Concerning the times in which the several branches of the family separated from the original stock, and the directions in which they spread, very little is known. During the century following Prior Wessyngton's death, we can trace them in Northumberland, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, and perhaps in other parts of England. If we may judge from the records of the transfers of estates and monumental inscriptions contained in the county histories, many, who bore the name, were persons of wealth and consideration. Their armorial bearings were varied, but whether to distinguish different branches of the family, or for other reasons, neither my knowledge of their history, nor my skill in heraldry, enables me to decide.*

The prior of Durham was not the only man of learning among them. Joseph Washington, an eminent lawyer of Gray's Inn, Thoresby says, "is to be remembered among the authors." He wrote the first volume of "Modern Reports"; Observations upon the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Kings of England," published in 1689; " Abridgment of the Statutes to 1687"; a translation of part of "Lucian's Dialogues"; and other tracts. He was buried

*The following extract from Edmondson's Heraldry will show some of the varieties, as adopted by the Washingtons in several counties.

WASHINGTON ARMS.

"1. Gules on a fess argent, three mullets pierced of the field.

"2. In Buckinghamshire, Kent, Warwickshire, and Northamptonshire; argent, two bars gules in chief, three mullets of the second. Crest, a raven with wings indorsed proper, issuing out of a ducal coronet or.

"3. Gules, two bars in chief, three martlets of the second.

"4. In Lancashire; barry of four argent and gules on a chief of the second, three mullets of the first.

"5. In Yorkshire; vert, a lion rampant argent, within a bordure gobonated argent and azure."

The second variety here described was the one used by General Washington, being probably the original arms of the family.

THORESBY'S History of Leeds, p. 97. Toland says, that he was the translator of Milton's Defensio pro Populo Anglicano, in reply to Salmasius. Life of Milton, p. 84. The translator's name is not prefixed to the first edition; but the publisher states in an advertisement," that the person, who took the pains to translate it, did it partly for his own private entertainment, and partly to gratify one or two of his friends, without any design of making it public, and is since deceased." This edition was printed in the year 1692, and it is probable, that Joseph Washington had died not long before that time. The translation is the same that is usually printed with Milton's prose writings. The interest he took in this performance indicates the tenor of his political sentiments, as well as the fact mentioned by Hunter, that he was an intimate friend of the celebrated Lord Somers.

in the Benchers' Vault of the Inner Temple. He was of the Adwick family, son of Robert Washington, a wealthy merchant, who lived and died at Anstrope Hall, near Leeds.

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Anthony Wood says, in his "History of the University of Oxford," that it was allowed by the venerable association, that several persons might have liberty when they pleased to be created doctors of divinity; but they refused then and the next year to accept that favor." Among the persons, who declined this honor, was Richard Washington of University College. And Mr. Hunter cites Wood, as giving an account of a remarkable collection of arms and pictures in the apartments of Philip Washington, of the same college, who died in 1635. †

In the history of the civil wars, another of the family, named Henry Washington, is renowned for the resolute and spirited manner, in which he defended the city of Worcester against the forces of the Parliament in 1646.

"Lord Astley, who had succeeded Colonel Sandys as Governor of Worcester, being taken prisoner and confined at Warwick, Sir Henry Washington was made Governor and Colonel in his absence. In the Herald's College it appears, that the last entry of this gentleman's family was made there in the year 1618, at which time the name of Henry Washington, son and heir of William Washington of Packington, in the county of Leicester, occurs; who, on the following grounds, is conjectured to have been afterwards the Governor of Worcester. First, the name of Henry does not occur at all in any other pedigree of Washington. Secondly, his mother was half-sister to the famous George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, which accounts for his great attachment to the King. An uncle of this Henry Washington, mentioned in the entry of the College of Arms above cited, is supposed to have been the ancestor of the renowned General George Washington.” ‡

In the Appendix to the second volume of Nash's History of Worcestershire, there is a highly interesting narrative of the siege of Worcester, drawn from the diary of a gentleman, who was in the city during the whole siege. The conduct of the Governor appears throughout to the greatest advantage. His spirit and firmness will be evident from his first letter to General Fairfax, who demanded a surrender on the 16th of May, eleven days after the King had escaped in disguise from Oxford.

*Fasti Oxonienses, p. 57.

HUNTER'S History and Topography of the Deanery of Doncaster, Vol. I.

P. 353.

GREENE'S History of Worcestershire, Vol. II. Append. p. 154.

"It is acknowledged by your books, and by report out of your own quarters," said Governor Washington, in reply to Fairfax, "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."

The King's fortunes were now desperate; but the siege was maintained, even against all hope, for nearly three months, when honorable conditions were granted.

That this Sir Henry Washington was the same person, whose name is conjectured above to be entered in the last Visitation Book in the Herald's College, the circumstantial evidence is strong. In Baker's pedigree of this branch of the family, Henry Washington is stated to have been eight years old in 1618. But in the original book at the College I found the entry to be three years. The error was probably occasioned by a misprint of a figure. According to the original entry, therefore, he would have been thirty-one years old at the siege of Worcester, in 1646. He was nephew to John and Lawrence Washington, who emigrated to America about eleven years after the siege of Worcester, and of course first cousin to General George Washington's grandfather.

The ancestors of General Washington in a direct line are traced to Whitfield and Warton in the County of Lancaster. Whitaker, in his History of Northamptonshire, says of the parish church at Warton; "The tower appears to be contemporary with the restoration of the church, and on the north side of the door are the arms of Washington, an old family of considerable property within the parish; whence it may be inferred, that one of the name either built the steeple at his own expense, or was at least a considerable benefactor to the work." Baker gives a pedigree of the family in Lancaster County for three generations. At what time the migra

* This Henry Washington is doubtless the same mentioned by Clarendon, as having distinguished himself at the taking of Bristol, in 1643, three years before the siege of Worcester. "Though the division," says Clarendon, "led on by Lord Grandison was beaten off, Lord Grandison himself being hurt; and the other, led on by Colonel Bellasis, likewise had no better fortune; yet Colonel Washington, with a less party, finding a place in the curtain, between the places assailed by the other two, weaker than the rest, entered, and quickly made room for the horse to follow." History of the Rebellion, Book VII.

tion of some of the members to the south took place is uncertain. The earliest notice we have on the subject is in 1532, when Lawrence Washington, son of John Washington of Warton, was mayor of Northampton. His mother was a daughter of Robert Kilson of Warton, and sister to Sir Thomas Kilson, alderman of London. From this date the genealogy is unbroken. Upon the surrender of the monasteries in 1538, the manor of Sulgrave near Northampton, which belonged to the Priory of St. Andrew, was given up to the crown; and the next year this manor, and other lands in the vicinity, were granted to Lawrence Washington. Among the manuscripts of Sir Isaac Heard I found a letter to him from Mr. Wykam, dated at Sulgrave, August 15th, 1793, from which the following extract is taken.

"There is in our parish church on a stone slab a brass plate, with this inscription in the old black character. • Here lyeth buried the bodys of Lawrence Wasshington, Gent. and Anne his wyf, by whome he had issue four sons and seven daughters; which Lawrence dyed ye day of An. 15-; and Anne deceased 6th day of October, An. Dm. 1564.' On the same stone is also a shield much defaced, and effigies in brass of the four sons and seven daughters. Over the four sons is a figure larger than the rest, which is supposed to be the father's effigy. There was formerly one over the seven daughters; but this is gone. The arms of the Wasshington family (so spelled on six of the seven) were copied from some painted glass of the old manor-house in this village."

The death of this Lawrence Washington, according to Baker, occurred on the 19th of February, 1584. The manor of Sulgrave descended to his eldest son, Robert. It was long held in the family, and thence derived the name of Washington's Manor. The first Lawrence Washington of Sulgrave had eleven children, four sons and seven daughters. His eldest son Robert was twice married, and had sixteen children, ten sons and six daughters. Lawrence, the eldest son of Robert Washington, had fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters. The eldest son was Sir William Washington of Packington, who married the half-sister of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, as stated above, and was the father (as is supposed) of Sir Henry Washington, the defender of Worcester. The second and fourth of these sons were John and Lawrence Washington, who emigrated to Virginia about the year 1657. They were great-grandsons of the first Lawrence of Sulgrave; and John was the great-grandfather of General Wash

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ington. These particulars may be seen more at large in Baker's pedigree of the family inserted hereafter.

The second son of the first Lawrence Washington of Sulgrave was Sir Lawrence Washington of Garsdon, County of Wilts. His granddaughter, Elizabeth Washington, who appears to have been an only child and heiress, married Robert Shirley, Baron Ferrers of Chartley, afterwards Earl Ferrers and Viscount Tamworth. She died in 1693. The family names were united, and Washington Shirley, a son of Robert, was the second Earl Ferrers. Some of the other Earls since that time have borne the same

name.

The history of the American branch of the family, as far as it is known, is contained in President Washington's letter to Sir Isaac Heard, in reply to his inquiries on the subject.

GEORGE WASHINGTON TO SIR ISAAC HEARD.

"SIR,

"Philadelphia, 2 May, 1792.

"Your letter of the 7th of December was put into my hands by Mr. Thornton, and I must request that you will accept my acknowledgments, as well for the polite manner in which you express your wishes for my happiness, as for the trouble you have taken in making genealogical collections relative to the family of Washington.

"This is a subject to which I confess I have paid very little attention. My time has been so much occupied in the busy and active scenes of life from an early period of it, that but a small portion could have been devoted to researches of this nature, even if my inclination or particular circumstances should have prompted to the inquiry. I am therefore apprehensive, that it will not be in my power, circumstanced as I am at present, to furnish you with materials to fill up the sketch which you have sent me, in so accurate a manner as you could wish. We have no office of record in this country, in which exact genealogical documents are preserved; and very few cases, I believe, occur, where a recurrence to pedigrees for any considerable distance back has been found necessary to establish such points, as may frequently arise in older countries.

"On comparing the tables, which you sent, with such documents as are in my possession, and which I could readily obtain from another branch of the family with whom I am in the habit