Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1916-02-18
Aove 81 MAshz1zgHous Auce5kor1

At Wessyngton this was their family coat
And at Mount Vernon 1 myself have noted
An old cast-iron, scutcheoned chimney-back
Charged with that heraldry.
The old building is in an excellent state of
preservation. The main hall has fine fireplace
and an oak beam ceiling. The ancient oak stair
case has very beguiling twisted banisters and
fascinating secret cupboard at the intermediate
landing. The drawing is on the second
floor, as was the custom in the days when it was
built, and in of the bedrooms it is said that
Queen Elizabeth once slept.
The estate surrounding Sulgrave manor con-
sists of about two hundred acres of gently rolling
land substantially all of 1t in full view of the
The ownership carries with it the lord
ship of the manor, with the Rights, Royalties,
Privileges and Appurtenances thereto belonging"
and is subject to- a fee farm rent of lis sd ($284
per annum."
Sulgrave Manor is the place in England most
closely associated with the name Of Washington,
and yet it is true that George Washington him.
self attached little Importance to this fact In the
early days of the American republic, ancestry
despsed much more than is now the case.
In 1888 George Washington refused to accept the
dedication of a book on heraldry because por-
ton of the community
"Clamorously endeavoring to propagate an idea
that those whom they wished invidiously to des-
ignate by the name 'well-born were meditating
from their compatriots and to wrest the dearest
privileges from the bulk of the people,.
But the ability to trace ones ancestors has
greater value in this country today than it had
in the days of the first president Washington
knew very little about his own forefathers. When
he was asked about them by the Garter KingOf-
Arms, he said the first of his family in Virginia
had come from of the northern counties in
England possibly Yorkshire or Lancashire
farther north. Later there was considerable
disputation about the root of the family tree
from which he was descended, and it was finally
agreed by genealogists that the Washingtons of
Sulgrave and Brighton did actually spring from
the Washingtons in Warton, Lancashire, place on
the Westmoreland border.
Several generations of Washingtons of Warton
are recorded, and one of these was the father of
Laurence Washington, mayor of Northampton in
1892 and 1915 He seems to have taken up his
residence at Sulgrave, though members of his
family continued to remain at Warton for several
generations. This Laurence Washington had for
mother the daughter of Rocert Kytson of Hen
grave in Suffolk. This proved matter of very.
considerable Importance in their history, because
it brought them into connection with the Spen-
GERS of Althrop and Wormleighton, through the
marriage of Sir Thomas Kytsons daughter, Cath
crime to Sir John Spencer of Wormleghton,
whose grandson, Sir Robert Spencer, was created
Baron Spencer Of Wormleighton in 1903.
In the process of time the Washingtons of Sui
grave appear to have got into financial difficulties.
Laurence Washington entered the wool trade, per-
haps induced to do so by the fact that Lord
Spencer was one of the great fock-masters of his
day. This Laurence acquired considerable riches
in the wool trade. In 1889 he became possessed
of the Manor of Sugrave for the of three
hundred and twenty-one pounds, fourteen shil-
lngs, and subsequently he purchased additional
property
-undia With Washington Arms.
He had many sons, of whom the Oldest was
Robert, the ancestor of George Washington. He
succeeded his father in 1885, when he was of the
age of forty, but he does not seem to have been
so prosperous as his father. Yet it appears that
he was able to send both his sons, Christopher
and William, to Orie college, Oxford, where they
were in 1888, the year of the great armada.
Roberts Oldest was named Laurence, probably
after the mayor of Northampton, and in 1910
Robert, in agreement with his son, agreed to sell
Sulgrave to their cousin, Laurence Makepeace.
The second Laurence Washington then removed
to Brington, Northampton, his father per-
haps going with him, though the latter was buried
in the family vault at Sulgrave. Laurence Wash
ington had seventeen children two of whom rose