Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1896-04-24
wAsHINeroNs ANcEsToRs.
a Succession Of Fine Old Country Gen
tlemen.


+ Change of time and of affairs, the stir
I of growing life in Virginia as she ceased
from being a mere colony and became
n sturdy commonwealth, Boosting her
own breed of gentlemen, merchant and
I scholars, and statesmen. laid upon the
Washingtons, as upon other men,
touch of transformation. Seventy-siN
( ye~rs had gone by since John Wash
ington came out of Bedfordshire and
took up land on Bridges creek, in West
moreland, in Virginia, and still his chill
Z dren were to be found in the old seats
he had chosen at the first They had
become thorough Virginians with the
rest, woven into the close fiber Of the
new life. Westmoreland and all the
counties that lay about it on the north
ern neck were strictly piece with the
rest of Virginia, for all they had waited
long to be settled.
There the Washingtons had become
country gentlemen of comfortable es-
tate upon the accepted model. John
had begOtten Lawrence, and Lawrence
had begotten Augustine. John had
thrifty taken care to see his ofspriLg
put in way to prosper at the gerA
first He had acquired a substantial
property of his own where the land
lay very fertile upon the banks of the
Potomac. and ne had. besides, by three
marriages made good very close con
nection with several families that had
thriven thereabouts before him. lac
had become a notable figure, indeed,
amongst his neighbors ere he had been
many years in the colony-a colonel
in the militia, and their Representative
in the house of burgesses, and they had
not waited for his death to call Tie
parish in which he lived Washington
parish. His SONS and grandsons'
though they Stacked a little the pace
he had set them in his energy at tie
outset, throve none the less substantial
" upon the estates he had left them,
abated nothing of the dignity and
worth they had inherited. lived simply,
and kept their place of respect in the
parish and state. Wars came and went
without disturbing incident for them,
as the French moved upon the borders
by impulse of politics from over sea,
and then long peace set in, equally with
out incident. to stay the whole genera
ton, while good farming went quietly
forward. and politicians at home and
in the colonies planned another move
in their game.
It was in the midseason of this time
of poise, preparation and expectancy
that George Washington was born, on
the 22d of February, in the year 1882, |
about ten in the morning" William |
Gooch, gentlest of Marlborough's cap |
tains. being governor in Virginia. He |
came into the world at the plain but |
spacious homestead on Bridges creek, |
fourth son, fifth child, of Augustine /
Washington and of the third generation I
from John Washington, son of the one
time rector of Purleigh. The home
stead stood upon a green and gentle
slope that fell away at but little dis
lance to the waters of the Potomac,
and from it could be seen the broad
reaches of the stream stretching wide
to the Maryland shore beyond, and
flooding with slow tide to the great
bay below. The spot gave token of the
quiet youth of the boy, of the years
of grateful peace in which he was to
learn the first lessons of life, ere war
and the changing fortunes of his coun-
try hurried him to the field and to the
council.-IIarper's Magazine.