Eaton Families -- an Addendum: Warton, Lancashire, England & George Washington

A new member to our group, Wm. Eaton, wrote a small article in the September newsletter regarding the ancestry of George Washinton in Warton, Lancashire. Here is some additional info:

Warton was the birthplace of the medieval ancestors of George Washington, the first popularly elected President of the United States. The story of the Washington family begins with William, who settled at Washington in north-east England, some time before 1180. Like other great mediaeval landed proprietors the Washingtons moved between their estates, living in different properties in turn while performing local duties and services, but known by the name of their principal residence. William, descended from the younger son of an ancient noble house (Wessington), became the founder of another great line, which, after varied fortunes, produced the first President of the United States of America.

It was Lawrence Washington, born c. 1500, the eldest son of John Washington of Warton, Lancashire, who first settled at Sulgrave with his second wife Amy, the third daughter of Robert Pargiter of Greatworth, near Sulgrave. His former wife, Elizabeth, died childless and Robert Washington his eldest son, born to Amy in 1544, inherited Sulgrave Manor with about 1250 acres. In 1568, Robert's Wife Elizabeth gave birth to a son, Lawrence, who later married Margaret, daughter of William Butler, of Tyes Hall, Cuckfield, Sussex, he died on 13th December 1616 in his fathers' lifetime.

Lawrence Washington, seven generations prior to George Washington and his family, arrived in Warton around 1300, and Robert Washington, Lawrence's great-grandson, is rumoured to have help build the clock tower of St Oswald's Church. The Washington family coat of arms, three mullets and two bars, can be found in the church and is said to have inspired the design of the flag of the United States.

The Reverend Lawrence Washington, was born in 1602, the fifth son of Lawrence and Margaret. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he graduated with a B.A. in 1623. He became rector of Purleigh, Essex, a wealthy living, in April 1633. That summer he married Amphyllis, daughter and co-heiress of John Twigden, of Little Creaton, Northamptonshire. Their eldest son John was born the following spring.

In 1643, Parliament ordered the living of Purleigh to be sequestered and he was ejected. The Civil war was in progress and he was accused as a "Malignant Royalist". He became greatly impoverished and Amphyllis and their children made their home with her stepfather at Tring (her mother had re-married after her father's death). John Washington was about 19 when his father died in poverty in 1654/5. Two years later, his mother died intestate and was buried at Tring. When John came of age, soon afterwards, he went to London. He married and sailed for Virginia in 1656, unfortunately his wife died and in 1658 he married again, this time to Anne, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Nathaniel Pope JP, of The Cliffs, an early settlement on the northern neck of Virginia near the Potomac. The wedding present from his father-in-law was a 700 acre estate at Mattox Creek, where their eldest son Lawrence was born in 1659.

Lawrence Washington inherited Mattox Creek Farm from his father. In 1685 he was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and in about 1686 married Mildred, daughter and co-heiress of Colonel Augustine Warner, of Warner Hall. Lawrence made his will on 11th March 1698 and died soon after, leaving his wife with three children, John, who was nearly seven, Augustine, aged three, and Mildred, a baby.

Augustine came of age in 1715 and with an estate of 1700 acres, married Jane, the 16 year old heiress of Major Caleb Butler JP on 20th April the same year. He married secondly on 6th March 1730, Mary Ball, then an orphan aged 23.

Their first born, on 22nd February 1732 was George, who became the first president of the United States of America.

Source: Sulgrave Manor