Samuel Washington

Samuel Washington (November 27, 1734 [O.S. November 16, 1734] – September 26, 1781) was a colonial American officer and politician who was the brother of United States President George Washington.

Samuel Washington
Born	November 16, 1734 Pope's Creek, Colony of Virginia, British America
Died	September 26, 1781(1781-09-26) (aged 46) Berkeley County, Virginia (now West Virginia)
Spouse(s)	Jane Champe ​ ( m. 1754; died 1755) Mildred Thornton ​ ( m. 1756; died 1762) Lucy Chapman ​ ( m. 1762; died 1763) Anne Steptoe ​ ( m. 1764; died 1777) Susannah Perrin ​ ( m. 1778; his death 1781)
Children	9, including George, Lawrence
Parent(s)	Mary Ball Washington Augustine Washington
Relatives	George Washington (brother) Betty Washington Lewis (sister) John A. Washington (brother) Charles Washington (brother) Lawrence Washington (half-brother) Augustine Washington Jr. (half-brother)

Early life

Washington was born in Pope's Creek, Wakefield, Westmoreland County, Colony of Virginia, in November 1734. He was the second son born to Mary Ball Washington and Augustine Washington. From his parents marriage he was the brother of George Washington, Betty Washington Lewis, John Augustine Washington, Charles Washington, and Mildred Washington, who died young. From his father's first marriage, he was the half-brother of Lawrence Washington and Augustine Washington Jr., and Jane Washington, who died shortly after his birth.[1]

From 1735 to 1738, he resided at Mount Vernon.[1]

Career

"Harewood," Samuel Washington house, designed by John Ariss in 1770, photographed by Frances Benjamin Johnston, ca. 1930s

Samuel served in numerous posts in Stafford County, Virginia, including justice from November 1766 until he was listed as removed on July 27, 1767, he was one of twenty seven justices of Stafford County.[1] He was appointed justice of the peace by Governor John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore on April 17, 1772, and a year later was appointed county sheriff, reappointed in 1776, but was forced to resign due to ill health on April 3, 1777. He also served as county magistrate, a Colonel in the Virginia Militia, and parish vestryman.

He had Harewood, a Georgian-style mansion near then Charles Town, Virginia, designed by the renowned architect John Ariss in 1770. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.[2] Among the prominent visitors to the home were his brother George, Louis Phillipe, later King of France, and his two brothers, the Duke of Montpensier and the Count de Beaujolais, a son of the Marquis de Lafayette.[1] His home was also the host of the wedding of James Madison and Dolly Payne Todd as Dolly's sister, Lucy, had previously been married to one of Samuel's sons.[1]

Personal life

Samuel married five times[3] and had nine children. His first marriage was to Jane Champe (1724–1755)[4] around 1754.[5] Two years after his first wife's death, he married secondly to Mildred Thornton (c. 1741–c. 1762) circa 1756. She possibly died during or shortly after childbirth.[5] Her cousin, also named Mildred Thornton, married Samuel's younger brother Charles. Together, Mildred and Samuel were the parents of:[4]

• Thornton George Washington (1760–1787),[6] who married twice.[7]
• Tristram Washington (c. 1762), who died young.

After Mildred's death, he married for the third time to Lucy Chapman (1743–1763), who also died during childbirth with:[4]

• Infant Washington (1762–1762), who died young.

His fourth marriage was to Anne Steptoe (1737–1777) in 1764.[5] This marriage produced four children before her death while taking the smallpox inoculation during the Revolutionary War in 1777, including:[4][8]

• Ferdinand Steptoe Washington (1767–1788), who died of consumption in Lancaster County.[9]
• George Steptoe Washington (1773–1809), who married Lucy Payne, sister of Dolley Madison, wife of James Madison.
• Lawrence Augustine Washington (1775–1824), who married Mary Dorcas Wood.[10]
• Harriot Washington (1776–1822),[11] who married Andrew Parks of Fredericksburg.[4]

His fifth and final marriage was in 1778 to Susannah Perrin (1753–1783).[5] Together, Susannah and Samuel were the parents of:[4]

• John Perrin Washington (1781–1784), who died young.[12]

Washington, who suffered from tuberculosis, as did many of his wives and sons,[5] died at age 46 on September 26, 1781, in Berkeley County, Virginia,[7] three weeks before the decisive Franco-American victory of Yorktown. His probable cause of death was from tuberculosis, or a similarly contagious and recurring respiratory disease.[13]

Descendants

Through his son George, he was the grandfather of Samuel Walter Washington (1799–1831), who married Louisa Clemson, sister of Ambassador Thomas Green Clemson, who served as the United States Superintendent of Agriculture and founded Clemson University in South Carolina.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Samuel Washington

16. Lawrence Washington 8. John Washington 17. Amphyllis Twigden 4. Lawrence Washington 18. Nathaniel Pope 9. Anne Pope 19. Lucy (Luce) Fox 2. Augustine Washington 20. Augustine Warner 10. Augustine Warner Jr. 21. Mary Towneley 5. Mildred Warner 22. George Reade 11. Mildred Read 23. Elizabeth Martian (Martiau) 1. Samuel Washington 24. William Ball 12. William Ball 25. Dorothy Tuttle 6. Joseph Ball 26. Thomas Atherold 13. Hannah Atherold 27. Mary Harvey 3. Mary Ball 28. Peter Montague 14. Peter Montague 29. Cicely Matthews 7. Mary Montague 30. Meindert Doodes 15. Mary Doodes 31.Mary Garrett (or Geret)

References

1. Bushong, Millard Kessler (2009). A History of Jefferson County, West Virginia [1719-1940]. Heritage Books. pp. 308–310. ISBN 9780788422508. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
3. Ambler, Charles Henry. "George Washington and the West". Historic Pittsburgh Text Collection. University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
4. Grizzard, Frank E. (2002). George Washington: A Biographical Companion. ABC-CLIO. pp. 337–338. ISBN 9781576070826. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
5. Glenn, Justin (2014). The Washingtons: A Family History: Volume 1: Seven Generations of the Presidential Branch. Savas Publishing. p. 78. ISBN 9781940669267. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
6. "To George Washington from Thornton Washington, 1 August 1784". founders.archives.gov. Founders Online. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
7. The Society (1904). Lineage Book. Daughters of the American Revolution. p. 49. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
8. Smolenyak, Megan Smolenyak (September 2008). King. Ancestry Magazine, Vol. 26, No. 5. p. 26. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
9. "From George Washington to George Steptoe Washington, 6 August 1788". founders.archives.gov/. Founders Online. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
10. Glymph (ed.), James L. (2011). Jefferson County Historical Society Magazine (2011). Jefferson County Historical Society (WV) Magazine. p. 81. Retrieved January 3, 2018.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
11. "To George Washington from Harriot Washington, 2 April 1790". founders.archives.gov. Founders Online. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
12. "To George Washington from Francis Willis, Jr., 24 September 1788". founders.archives.gov. Founders Online. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
13. "A proud Washington descendant". Bedinger Family History and Genealogy. Retrieved June 25, 2014.

External links

• Samuel Washington at Find a Grave