Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 25

Author: Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935, ed. cn
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 848

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Richard Blackburn Washington. The family of Washington was founded in Eng- land by "Thorfin the Dane," whose ancestors came from Denmark and settled in ancient Ebor or Yorkshire prior to Norman con- quest. The name Washington is of Saxon origin and antedates the coming. The vil- lage of Wassyngton, from which the name Washington is derived, is mentioned in a

Saxon charter as granted by King Edgar in 973 to Thornby Abbey. This village, now called Wharton, is in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Twenty generations from Thorfin the Dane came Colonel John Wash- ington, American ancestor of the famous Virginia family that gave to America George Washington, the first president of the United States and one of the world's great characters. Colonel John Washington is the lineal ancestor of Richard Blackburn Wash- ington, of Alexandria, Virginia, who is of the eighth American generation.

The original arms of the Washington family is thus given by Burke: "Vert a lion rampant, argent within a bordure gobo- nated or, and azure." Crest-"Out of a ducal coronet or, an eagle, wings addorsed, sable." Motto-Eritus acta probat. The arms as used by President Washington are: "Ar- gent, two bars gules, in chief three mullets of the second gules." Crest-"A raven with wings addorsed sable, issuing out of a ducal coronet or."

Laurence and John Washington, the two youngest sons of Leonard and Anne Wash- ington, of Wharton, Lancastershire, Eng- land, came to America in 1659, two years after their father's death. Both purchased land in Westmoreland county, Virginia, be- tween the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, Lawrence later moving to Rappahan- nock county, Virginia, where he died early in January, 1677. The line of descent to President Washington is that of Colonel John Washington, the youngest of the two brothers.

Colonel John Washington was baptized at Wharton, Lancastershire, England, in 1627. He arrived in America in 1659, a pas- senger in a ship commanded by John Greene. He located at Bridge's Creek on his plantation in Westmoreland county, near the Potomac river. He was colonel in the Virginia forces against the Seneca Indians who were ravaging the Potomac settlement, was a magistrate, member of the house of burgesses, warden of the old "White Chapel" in Lancaster county, Virginia, an extensive planter. In honor of his public services and his private virtues, the parish in which he resided was called after him and still bears the name of Washington. He died early in January, 1677, within a few days of his brother, Laurence, and lies buried in a vault on Bridge's Creek which for generations was the family sepulchre.

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He married (first) in England, bringing his wife with him to America with two chil- dren, but all died soon after their arrival. He married (second ) Anne Pope, whose father resided on Pope's Creek, Westmore- land county. She bore him two sons and two daughters.

Laurence Washington, eldest son of Colo- nel John Washington by his second wife, Anne ( Pope) Washington, was born at Bridge's Creek, Virginia, about 1661, there died a planter in 1697, and was interred in the family vault on Bridge's Creek. He married, in Gloucester county, Virginia, about 1690, Mildred, daughter of Colonel Augustine Warner, who survived him and married (second ) George Gale.

Augustine Washington, second son of Laurence and Mildred (Warner) Washing- ton, was born at Bridge's Creek, 1694, died on his estate on the Rappahannock, nearly opposite Fredericksburg, in Stafford county, Virginia, April 12, 1743. He was a man of wealth, owning several fine estates on the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. He married (first) April 20, 1715, Jane, daugh- ter of Caleb Butler, of Westmoreland county. She died November 24, 1728, the mother of three sons and a daughter. He married (second) in Lancaster county, Vir- ginia, March 6, 1731, Mary, daughter of Colonel William Ball. She died August 25. 1789, aged eighty-two years, the mother of six children, the eldest being George Wash- ington, planter, surveyor, general, com- mander-in-chief of the revolutionary armies and first president of the United States. She also had sons : Samuel, John Augustine, and Charles ; daughters : Betty and Mildred. To Laurence, the eldest son by his first wife, Augustine Washington bequeathed the beautiful estate on the Potomac known as Mount Vernon, now the American Mecca. the later home of President Washington, and his place of burial.

John Augustine Washington, second son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary (Ball) Washington, and brother of President Washington, was born in Staf- ford county, Virginia, January 13, 1736, died at his estate in Nomony, Westmoreland county. Virginia, in February, 1787, and was there buried. By his father's will he in- herited the old homestead and estate at Bridge's Creek, Westmoreland county. He was a man of wealth and education, and in 1785 was chosen one of the vestrymen of

Cople parish in Westmoreland county. He married Hannah, daughter of Colonel John Bushrod, of Westmoreland county, who bore him two daughters and sons, Bushrod, Corbin and William Augustine.

Corbin Washington, second son of John Augustine and Hannah ( Bushrod) Wash- ington, was born at Bushfield, Westmore- land county, Virginia, about 1765, died at Selby, Fairfax county, Virginia, about 1800. He is named in the will of his uncle, Presi- dent Washington, receiving two shares of the moneys resulting from the sale of lands not otherwise devised. His country seat was Walnut Farm in Westmoreland county. He married, at Chantilly, Virginia, about 1786, Hannah, daughter of Richard Henry Lee, of Chantilly, who bore him three sons and two daughters.

John Augustine (2) Washington, third son of Corbin and Hannah ( Lee) Washing- ten, was born at Walnut Farm, Westmore- land county, Virginia, in the fall of 1792, died at Mount Vernon, Virginia, June, 1832. He inherited from his uncle, Judge Bushrod Washington ( the favorite nephew of Presi- dent Washington), the mansion at Mount Vernon with a large amount of land, and after the death of the wife of Judge Bush- rod Washington, the "green and hot houses belonging to the gardens" and all the fur- niture belonging to the mansion house. John Augustine Washington moved to and was occupying the Mount Vernon mansion, the former home of President Washington, at the time of his death. He married, in 1814, Jane Charlotte, daughter of Major Richard Scott Blackburn, of the United States army. She died in Blakeley, Jefferson county, West Virginia, in August, 1856. Two sons, John Augustine (2) and Richard Blackburn Washington, grew to manhood, and a daughter. Ann Maria.

John Augustine (3) Washington, son of John Augustine (2) and Jane Charlotte ( Blackburn) Washington, was born at Blakeley, now West Virginia, May 3, 1821, and was killed at Cheat Mountain. 110W West Virginia, September 13, 1861. By the will of his father all his estate was left to his wife, Jane C .. with full power to divide "among my children in any way she may see fit." He also provided that the Mount Vernon estate given him by his uncle, Bush- rod Washington, should be sold to the United States government if they would purchase, if not the executors were to sell

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to any person who would buy. The govern- ment refusing to purchase. the historic man- sion and six acres of ground later passed to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, a body of patriotic women in- corporated in 1856. The association as far as possible restored the estate to its former condition after obtaining possession, and to- day it is America's "Holy ground."

The mansion was the home of John Au- gustine Washington, and there his children were born. the first in 1844. the last on July 22. 1858. This last child, perhaps the last Washington born there, was singularly enough named George Washington and was born three years before the death of the father. John Augustine Washington.

John Augustine Washington married. at Exeter. Loudoun county, Virginia, in Feb- ruary. 1842. Eleanor Love. daughter of Wil- son Cary Selden. Children, all born at Mount Vernon : Louisa Fontaine. Jane Char- lotte, Eliza Selden. Anne Maria, Lawrence, of whom further. Eleanor Love. and George, born July 22. 1858. moved to Fauquier county in 1860, and later to Jefferson county, West Virginia.

Lawrence Washington, fifth child of John Augustine (3) and Eleanor Love (Selden) Washington, was born at historic Mount Vernon. Virginia. January 14. 1854. He is the present custodian of the house of rep- resentatives reading room, in the Congress- ional Library in Washington, having held the office for many years. His home after his marriage was "\averland." near Salem. now Marshall, Fauquier county, Virginia. He married, at Charlestown, West Virginia, June 14. 1876. Fanny, daughter of Thomas Lackland. of Charlestown: children: John Augustine. Lawrence. Patty Willis, Anne Madison. Louisa Fontaine. Richard Black- burn. Willis Lackland. Fanny J., Wilson Selden, Preston Chew. Julian Howard and Francis Ryland.

Charles Henry Walker. Walker is a very old family name. one of the oldest. Geneal- ogists disagree as to the derivation. some holding the opinion that it was derived from the Norse "Valka." which means "a for- eigner." In Dutch appears the form "Wal- kart" and "Walker." In the Anglo-Saxon appear the forms "Walcher" and "Weal- here." meaning "a stranger soldier," prac- tically the same meaning as the Norse

"Valka." Other. genealogists hold to the belief that the name was derived from an occupation. Before the introduction of rol- lers. when cloth was made, it had to be trodden under foot. The Anglo-Saxon word for this was "Walcere." which the English translate "a fuller." and in time "fuller" and "walker" became synoymous terms. and "the walker" became a regular occupation. It is likely that both claims are correct. and that some of the Walker names come from one source and some from the other.

The name was a very popular one in Eng- land. and the number of Walker families grew apace. In the nine hundred years or so which have elapsed since family names were first adopted there have been granted to the Walker families in England over fifty coats-of-arms. They have held innumer- able positions of influence and importance with a number of titles, there having been at times as many as half dozen baronets that had titles, in different branches of the fam- ily.

Between 1625 and 1655, something like fifty different Walkers came over from Eng- land to Virginia. A majority of these came over from the southern counties of Eng- land, though one or two of them are known to have come from Yorkshire. In the revo- lutionary war. the Virginia Walkers were represented by more than seventy soldiers, ranging in rank from private to colonel. In "The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography" over sixty Walkers have been given place. They cover every possible pur- suit in life. Amasa Walker was a political economist. several of the name have been governors of states, congressmen, senators, soldiers, naval officers, one an astronomer of note. another a great singer. another a philanthropist; there was also William Walker. the Prince of Filibusters, known as the "Gray-eyed Man of Destiny"; and Francis A. Walker, the greatest statistician that America has ever known.

In the absence of complete records and the official registration of births and deaths, it is very difficult to establish definitely the line of descent of a member of a family so numerous, and with which the pages of Virginia history fairly bristle with mention, but always in disconnected paragraphs. There are reasonable grounds for believing that the family to which Mr. Walker belongs was founded in Virginia by John and

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Thomas Walker. believed to have been brothers, who came from Middlesex, Eng- land, probably between 1650 and 1660.

The will of Joseph Walker, of St. Mar- garets parish, Westminster, London, county Middlesex, probated in 1666, devised his property to his kinsman, "John Walker, now living in Virginia." This John Walker was a very prominent man, known as Colonel John Walker. He died about 1671, leaving six daughters. Colonel Thomas Walker, said to have been his brother, also a very prominent man, left sons. One of these sons was John Walker, who was the father of Dr. Thomas Walker, born in 1715, a noted explorer who saw Kentucky in 1750, and is said to have been the first white man who ever saw that section. Dr. Thomas Walker settled. certainly prior to 1742, in a section of country out of which has been carved the counties of Orange, Louisa and Albe- marle. When the old Fredericksville parish was organized, in 1742. Dr. Thomas Walker was one of the first vestrymen, and in later years was succeeded in the vestry by three of his sons: Thomas, Jr., John and Fran- cis.

Colonel John Walker, son of Dr. Thomas Walker, served in the revolutionary war on Washington's staff, and a younger son, Francis, also attained the rank of colonel.

Rev. James Maury married a Miss Wal- ker. of this family, and named one of his sons Walker Maury. Matthew Maury also named one of his sons Walker Maury.

This old Walker family lived at Belvoir, and Walker's Church (named for them) was on the road from Orange Court House to Charlottesville.

On May 8. 1775. on a list of the commit- tee of safety for Louisa county, appears as first man. Thomas Walker. Whether this was Dr. Walker. or his son. Thomas, who was then probably a man of thirty, cannot be definitely stated.

Dr. Thomas Walker is believed to have been the progenitor of all the Walker fami- lies of the section from which C. H. Walker comes. and the probabilities are that Charles H. Walker is in the fifth generation from lıim. In the absence, however, of recorded evidence this statement cannot be made as a definite fact. The coat-of-arms of the Walker family of county Middlesex is thus described by Burke :

Per pale argent and sable chevron charged with three annulets, between as many crescents, all

counterchanged. Crest-On a mount vert a grey- hcund sejant per pale argent and sable; the argent powdered with crescents azure; the sable with bezants, and collared or.

A peculiar feature of the Walker coats- of-arms in Great Britain is that a very great number of them show in their crests a grey- hound. The only way that one can account for this is that a majority of the families evidently claimed (or rather looked back to) a common ancestry.

The coat-of-arms of the Hughson family, Mr. Walker's maternal line, is thus de- scribed: "Parted per cross, gules and er- mine, in the first quarter a lion rampant or, over all an eagle displayed of the last."

Charles H. Walker. of Charlottesville, will not suffer by comparison with the dis- tinguished members of the Walker family, because he has filled with fidelity every duty in life. and won for himself the respect and good will of the people among whom his life has been spent.

He was born at Louisa Court House, July 29. 1845, son of John W. and Martha ( Hugh- son) Walker. His father was a railroad contractor of the firm of Mason & Walker. His maternal grandfather was Samuel Hughson. of the Green Springs section of Louisa county. His paternal grandfather, Austin Walker, lived in Piedmont. Virginia, and was the father of a numerous family. Somewhere between 1825 and 1830 he moved with his entire family to the west, with the exception of his two sons and one daughter. who remained in Virginia. Dur- ing the war period 1861-1865. communica- tion having become interrupted. Mr. Walk- er's people in Virginia lost track of their relatives in the west.

Charles H. Walker attended John P. Thompson's Private School at Louisa, later he went to the Dinwiddie School at Green- wood, Virginia. and was a student at the Grenshaw School in Amelia county in 1863, when he quit school finally to enter the Confederate army. He became a member of that famous corps commanded by Colonel John S. Mosby, the great partisan officer of the war whose command won fame under the name of "Mosby's Battalion." On Au- gust 13. 1864. while taking his part in the capture of a wagon train at Berryville, Mr. Walker was severely wounded, but was fully recovered before the end of the war. The young man was not quite twenty-one at the close of that great struggle. He was

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confronted by the same conditions which the majority of young men of that day had to face. He took up his task courageously, and accepted a clerkship in the town of Charlottesville at a salary of fifty dollars per year and board. However, he did not remain for any great length of time upon this small salary, but obtained a better posi- tion with T. J. Werntenbaker, at that time the leading clothier and merchant tailor of the town, with whom he remained for about eight years. In January, 1875, Mr. Walker entered business for himself, at Rector- town, Virginia, where he conducted a suc- cessful mercantile house for twenty-two years. Retiring from business at Rector- town, in 1897, he returned to Charlottes- ville, and soon after his return there was appointed city treasurer, and has since been three times elected to that office. While engaged in business in Rectortown he (in conjunction with D. P. Wood) organized and founded at Warrenton, Virginia, the hardware house of D. P. Wood & Company, in which Mr. Walker owns a half interest, and which continues a successful business. He has other important business connec- tions at Charlottesville, being president of the Charlottesville Hardware Company, founded in 1889. He is a director of the Albemarle National Bank and a director in various other enterprises.

A lifetime Democrat, he has never held any political position, unless one should class the office of city treasurer as political. This office, which he yet holds, he has filled one term by appointment and three by elec- tion. He is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias, and is a member of other fraternal orders. He is a member of the Christian (or Disciples) church, of which he has been an elder for the last fourteen years, and for a number of years has served as superintendent of the Sunday school.

He married, in Danville, Virginia, in May, 1873, Roberta Carroll, born in Albemarle county, Virginia, daughter of Major Andrew and Mattie C. (Payne) Carroll. While he has attained success and position in the busi- ness world, Mr. Walker has won a place in public regard that cannot be estimated in worldly values. He has won this regard by upright dealings with every man and by a consideration for the rights of others that has ever forbidden him to take an unjust advantage. He is interested in the welfare of his community and generously aids by his

means and influence the charities and insti- tutions therein located.

He now owns and occupies as his home the handsome old colonial home of ex-Gov- ernor Gilmer, and is owner of the Walker building, which he erected to meet the needs of the increased business of the Charlottes- ville Hardware Company, the largest and most modernly equipped business house in the city. He frankly owns that he feels some little pride in the fact that he was able to plant the Walker building on the spot where once stood the house in which he commenced his business life at a salary of four dollars and sixteen cents per month.

Godfrey Lewis Miller, M. D. For nearly all of his professional career Dr. Godfrey Lewis Miller has been connected with the city of Winchester, Virginia, as city physi- cian, a half of a century covering the period thus spent. The medical profession has in Virginia no member whose single-hearted devotion to his duty, whether it led him to the homesick or upon the shot-swept battle- field, has more endeared him to the hearts of his people, and the loving regard in which Dr. Miller is held in his home has been en- gendered by a life of unselfish service, in which love for his fellows has been the dominating force.

The family of which Dr. Miller is a mem- ber is of German descent, his father, F. God- frey Miller, having come to the United States from Saxony, Germany, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, his death occurring when he was sixty-two years of age. He was a merchant of Winchester, Virginia; he married Katherine Elizabeth, daughter of John Shultz, who fought under General Daniel Morgan in the revolutionary war. F. Godfrey and Katherine Elizabeth (Shultz) Miller were the parents of eleven children, one of their sons, Godfrey Lewis, of whom further; the others: John A., a druggist of Mount Jackson, Virginia, a sol- dier in the Confederate army during the civil war ; George F., deceased ; and William, de- ceased ; their daughters were: Katherine, Rebecca, Annie, Emily, Elizabeth, Betty.

Dr. Godfrey Lewis Miller, son of F. God- frev and Katherine Elizabeth (Shultz) Miller, was born in Winchester, Frederick county, Virginia, April 23, 1837. He was a student in private schools and the Angerone Seminary and the Winchester Academy of Winchester. His professional training was

Gy Miller

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received in the Winchester Medical College, founded by Dr. McGuire and destroyed by Federal troops during the civil war, whence he obtained his M. D. in 1858. His active practice began in Winchester, Virginia, and at the beginning of active hostilities in 1861 he enlisted in Company B, Thirteenth Regi- ment Virginia Infantry, and, en route to Harper's Ferry, was summoned to Winches- ter, Virginia, by order of the Confederate army, to assist in the organization of an army hospital. He afterward became head physician of the Old Tavern Hospital, and when Winchester fell into the hands of the Union forces he was appointed post sur- geon, an office he held until the close of the war.

When peace followed those years of blood- shed Dr. Miller resumed his practice in Winchester, the change from the easing of suffering cansed by man's violence to the treatment of natural ailments being one most welcome, and he is there active in his profession to the present time. He is a member of the Virginia Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and for the past fifty years has served as city physi- cian of Winchester, service unusual in dura- tion and in fidelity alike, and for a part of that time has been associate physician of the almshouse that receives its inmates from the Frederick county district.

Although Dr. Miller was reared in the Lutheran faith, his present religious beliefs are Presbyterian, and he affiliates with the Democratic party. His profession has always served as a cloak for the many kind acts and charitable deeds to which his sym- pathetic nature impelled him. Few have known, as they have seen his entry into the homes in which sickness and suffering, often aggravated by poverty, existed. of the ex- tent of his ministrations or how far, in his blessed benevolence, he has exceeded the requirements made upon a physician. Throughout his long and useful life he has given free rein to the gentler virtues, and. maintaining sturdy faith in mankind, has devoted himself to its service.

Dr. Miller married, October 28, 1868. Mary J. Long, born in Frederick county, Virginia. in 1847, died in 1889, daughter of George R. and Harriet (Richards) Long. Their children, all born in Winchester, are: Frank Richards, born in October. 1871, died in 1889; Godfrey, born October 27, 1874. engages in the lumber business ; William C.,

born in 1877, engages in lumber dealing in Winchester in partnership with his brother Godfrey, under the firm name Miller Brothers.

Robert Thomas Barton. The name of Barton was a familiar one in most of the American colonies, the founders coming from various parts of Great Britain. The seat of the family was in Lancashire, in the North of England, near the Scottish border and the Irish sea, making both Scotland and Ireland easy of access for emigrants. Most of the Irish Bartons were Protestants and are supposed to have all come to Ireland from England, where the family dates from the twelfth century. The original name of the family was Nottun, the present name having been acquired with the manor of Barton, through intermarriage. The arms borne by Barton of Barton were: On a field argent, three boars' heads sable, armed or. Crest : A boar's head gules, couped argent. Motto: Fide et fortitudine.

The Bartons of Virginia descend from Rev. Thomas Barton, born in county Monaghan, Ireland, in 1730, died in New York, May 25. 1780. He was a graduate of the University of Dublin, took orders in the Church of England, and came to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he was rector of St. James' Church for over twenty years. He married Esther, a sister of the noted astron- omer. David Rittenhouse. One of his sons. Benjamin Smith Barton, was a famous botanist and scientist : another son, Richard P. Barton, was the founder of the Virginia family of which Robert T. Barton, of Win- chester, is representative.

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Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 25

Author: Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935, ed. cn Publication date: 1915 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 848

Author: Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935, ed. cn
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 848