Augustine Washington (
1694 -
April 12,
1743) was the father of general and president
George Washington. He belonged to the Virginia colony gentry.
Family
Augustine Washington was born in
Westmoreland, Virginia in the year 1694. He was a son of
Lawrence Washington, a militia captain and a member of the Virginia
House of Burgesses, and
Mildred Warner Washington Gale.
His paternal grandparents were
John Washington and Anne Pope.
Life
Born in 1694, Augustine was only four years old when his father died. He inherited about on Bridges Creek in
Westmoreland County; his sister Mildred inherited what was called the Little Hunting Creek property.
When Washington came of age (and into his inheritance) in 1715, he married Jane Butler, an orphan, who had inherited about from her father. The young couple settled on the Bridges Creek property. In 1718, Washington purchased land on Popes Creek, abridging his property on Bridges Creek. About 1726, he built a new house there (later called Wakefield). In the same year, he purchased the Little Hunting Creek property from his sister Mildred.
In addition to his work supervising overseers and slave labor as a tobacco planter, Washington was active in the Anglican Church and in local politics. He served at various times as justice of the peace and as county sheriff.
Washington and his wife Jane had four children, only two of whom (Lawrence and Augustine, Jr.) lived to adulthood.
Second marriage
After Jane's early death in 1729, Washington married 23-year-old
Mary Ball of
Lancaster County in 1731. They had three children together:
George (1732), Betty (1733), and Samuel (1734).
In 1735, the family moved to the Little Hunting Creek property. The exact reason for the move is unclear, but it may have had to do with Washington's other occupation - iron mining. In 1725, Augustine entered into an agreement with the Principio Company of England to start an iron works on
Accokeek Creek in
Stafford County. In 1728, Augustine made an agreement with the company to bear one sixth of the cost of running Accokeek Furnace. Little Hunting Creek was closer to the iron mine than Pope's Creek. Washington had tobacco cultivated on his farms, which necessitated the labor of many slaves. When George Washington was born, the population of the Virginia colony was 50 percent black, mostly enslaved.
[, George Washington Birthplace National Monument, National Park Service, accessed 15 Apr 2009]In 1738, a property formerly owned by
William Strother, became available for purchase. It was just across the Rappahannock River from the fledgling town of Fredericksburg. Washington purchased it from the Strother executors. He moved his family to the plantation at the end of 1738. The new property offered easier access to Accokeek Furnace and was within a day's ride of both Little Hunting Creek and Popes Creek properties. Washington also leased a parcel adjacent to the Strother property which he later purchased outright. Although the property included a ferry road and landing, it was not called Ferry Farm during the time of the Augustine Washingtons' residency.
By 1738, two more Washington children were born: John Augustine, 1736, and Charles, 1738. A sixth child, Mildred, was born on the new farm in 1739, but she died in infancy in 1740.
Augustine Washington died at about age 49 on April 12, 1743 in
King George County, Virginia.
Legacy
After Washington's death in 1743 at the age of 49, the former Strother property and its slaves were inherited by his son George. As he was only 11 years old, his mother Mary managed the property for him until he came of age. She remained on the property until 1772, when she was 64. George moved her to a house in Fredericksburg across the river. The Little Hunting Creek property and slaves went to Lawrence. He renamed his property
Mount Vernon, in honor of
Admiral Edward Vernon with whom he had served in the British Navy during the
Battle of Cartagena de Indias. The Popes Creek property and slaves went to Augustine, Jr. At his death, Augustine Washington held a total of 64 slaves, assigned to the various plantations.
According to Augustine's will, if Lawrence died without children, the Little Hunting Creek property would be given to Augustine, Jr., who would then have to give Popes Creek to George. If Augustine, Jr. did not want the Little Hunting Creek property, it would go to George. Lawrence had no living children when he died, and Augustine, Jr. did not give up Popes Creek.
Lawrence Washington's widow, Ann, had a life interest in the Little Hunting Creek property. As she had remarried and was not living at Mount Vernon, she leased the property to George beginning in 1754. Upon her death in 1761, Washington inherited the property outright.
Children (by Jane Butler)
- Jane Washington, II - (1722-1735)
Citations
