The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-25
PLENTY or WASHIvGTONS.
Their Names Are In The Directories OF All
of Our Large cities.

Their Names Are In the Directories OF All
of Our Large cities.
A man who recently met in Washington a
Mr.. George UG ~eeon -ae3 10 thint that
he must have been related tothe great General.
"You will find that II is II common honor to
have that name down here" the other said.
and q number of them you will find are col
ored. You see, in slavery days. they usually
were designated by the name Of the family or
plantation to which they belonged. and thus
many colored George Washingtons are also
found scattered throughout the country"
Becoming Interested. the young man looked
up some OF the Washingtons Of the large cities.
The capital seemed to be the home Of George
WashinRtons. as there are no less than forty
one living there to-day. Curiously. not one of
these is recorded as being colored, although
this cannot be altogether correct. especially a.
the number includes twenty-one laborrrs,
Four are drivers, there is n painter. a barber. a
anitor. five walters. n %coachman. a bricklayerj.
a porter. a confertioner. and one clerk-not
even a professional man. much less II "Presl-
dent"
being. 81 named atter the father OF his country:
then he found ~ in NeM Orleans. rs IN st
in Savannah. IL. in Charleston. $; C.. 10 in
Louisville, 10 in Kansas City. 8 in Chicago and
city records only 4, and within an hours investi-
cation fully 300 George, WashingtonS were re-
corded iii some thirty ouu cltles. This nulnDer
would probably be doubled II all the cities OF
the country had been. included: and with the
addition of those living outside Of city limits,
II Is safe to say that there are nearly a thousand
George Washingtons in the United States
to-day.
The occupations of those recorded show
that with few exceptions they are among the
manual workers. There were. drivers. %Janitors.
BARRIERS, conductors. cooks. lumberrnen.. car
penters. blacksmiths, icemen. s~hoemakers.
porters. laundrymen. restaurateurs, coachmen.
rivermen. brickmakers, a clothes cleaner. q
leather decorator, II millwright. q lampmaker.
q clockmaker. a bookkeeper. and one real es-
tate dealer among them. Scarcely any OF those
recorded had a middle initial.
One of New York's colored George Washing
tons keeps u barber shop. He Is. getting old.
has lost his sight. but he, entertains, his GUS
toners while his men do the work. When
asked about his name he said: know q good
many George Washingtons and some of them
tell queer stories about tracing their family
name. but l tell the straight story about mine.
My Rreat-grandfather was in WashinGton's
army. He adopted the. name. and there have
been three George Washingtons In our family
since. Yes. there are a good many moro men
| OF that name than are recorded In the cities.
Why, l know OF half a dozen right around here
one OF them died recently"
1t occurred to the investigator that there
were probably a like number OF Abraham
Lincolns sprinRing up throughout the country,
and especially among the colored people. but
this was not the case. there being none in
most OF the cities. and not moro than two or
three In any one.