Purleigh - Ancestral Home of the First President of USA
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The Beginning
The ancestors of the
Washington family came to England in 1066 with the Norman Invasion
and settled in the far north of England.
By 1500 the Washington's had
moved to Central England and Lawrence Washington who was a wealthy
wool merchant became Mayor of Northampton and bought Sulgrove as the
Washington family home.
Lawrence had 4 sons and
eleven daughters amongst which his oldest son was Robert Washington
and his second son was called Lawrence Washington. This started a
family tradition to name one of the sons Lawrence.
The
bedroom at Sulgrove where Lawrence Washington was born
The First Washington
Family visit to America
The second son Lawrence
Washington married wealthy widow Mary Argall and became the
stepfather of Samuel Argall.
Samuel became a prominent Sea
captain based at Jamestown in Virginia. In 1613 he sailed to trade
with the Potomac and found Pocohontas.
He kidnapped Pocohontas and
sailed back to Jamestown where she was held in captivity. The famous
story then began with her adopting Christianity and marrying John
Rolfe before traveling back to England with her new husband in
Samuel Argall's boat. sadly she died in England aged 21 but has
become a heroine in her country.
Samuel was an unpopular
Deputy Governor of Virginia from 1617 to 1619 before he returned to
the sea and died at sea in 1626 ending the Washington family’s first
experience in America.
Trouble in England
The oldest son Robert
inherited Sulgrove and in married heiress Elizabeth Lyte with whom
he had 15 children one of which carried the family name of Lawrence
Washington.
Lawrence married Margaret
Butler who came from a well-connected family descended from the
Plantagenet Kings. The
Their fifth son Lawrence was
a comparative disappointment as older sons had been knighted and
married well . Lawrence decided to take the Cloth and obtained a
degree from Brakenose Collage at Oxford University before buying the
living at as the
Rector of Purleigh, Essex in 1633. At this time
Purleigh was an important village and offered one of the best
livings in Essex which allowed Lawrence to live in the style that he
had become accustomed in the Washington household.
Purleigh Church
In 1632, shortly
before moving to Purleigh, Lawrence married Amphillis Twigdon who as
the daughter of a moderately wealthy family in Northamptonshire.
All seemed to go well for
Lawrence who was described by his new parishioners as a 'very worthy
and pius man' and Lawrence and Amphillis had three sons and three
daughters. John (1633) and Andrew (1635) Washington were the oldest
two sons.
National affairs clouded the
Washington Family life in 1642 with the start of the English Civil
War. The Washington family were Royalists having connections with
the Monarchy over many generations but Essex was staunchly Puritan
supplying the bulk of Parliamentarians troops.
Once the King was forced to
flee London the Puritans controlled Essex. At this time many of the
senior clergy were also senior politicians and an
prominent Royalist in occupation of one of the best livings in Essex was not seen as satisfactory.
Washington was denounced as ' A
common frequenter of ale houses, not only himself sitting daily
tippling there, but also encouraging others in that beastly vice,
and hath been often drunk, and hath said that the Parliament have
more papists belonging to them in their armies than the King had
about him or in his army and the Parliament's army did more hurt
than the Cavaliers and that they did none at all, and hath published
them to be traitors that lend to or assist Parliament'.
There is no evidence as to
his drinking habits although the Bell which is a splendid Public
House is close to the Church and the Rectory.
Mr Newcourt writing in 1632
claimed that Washington was sequestered or his loyalty to the king
and there seems little cause to doubt his views given the
language of denouncement.
Purleigh
Rectory in about 1920
Whatever the truth in 1643
the living of Purleigh was taken away from Washington and so the
family moved in with his in laws for a short period before a
Royalist sympathiser bought the living at Little Braxted in Essex
which Washington accepted. Little Braxted was one of the poorest
livings in Essex and the Washington family experienced poverty until
Lawrence died in 1655. Two years later Amphillis also died.
Coming to America
On the death of their mother
John and Andrew moved to London to seek their fortune. America
seemed the land of opportunity and in 1656 John sailed for Virginia
as First mate on the Sea Horse with partner Edward Prescott. On the
death of his first wife he married Anne Pope who was the daughter of
a planter and as a wedding gift received a 700 acre tobacco
plantation. When their first son was born in 1659 they followed the
family tradition and named him Lawrence.
Lawrence Washington grew up
in comparative wealth and married Mildred Warner whose family had
English roots with royal connections. They had a son called
Augustine. John died in 1698 and Mildred died in 1701 when Augustine
was just 15 years old. He was cared for by his uncle John until he
reached the age of 21 when he inherited the family plantation.
Augustine again married well.
At the age of 21 he married Jane Butler who brought with her 1,300
acres of land. After providing two
children, including the obligatory son called Lawrence, Jane died in
1828 and Augustine married again to Mary Ball who again came from a
wealthy family and brought yet more tobacco plantation land.
Augustine and Mary had five children of which the first was born on
22 February 1732 and named George Washington..
Augustine died when George
was 11 but his mother lived for many years. George eventually took
over the main plantation before embarking in politics and as
they say the rest is history.
