ANCESTORS AND BIRTH.

More than two hundred years ago, when America was chiefly inhabited by Indians two brothers, in England, John and Lawrence Washington, resolved to remove hither. As they were not poor, doomed to eke out a miserable existence from a reluctant soil, it is supposed that politics was the immediate cause of their removal. It was during the reign of Cromwell, and he made it hot for his enemies. In 1655 a general insurrection was attempted, and the vengeance of Cromwell descended upon the heads of all the participants and not a few of their friends, making their land an uncomfortable place for a residence. There is no evidence that these brothers were engaged in the insurrection; but there is quite sufficient proof that the political situation was stormy, subjecting the Washington family to frequent molestation.

Edward Everett says: “There is no doubt that the politics of the family determined the two brothers, John and Lawrence, to emigrate to Virginia; that colony being the favorite resort of the Cavaliers, during the government of Cromwell, as New England was the retreat of the Puritans, in the period which preceded the Commonwealth.”

We suspect that these brothers did not understand Indians as well as they did Cromwell, or they would not have been so willing to exchange the latter for the former. However, English colonists had settled in the wilderness of Virginia, and, possibly, some of their own acquaintances were already there. They knew somewhat of that particular portion of the new world, and what they knew was generally favorable. Being young men, too, unmarried, intelligent, adventurous and fearless, life in America appeared to them romantic rather than otherwise. Be this as it may, John and Lawrence Washington removed to this country in 1657, and settled in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

One fact indicates that they belonged to a noble ancestry. Lawrence was educated at Oxford University, and was a lawyer by profession, and therefore was a young man of rank and promise, while John was engaged in business and resided on a valuable estate at South Cove in Yorkshire. They were young men of brains and tact, fitted by natural endowments and education to lay the foundation of things in a new country. They descended from an ancestry of honor and influence from the twelfth century. That ancestry lived in warlike times. Some of them were renowned for deeds of heroism. All of them were known for loyalty, intelligence and solidity of character. Washington Irving paid a visit to the ancient “Washington’s manor” at Sulgrave, several years before he wrote the Life of George Washington, and he said,

“It was in a rural neighborhood, where the farm-houses were quaint and antiquated. A part only of the manor-house remained, and was inhabited by a farmer. The Washington crest, in colored glass, was to be seen in a window of what is now the buttery. A window, on which the whole family arms was emblazoned, had been removed to the residence of the actual proprietor of the manor. Another relic of the ancient manor of the Washingtons was a rookery in a venerable grove hard by. The rooks, those staunch adherents to old family abodes, still hovered and cawed about their hereditary nests. In the pavement of the parish church we were shown a stone slab, bearing effigies, on plates of brass, of Lawrence Washington, gent., and Anne his wife, and their four sons and eleven daughters. The inscription, in black letters, was dated 1564.”

A nephew of John and Lawrence Washington, Sir Henry Washington, distinguished himself in the civil wars, under Prince Rupert, at the storming of Bristol, where he broke through the wall with a handful of infantry after the assailants had been beaten off, and led the forces to victory. For his prowess he was promoted, and was in command at Worcester, when that place was stormed, at a time when the king fled from Oxford in disguise and the loyal cause was in peril. He received a letter from General Fairfax, whose victorious army was at Haddington, demanding the immediate surrender of Worcester. Colonel Washington replied:

“Sir, It is acknowledged by your books, and by report of your own quarter, that the king is in some of your armies. That granted, it may be easy for you to procure his majesty’s commands for the disposal of this garrison. Till then, I shall make good the trust reposed in me. As for conditions, if I shall be necessitated, I shall make the best I can. The worst I know, and fear not; if I had, the profession of a soldier had not been begun, nor so long continued by your Excellency’s humble servant.” Henry Washington.

For three months he withstood the siege, experiencing hunger and hardship, until his Majesty ordered capitulation.

Irving says of this heroic stand, “Those who believe in hereditary virtues may see foreshadowed in the conduct of this Washington of Worcester, the magnanimous constancy of purpose, the disposition to ‘hope against hope,’ which bore our Washington triumphantly through the darkest days of our revolution.”

It appears that the Washingtons were first in war as well as in peace, centuries ago. There was wealth, fame and influence in the family, from generation to generation. Their prominence in the grand hunt of those times proves their high social and public position.

Irvington says, “Hunting came next to war in those days, as the occupation of the nobility and gentry. The clergy engaged in it equally with the laity. The hunting establishment of the Bishop of Durham (who belonged to the Washington family) was on a princely scale. He had his forests, chases and parks, with their train of foresters, rangers and park-keepers. A grand hunt was a splendid pageant, in which all his barons and knights attended him with horse and hound.”

Later, the famous English fox-hunting, in which noblemen engaged with great pomp and expense, engaged the attention of the Washingtons. We refer to the fact here, because it will explain certain things connected with the life and times of our George Washington in Virginia.

Everett says, “It may be mentioned as a somewhat striking fact, and one I believe not hitherto adverted to, that the families of Washington and Franklin the former the great leader of the American Revolution, the latter not second to any of his patriotic associates were established for several generations in the same central county of Northamptonshire, and within a few miles of each other; the Washingtons at Brighton and Sulgrave, belonging to the landed gentry of the county, and in the great civil war supporting the royal side; the Franklins, at the village of Ecton, living on the produce of a farm of thirty acres, and the earnings of their trade as blacksmiths, and espousing, some of them, at least, and the father and uncle of Benjamin Franklin among the number, the principles of the non-conformists. Their respective émigrations, germs of great events, in history, took place, that of John Washington, the great-grandfather of George, in 1657, to loyal Virginia, that of Josiah Franklin, the father of Benjamin, about the year 1685, to the metropolis of Puritan New England.”

This brief sketch of the Washington family in the mother country must suffice. Its history in our country began in 1657, on the West Bank of the Potomac, about fifty miles from its entrance into Chesapeake Bay, in Westmoreland County. The two brothers, John and Lawrence, purchased an estate of several thousand acres there, and erected thereon a comfortable dwelling. In process of time, John married Miss Anne Pope, and went to reside on Bridge’s Creek. Two sons, Lawrence and John, and a daughter, were the fruits of his union. Lawrence, the oldest son, married Mildred Warner, daughter of Colonel Augustus Warner, by whom he had three children, John, Augustine and Mildred. The second son, Augustine, became the father of George Washington. He married Jane Butler, by whom he had four children Butler, Lawrence, Augustine and Jane. His wife died; and two years thereafter, Mary Ball, a young lady of great beauty, became his second wife. They were married March 6, 1730. Their first child was George, who was born February 22, 1732. Five other children Betty, Samuel, John Augustine, Charles and Mildred were added to the family.

John Washington, grandfather of Augustine, distinguished himself in military affairs, and became lieutenant-colonel in the wars against the Indians. He was one of the largest planters in the colony, and became one of the most influential men. In time he became a magistrate and a member of the House of Burgesses. The name of the parish in which he lived Washington was derived from him.

Augustine Washington, father of George, lived on Pope’s Creek when the latter was born, about one-half mile from the Potomac. The house in which George was born was pulled down or burned before the Revolution.

The site is now designated by a slab, bearing the inscription:

Here,
on the 11th of February (old style), 1732,
George Washington
was born.

The slab was placed there by George Washington Parke Custis his grandson sixty-seven years ago. Thirty-six years after he performed the grateful act, he published the following account of it in the Alexandria Gazette:

“In June, 1815, I sailed on my own vessel, the ‘Lady of the Lake,’ a fine top-sail schooner of ninety tons, accompanied by two gentlemen, Messrs. Lewis and Grimes, bound to Pope’s Creek, in the county of Westmoreland, carrying with us a slab of freestone, having the following inscription:

Here,
on the 11th of February, 1732, (old style),
George Washington
was born.

“Our pilot approached the Westmoreland shore cautiously (as our vessel drew nearly eight feet of water), and he was but indifferently acquainted with so unfrequented a navigation.

Desirous of making the ceremonial of depositing the stone as imposing as circumstances would permit, we enveloped it in the star-spangled banner of our country, and it was borne to its resting place in the arms of the descendants of four revolutionary patriots and soldiers Samuel Lewis, son of George Lewis, a captain in Baylor’s regiment of horse, and a nephew of Washington; William Grimes, the son of Benjamin Grimes, a gallant and distinguished officer of the Life-guard; the captain of the vessel, the son of a brave soldier wounded in the battle of Guilford; and George W. P. Custis, the son of John Parke Custis, aid-de-camp to the commander-in-chief before Cambridge and Yorktown.

“We gathered together the bricks of an ancient chimney that once formed the hearth around which Washington in his infancy had played, and constructed a rude kind of a pedestal, on which we reverently placed the first stone, commending it to the attention and respect of the American people in general, and to the citizens of Westmoreland in particular.

“Bidding adieu to those who had received us so kindly, we re-embarked and hoisted our colors, and being provided with a piece of canon and suitable ammunition, we fired a salute, awakening the echoes that had slept for ages around the hallowed spot; and while the smoke of our martial tribute to the birth-place of the Pater Patriae still lingered on the bosom of the Potomac, we spread our sails to a favoring breeze, and sped joyously to our homes.

Mr. Paulding, in his life of Washington, describes the place as follows:

“A few scanty relics alone remain to mark the spot, which will ever be sacred in the eyes of posterity. A clump of old decayed fig trees, probably coeval with the mansion, yet exists; and a number of vines and shrubs and flowers still reproduce themselves every year, as if to mark its site, and flourish among the hallowed ruins. The spot is of the deepest interest, not only from its associations, but its natural beauties. It commands a view of the Maryland shore of the Potomac, one of the most majestic of rivers and of its course for many miles towards the Chesapeake Bay. An aged gentlemen, still living in the neighborhood, remembers the house in which Washington was born. It was a low-pitched, single-storied frame building, with four rooms on the first floor, and an enormous chimney at each end on the outside. This was the style of the better sort of houses in those days, and they are still occasionally seen in the old settlements of Virginia.”

Irving says that the roof was steep, and sloped down into low, projecting eaves; so that an artists eye can readily see the house as it was.

Let the reader bear in mind that John Washington was the founder of the Washington family in America, and George Washington was his great-grandson.

George was baptized on the 5th of April following, when he was about six weeks old. Mrs. Mildred Gregory acted as godmother, and Mr. Beverly Whiting and Captain Christopher Brooks, godfathers.

When George was four or five years old, his father resolved to move to a plantation on the banks of the Rappahannock River, opposite Fredericksburg.

“There are many advantages in that locality,” he remarked to his wife; “besides, the land is better.”

“There can’t be much fault found with the land anywhere in this part of the country,” responded Mrs. Washington. “It needs little but using.”

“Very true; but somehow I have taken a great liking to the banks of the Rappahannock,” continued Mr. Washington. “The children will like the change, I know.”

“That may be; children like change; a novelty just suits them,” answered Mrs. Washington. “I have never known them to express dissatisfaction with this place. They are about as happy as children can well be.”

“There can be no doubt of that, judging from daily observation,” responded her husband, somewhat facetiously. “If a change does not add to the sum total of their happiness, I trust that it will not subtract much from it.”

“Understand me,” continued Mrs. Washington, “I am not setting myself up in opposition to your plan of removing. It may prove the very best thing for us all. We sha’n’t know till we try.”

“Well, I think I shall try it,” added Mr. Washington.

And he did try it. He removed to the aforesaid locality in the year 1737. The estate was already his own.

The reader must know from what has been said already, that estates of two, three and five thousand acres, in Virginia, at that time, were common. Many wealthy English families, fond of rural life, and coveting ample grounds for hunting and roaming, had settled in the “Old Dominion,” where land was cheap as well as fertile. The Washington family was one of them. From the day that John Washington and his brother settled in Virginia, they and their numerous descendants were large landholders. When George was forty-one years of age, just before the stirring scenes of the Revolution, we find him writing to a Mr. Calvert of George Washington Parke Custis:

“Mr. Custis’ estate consists of about fifteen thousand acres of land, a good part of it adjoining the city of Williamsburg, and none of it forty miles from that place; several lots in the said city; between two and three hundred negroes, and about eight or ten thousand pounds upon bond, and in the hands of his merchants. This estate he now holds independent of his mother’s dower, which will be an addition to it at her death.”

Wealthy families at that time lived in expensive style. They kept their “turn-outs and liveried servants,” as we call them now, and made an imposing appearance on public occasions. The proprietors were gentlemen farmers, whose mansions were conducted on a grand scale of hospitality. Everybody was welcome, even Indians.

When George’s father removed to the banks of the Rappahannock, one vast, unbroken forest, on either side, met his view. The woodman’s axe had opened only here and there a patch of the woods to the light of the sun. These forests abounded with game, and had long been the hunting ground of the red men. The river swarmed with water-fowl of various names and plumage, and often the Indian’s birch canoe darted over its waters like a spirit.

The Colony supported a military organization at that time. The Indians were friendly to the English colonists, but they might not continue to be. England and France were friendly to each other, also, yet both had an eye upon the same possessions in the new world. There was no telling how soon a resort to arms might be inevitable. The militia must be maintained against the time of need.

George was almost too young to appreciate the danger when his ears first listened to tales of Indian depredations.

“Several families murdered in cold blood by roving savages,” was the news Mr. Washington brought home one day.

“Where? Where?” Mrs. Washington inquired, with evident anxiety.

“A long way from here,” her husband replied, “but it shows the murderous spirit of Indians all the same.”

“A treacherous race!” remarked Mrs. Washington.

“Yes; treacherous indeed!” her husband replied, “There is no telling what is in store for us, in my opinion.”

“There is no more reason for their murdering white men and woman so far away than there is for their doing it near by us,” suggested Mrs. Washington.

“None whatever. Revenge, or desire for plunder, prompted the deed, no doubt; and revenge or hope of plunder is just as likely to move them here as there to killing and burning,” Mr. Washington said.

Occasional startling news of this kind, discussed in the family, was listened to by George, whose precocity took in the situation well for one so young. Early in life he had a good understanding of Indian character, and of the trouble that might come to the colonists through these savage denizens of the forest. There is good evidence that apprehensions of Indian hostilities filled him with anxiety long before they actually commenced.

At that time, also, negro slavery existed among the colonists. The large estates were worked by slave labor. The Washington family held slaves. Some planters owned several hundred. As there was no question raised about the right or wrong of the slave system, it is probable that George’s mind was not exercised upon the subject. He grew up in the midst of the institution without calling in question its rectitude. We mention the fact here, because it was one of the early influences of his ancestry and birth-place which must have been offset by home instructions and the rapid unfolding of a singularly manly character.