Washington Family
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THE WASHINGTON FAMILY <REPRINTED FROM THE '' WRITINGS OF WASHINGTON," EDITED BY WORTHINGTON CHAUNCEY FORD) NEW YORK 1893 JOHN \VASHI~GTON OF ,VHITFIELD =· I I I John. I -- West field = Robert :_ 2 -- Whittington _____i_________ ------=- __________1 _:.. 3 Ag,ues Bateman _I_____ -;---------------, I 1 John= Margaret Kitson Thomas Ellen= James Mason 1 I I I Robert = Miles I ,____ _ Anthony Matthew Elizabeth I I I I I i I I Thomas , -- Deering Elizabeth Gough:=Lawtence·= Aime Nicholas Leonard Peter. TH:omas Jane = Humphrey Gardiner Pargiter I I I I Richard Lucy = -- Cheesewright Anne ~-Robert Katherine = M eh:hior Bateman Reynolds I ! I \ I I I I I I I I Elizabeth Light =;::.; Robert.·_ Anne· Fisher Martha Newc~ =Lawrence= Mary( Scott Two sons Frances= Tohn Anne= Edmund Elizabeth= Henry :Magdalen Barbara= M:ary = Margaret= of I of Gray's Inn Thompson Foster Marshall Simon Abel Gerard Sulo-rave::::, Butler Makepeace Hawtayne I I I I I - I I Sir Lawrence= Anne Lewyn Clement Mary= vVilliam Clement Ralph. vVilliam a son Martha = Arthur of Garsden Horsepoole --:-1 ------:-,-----:-,---, -------:-1-----11 I Beswick Alban Guy Robert Mary= Margaret= Cath;fine = !---------------------------- I I Martin John Gar- J o!ln 'Ireton Martha = Sir John Tyrell Anne= Christopher Guise Lawrence== Eleanor Gufae = Sir vVilliam Parciter · Edon diner I_____ ::::, I I I I I I . I I I I I . 3 L1 Lawrence = M"argaret Robert = Eliz-; \Valter = Alice Christopher= Niargaret _\Villiam Thomas Anne = Alban Ursula= Thomas Elizabeth = Lewis Elizabeth = Sir Robert Shirley of Sulgrave Butler. Chishuli of Radway j Morden JPalmer W akelyn Adcock Richardson and Bringto:c. :· J-~,--------1-------,i I John = Mary Danvers Catherine= Thomas Stanton I I I I ; I I George :jEHzabeth Ann Thomas Katherine I f I I ' -!-----:---,-,-----;,:-----.-! -:----;---, --------;--, --. ------,---------=-------- :- - I I I I I I I 7 Sir William =:Anne Mary = Sir John = Dorothy Robert Richard Lawrence-· Amphillis Thomas Gregory George Elizabeth = Francis Joan= Francis l\1 argaret = Alice= Frances= Amy= Jane= Lucy · of Pack- Villiers Curtis I of Thrap- Pargiter of Purleigh I .Roades :Mewce Pill I. Samuel Thomas -- Gar- Philip Richard ington ston I Thornton San<lys grave I Curtis Seymour. I I I 2. Sandvs., · Mordaunt John. Philip I ! I I I I I i I I Henry= Elizabeth George Christopher Elizabeth = \Villiam Mary = Lawrence = Jane \Villiam Elizabeth= Margaret= Martha= ! Packington Legge Rumbold Talbot I Jones I I Fleming Hayward I i I I I ! -----:-,-------------, Mary Pendope .:;Mar.tin= Katherine - Barnabas Elizabeth= Mary= Edward Gibson John= Mary Townsend Ann .Foster Tonstall Gellott I I· I I Lawrence= 11ildred Warner= George Gale John -: Anne = Francis vV right I I I I Lawrence Townsend= Elizabeth Lund John= Massy --------------I I i I I I Lawrence John :Nathaniel Henry== Butler or I I I I Bailey Robert = Alice Law~ence Lur;£J. Catherine = John John Lawrence · I Strother . Washington I I I I I Lund= Susanna :Monroe Anr; = William Thompson = Hayward Foote Lawrence= Eliza J o~n~ Catherine Bailey = Catherine ~~ ashingtcn Storke I I I John = Catherine \\-1iiting Jane Butler = Augustine = Mary Ball Roger Gregory • Mildred= Henry Wi11is I I I I I I . _I Elizabeth= Vvarnei- = Hannah =Mildred= Elizabeth_ Catherine FieJdjng. Henry= Anne · --,------ ------- - --- ·-- = 1 I I Macon . I Fairfax Lewis ! Thacker GEORGE- Elizabeth= Fielding .MiJdred = Samuel = Anne John Augustine= Ifo.n_nah Charles= . J\fildred I ! I Lewis Thornton I Steptoe Bushrod Mildred 1 Thornton I Thacker Peyton Thornton I I I I I I I I I I i l Fairfax= -\Vhiting = Mildred= Hannah= Catherine= Elizabeth= Louisa= Ferdinand George Steptoe Lawrence Harriot= Sarah .-\ rmistead Rebecca Al bar. Peter B John George Thomas Andrew Smith - Throckmorton · \Yhitino-::-. Nelson Booth Fairfax Parks I. --------- ---·---------T -- __- ·--,---- --------··-··-·---------, I I I I I Bushrod= Anne Corbin= Hannah Mildred = Th0mas Butler Lawrence= Anne Fairfax Jane Augustine = Anne A)·lett Blackburn Lc;:e Lee I I I I I I I I I I l I I I Jane Fairfax ~f ildred. Sarah \Villi am = Tane Anne = Burdet Eli~abeth = Alexander George Augustine Samuel Frances l\,1 ildred \V a.~hington Asi1ton Spobwoocl THE WASHINGTON FAMILY. AFTER a century of spasmodic research, the history of the ancestry of Washington cannot be written with accuracy or fulness. The records available are few and disconnected, and until the year 1889 an import ant link in the chain was wanting. The old pedigree had been discredited, and a new could not be framed. It was not even known in what part of England the needed evidence on which to base the new tree could be looked for, and in _this wide field investigators must grope their way. It was idle to conjecture, for one guess was as good as another. Trickery and forgery were brought into the question, and the usual accompanying nonsense, which have thrown so much. discredit upon genealogical writing. Nothing short of heroic origin must satisfy these charlatans ; and so· Odin is made the ancestor of Washington, and Rurik of Hamilton; and all between is composed of facts where they can be found, of manufactured evidence where required, and of stupid and clumsy compilation where the imagination failed. The result comes into the market to gull the public and mystify the reader; while clouding the subject for the student. I propose in this place to summarize what has been obtained in the century of investigation, eliminating, as far as 3 4 possible, conjecture ; or so distinguishing the assured from the doubtful, that no error can arise. In this, there is little original investigation, and the labors of others are freely drawn--upon, full credit being given to each individual worker. In December, 1791, Sir Isaac Heard, then Garter King of Arms in London, wrote to Washington, that he had investigated the English ancestry of the President, and desired to complete his record with such particulars as could be furnished by the family in America.. To gratify this request, Washington addressed a number of his relations, asking them to supply what information they could, copies of wills, inscriptions on tombstones, and any documents that could throw light upon the matter.1 From such re plies as he received, Washington drew up' a paper, naturally imperfect, and confined to the immigrants into Virginia and their descendants. Of the English ancestry the President could only give a hint : " I have often heard others of the family, older than my self, say, that our ancestor, who first settled in this country,camefrom some one of the northern counties of England.; but whether from Lancashire, Yorkshire, or one still more northerly, I do not precisely remember." 2 From the material at hand, Sir Isaac prepared a ten tative genealogical table, which was sent to Mount Vernon ; but Sir Isaac became unable to pursue the matter, and it was left in this incomplete condition. 1 See Vol. XIII., 444. ' Washington to Sir Isaac Heard, 2 May, r792. The letter is printed in Sparks, Writings of Washington, i., 546. 5 It was ascertained, however, that t,vo brothers were the first of the family to en1igrate, settling in Virginia. Washington believed that they came over about 1657, and started from the north of England. Sir Isaac found recorded in the Visitation of North amptonshire of 1618.., the names of John and Law rence Washington, described as sons of Lawrence Washington of Sulgrave, who had died in 1616. The year and the identity of names led Sir Isaac to be lieve that these ,vere the brothers who emigrated, and he traced ~he descent of the President through this family of Northatnptonshire, from one still more ancient in Lancashire. This pedigree did not com pletely satisfy Sir Isaac, who regarded it as conjectu ral, and left a note distinctly stating that he was by no means certain if the connection with the Sulgrave family was, or even could be, substantiated. When Baker prepared his history of Northamptonshire, he adopted the results obtained by Sir Isaac, but omitted to express any doubt of its finality. He asserted that the emigrant John, son of Lawrence Washington of Sulgrave, was of South Cave, co. York ; and that his brother Lawrence was a student at Oxford in 1622, afterwards emigrating to America. This pedi gree of Baker's, passing into other compilations as authoritative, came to be received as definite and complete. Mr. Sparks, when co1npiling the Writings of Washington, had access to all the manuscripts of Sir Isaac Heard, and, with the assistance of some county histories, prepared a staten1ent of the "origin 6 and genealogy of the Washington family." This account was published in the appendix to his first volume; and while adding little of value to ,vhat the Garter King of Arms had discovered, became the basis of subsequent investigation ; while the extended circulation of the volumes stamped the pedigree as of high authority. An important link was, however, wanting. Sir Isaac Heard thought the emigrants came from Northamptonshire, and traced their ances tors to Lancashire. Mr. Sparks found a parish, called Washington, in Durham, where persons of the name had resided towards the close of the twelfth cen tury. It was supposed that the holder of the manor, William de Hertburn, or some descendant, assumed the local name. A- William de W essyngton was recorded as 9-· witness about the middle of the t_hir 1 teenth century. · Before I 400 the manor had passed out of the male line of the family. Such remote and disconnected facts were of little. service in determi ning the ancestors of the President in a direct line, and Mr. Sparks, making a long leap from these early records, located these ancestors in \tVhitfield and Wharton, in the county of Lancaster.2 In 1860 a contribution to the subject was made by the rector of Brington, in Northamptonshire, in a 1 In the Visitation of Yorkshire, 1563 and 1564 (Harleian Society), \Villiam Mallory, of Stodley, married Dyonis, daughter and heir of Sir \Villiam Tem pest, Knight,, by Eleanor, daughter and heiress of Sir \Villiam de \Veshington.