13] Warner (1671-1701) was the daughter of Augustine Warner Jr. and Mildred Reade. Her paternal grandparents were English settlers Augustine Sr. and Mary.[14]

Lawrence died at the age of 38 in February 1698 at Warner Hall, Gloucester County, Colony of Virginia, the same year in which his daughter was born. Following his death, Mildred Warner Washington married George Gale, who moved the family to Whitehaven, England where Mildred died in 1701 aged 30 following a difficult childbirth.[7][15]

Third generation

Augustine Washington was born at Bridges Creek plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on November 12, 1694 to Capt. Lawrence Washington and Mildred Warner. Augustine married twice, his second marriage in 1730 to Mary Ball produced the following six children: George (eldest and first President of the United States), Elizabeth "Betty", Samuel, John, Charles and Mildred Washington.[16]

Augustine Washington

Mary Ball

Mary Ball (born c. 1707) was raised in the family Epping Forest estate, the only child of Joseph Ball (1649–1711), an English justice, vestryman, lieutenant colonel, and Burgess in the Colony of Virginia and Mary Johnson.[17][18]

The Washington family owned land (on the banks of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia) since the time of Augustine’s grandfather John Washington in 1674. Around 1734, Augustine brought his second wife Mary and children to the plantation called Little Hunting Creek when George was about two years old. Augustine began on an expansion of the family home that continued under their son George, who began leasing the Mount Vernon estate in 1754, becoming its sole owner in 1761.[19]

Fourth generation

George Washington with the Marquis de Lafayette at Mount Vernon.

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732 at Popes Creek, Virginia, British America and the oldest of six children to Augustine and Mary Washington. He became an American political leader, military general, and founding father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Washington died on December 14, 1799, aged 67 at Mount Vernon, the families estate in Virginia.[20] Washington had no biological children. His wife Martha Dandridge had four children from her first marriage to Daniel Parke Custis. These step-children were Daniel Custis (1751–1754), Frances Custis (1753–1757), John "Jacky" Parke Custis (1754–1781) and Martha "Patsy" Parke Custis (1756–1773).[21]

• Elizabeth "Betty" Washington was the younger sister of George Washington and the only sister to live to adulthood. She was born in 1733 in Westmoreland County, Colony of Virginia.
• Samuel Washington was a colonial American officer and politician (b.1733) in Popes Creek (Virginia).
• John Augustine Washington (1736–1787) married Hannah Bushrod (1735-1801) in 1756 and had six children including Bushrod Washington.[22][23]
• Charles Washington (1738-1799) was the youngest brother.
• Mildred Washington

George Washington family tree and lineage

This table sets out the ancestry of President George Washington for five generations, numbered according to the ahnentafel genealogical numbering system.

Ancestors of George Washington

16. Lawrence Washington IV[9] 8. John Washington 17. Amphyllis Twigden[9] 4. Lawrence Washington VI 18. Nathaniel Pope[24] 9. Anne Pope[25] 19. Lucy (Luce) Fox[24] 2. Augustine Washington[9] 20. Augustine Warner 10. Augustine Warner Jr. 21. Mary Towneley[26] 5. Mildred Warner 22. George Read[27] 11. Mildred Reade 23. Elizabeth Martian (Martiau)[27] 1. George Washington 24. William Ball 12. William Ball[9][28] 25. Dorothy Tuttle 6. Joseph Ball[29] 26. Thomas Atherold[30] 13. Hannah Atherold 27. Mary Harvey[30] 3. Mary Ball[9] 7. Mary Johnson[31]   Parents   Grandparents   Great-grandparents   Great-great-grandparents

Heraldry

Main article: Coat of arms of the Washington family

Coat of arms of the Washington family

Notes The design (three red stars over two horizontal red bars on a white field) has been used since 1938 as the basis for the coat of arms and flag of the District of Columbia. It is also found on the Purple Heart. Adopted 12th century, when the Washington family took possession of Washington Old Hall, County Durham, England. Crest From a crest coronet a raven rising wings elevated and addrosed proper. Escutcheon Argent two bars Gules, in chief three mullets of the second.[32] Motto Exitus acta probat (The outcome is the test of the act)

References

1. "Washington Old Hall". Newcastle Gateshead. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
2. Whipple, Wayne (1911). The story-life of Washington; a life-history in five hundred true stories. University of Michigan. Philadelphia, The John C. Winston company.
3. Merrow Egerton Sorley, ed. (1935). Lewis of Warner Hall: The History of a Family, Including the Genealogy of Descendants in Both the Male and Female Lines, Biographical Sketches of Its Members, and Their Descent from Other Early Virginia Families. Genealogical Publishing Co. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-8063-0831-9. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
4. "Washington Old Hall". Newcastle Gateshead. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
5. "Washington Old Hall". National Trust. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
6. Merrow Egerton Sorley, ed. (1935). Lewis of Warner Hall: The History of a Family, Including the Genealogy of Descendants in Both the Male and Female Lines, Biographical Sketches of Its Members, and Their Descent from Other Early Virginia Families. Genealogical Publishing Co. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-8063-0831-9. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
7. "John Washington and His Descendants". kenmore.org. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
8. White, Jim. "Washington". Retrieved 2020-06-14.
9. Frank E. Grizzard (2002). George Washington: A Biographical Companion. ABC-CLIO. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-57607-082-6.
10. "Washington Genealogy - President George Washington Family History". www.archives.com. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
11. Higginbotham, Don. "George Washington reconsidered". Retrieved 2020-06-14.
12. "Washington Genealogy - President George Washington Family History". www.archives.com. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
13. Collier, Kim S. "George Washington and the American Revolution". Retrieved August 4, 2020.
14. "Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5:". Retrieved August 14, 2020.
15. "Washington Family: Third Generation" Archived 2009-01-04 at the Wayback Machine, Genealogy.com
16. Grizzard, Frank E. "George Washington: A Biographical Companion". Retrieved August 4, 2020.
17. "Ball Family". Mount Vernon. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
18. "Mary Ball ancestry related to Joseph Ball Estate Johnson Gilbert Bird Day". Newspapers.com. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
19. "Expansion of Mount Vernon's Mansion". George Washington's Mount Vernon. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
20. Grizzard, Frank E. "George Washington: A Biographical Companion". Retrieved August 8, 2020.
21. "Washington family". Retrieved August 16, 2020.
22. Wayland, John Walter (1944). The Washingtons and Their Homes. Baltimore, Maryland: Clearfield. p. 125. ISBN 0806347759. OCLC 39055916 – via Google Books.
23. "Hannah Bushrod". Retrieved August 16, 2020.
24. "Pope Ancestry". The William and Mary Quarterly. 24 (3): 194–198. January 1916. doi:10.2307/1915129. JSTOR 1915129.
25. John W. Wayland (June 2009). The Washingtons and Their Homes. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 332. ISBN 978-0-8063-4775-2.
26. New England Historic Geneaological Society Nexus. 4–5. New England Historic Genealogical Society. 1987. p. 24. Augustine Warner (1611-1674) of Norwich, England, and Warner Hall & (13) Mary Towneley (1614-1662), originally of Stone Edge, Lancashire.
27. Frances M. Smith (1909). Colonial Families of America. F. Allaben genealogical Company. George Reade.
28. Earl Leon Werley Heck (1928). Colonel William Ball of Virginia: the great-grandfather of Washington. S. M. Dutton. pp. 20–.
29. Edmund Jennings Lee (16 June 2008). Lee of Virginia, 1642-1892: Biographical and Genealogical Sketches of the Descendants of Colonel Richard Lee. Heritage Books. p. 545. ISBN 978-0-7884-2103-7. The Ball Family.
30. From Jamestown to Texas: A History of Some Early Pioneers of Austin County the Colonial Capitol of Texas. iUniverse. October 2002. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-595-24223-8.
31. Gary Boyd Roberts. Ancestors of American Presidents.Ancestors of American Presidents
32. Bolton's American Armory. Boston: F. W. Faxon Co, 1927