Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-01

shield of silver Cor white) two red bars, and
IN chief (the upper part of the shield)
three stars also red In this shield, there
fore, we have the origin of the national flag
of America OF course the emigrant would
take the family escutcheon with him, and
hand it down in his family; and il is
claimed that the Stars and Stripes were in
deed copied from Washington's signet ring.
The stripes on the Washington shield are
alternate gules (red) on white (silyer)
ground, as are those of the flag, and the
"mullets" in chief have the parallel pecul-
iarity of being ive-pointed, while six points
are sometimes known. The "mullet" in
heraldry is star generally five points,
and is always formed Of straight lines,
while the "estoile'' is star of SIX or more
points, with wavy rays. The crescent in the
center of the shield is the heraldic sign used
by the second son Of the family-the shield
is that of Robert
THE PARISH REGISTER
records that child Of Lawrence Washing
ton, named Gregory, was baptized and
buried at Brington, 16O6-7. 1t also contains
the following:
1915. Mr.. Lawrence Washington was buried
the XIV. day of December
1920. Mr.. Philip Curtis and Miss Amy Wash
| ington were married August 8
1922 Mr.: Robert Washington was buried
March ye 11th.
Mrs. Elizabeth Washington. widow, was
buried March ye Goth
These constitute the records Of the Wash.
ington family in the church at Great Bring
ton, but they do not comprise the whole of
what is of interest in the neighborhood.
ID oh
renee Washington left four sons and eight
daughters, The sons were William, John,
Robert and Lawrence. Robert is supposed
to have died young; the surviving sons
were William, John and Lawrence. Will
lam, by his marriage, as previously stated,
brought up again the fortunes of his family.
All three are frequently in the Althyop
household books, where William is always
styled Sir William. John is first entered
as Mr.. Washington, and is so styled in JAN
uary, 1722-23, but in the following March,
and ever afterward, he is called Sir John
Washington. He must have been knighted
in the interval by james I. This Sir John
Washington was the emigrant and direct
ancestor of George. Of the "emigrant,"
prior to his leaving England, not much has
been discovered. He appears. however,
above all others of the family, to have been
on intimate terms with the Spencers to the
very eve of the Civil War. When the Civil
War broke out the Washingtons took the
side of the king and fought for him with
that bravery of devotion which ever ap-
pears to have been characteristic of the
family. The name of
SIR HENRY WASHINGTON
is well-known to those who are acquainted
with the history of the Civil War; how he
led the storming party to Bristol and de-
Tended Worcester. We have it on the CO.
temporary authority of Lloyd that this Col
onel Washington was SO well known for his
bravery that it became a proverb in the
army when difficulty arose, Away withlt
quoth Washington" Sir John had a place
at court, produced there by his friend, the
great Duke of Buckingham, through whom
he supposes he obtained his manor at South
Cave in Yorkshire, where he last resided
prior to departing for Virginia in 1867.
Washington Irving supposes that he and
his brother Lawrence went to Virginia in
consequence OF being implicated in the
royalist conspiracy in 1856. Whether all or
any of Sir Johns sons went with him there
are no means of knowing. The South Cave
estate remained in the Washington family
for some generations later, as is shown by
the parish register, but the record is inconl-
plete, part Of the register having been de-
stroyed.
There is considerable testimony to sustain
the statement that the armor of the Wash
ington family, as emblazoned on the tomb
slabs in BringtOn church, suggested the
stars and stripes of the American flag. An
Englishman, Mr.. A. 7. Story, who has
made study of the subject, says: ''It will
be noticed that the points of resemblance
between the SHIELD and the flag extend even
to the number of the points of the star, it in
both cases being 6ve-pointed, and not, as is
more common, six-pointed. We have it on
unioubted authority that the Virginia
Washingtons bore, as their arms, the ia
miliar red bars and mullets Tin heraldry,
the rowels Of spur to be seen in so many
church windows of the Northamptonshire
and Warwickshire borders; among other
places, at Fawsley, the seat of the Knight
Ieys, once famous in connection with the
Puritans and the struggle for religious lib
erty. 'Edmonson's Heraldry' gives the fol-
lowing as one Of the armorial bearings of
the Washingtons: In Buckinghamshire,
Kent, Warwickshire and dNorthamptonshire,
argent, two bars gules, in chief three null
lets of the second; crest, raven with wings
indorsed proper, issuing out Of ducal coro-
net, or This was the variety used by Cen
eral Washington, and is still to be seen at
tached to the commissions of some of the
earlier officers of the army of Independ-
ence."
EARLY EMIGRANTS.
The history of the family in this country
dates from the immigration of the brothers,
John and Lawrence, from Yorkshire to Vir-
ginia in 1867. John brought over his wife
and two children, according to good au-
thority, and bought a tract of land at
Bridges Greek, near the Potomac. His
wife and children died subsequently,, and |
he married Anne Pope, by whom he had
four children. One of them Elizabeth, !
married Thomas Lanier.
The first son of John, Lawrence, had |
three children, John, Augustine and Mil. |
dred. John had seven children, four of
whom left issue. 1t was the second son of |
Lawrence, Augustine, who was the father of |
Washington.
Johns daughter, Catharine, married |
Colonel Fielding Lewis. On her death !
Colonel Lewis married her cousin, Betty |
Washington, sister of George, and had a
large family.
Augustine's sister, Mildred, married
twice, and from her were descended the
Thornton and Willis families, of Virginia.
Her three daughters by her first husband, |
Mr. Gregory, married three brothers named
Thornton.
Augustine Washington married twice;
first, Jane Butler, in 1715, who died in 1928,
and then Mary Ball, mother of George
By his first wife Augustine had four chill |
dren, two ofwhom, Lawrenceand Augustine,
left issue. By his second wife he had six
children, four of whom left issue. These
children, in their order of birth, were named
George, Betty, Samuel, John Augustine.
Charles and Mildred, the last of whom died
in her infancy.
WASHINGTON KINSMEN.
OF the Generals half brothers were many
and aside from families bear
ing the name of Washington may be men
toned the Spotswoods, ofVirginia; Finches,
of Brooklyn; Swaynes, Of New York, and |
Maupins, Of Maryland.
General Washingtop's sister Betty had
six children, and her daughter Betty, who
married Charles Carter, had 16 children;
John Augustine, his full brother, had 3
children, growing to manhood, and Colonel
Charles, his youngest brother, had L. The
Generals brother, Colonel Samuel, married |
G - +;r,a ond loft iesua hx, t,yo of A. -.