Capt. George Steptoe Washington

Burial record:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19458021/george-steptoe-washington

Birth: 1772
Death: 1809

Captain 8 VA Infantry. He was the nephew of President George Washington. Several transcriptions of letters written by the President to his nephew exist.

Parents:
Samuel Washington (1734 - 1781)
Anne Steptoe Washington (1737 - 1777)

Children:
Samuel Walter Washington (1798 - 1831)*

Spouse:
Lucy Payne Todd Payne Washington (1772 - 1846)*

Point here for explanation*

Burial:
Saint Paul's Episcopal Church Cemetery
Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia, USA

Created by: Faith

Record added: May 20, 2007

Find A Grave Memorial# 19458021

George inherited Harewood, the estate built by his father, Samuel Washington. George married Lucy Payne, sister to Dolley Payne. Lucy & George hosted Dolley's marriage to James Madison, later POTUS. After George's death, Lucy accepted Dolley's invitation to have her second wedding in Dolley's temporary residence, The White House.

George was one of 4 or 5 men mentioned in George Washington's Will. They were given swords owned by Washington, with the injunction not to draw them except in defense of their families or their nation. Better to fall on their sword than surrender it.

Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jun 29 2019, 1:47:08 UTC

Early life

George Steptoe Washington was born August 17, 1771 at Harewood, his father's plantation in Berkeley County, Virginia (now Jefferson County in West Virginia) the fourth of seven children (but the eldest surviving son) born to Samuel Washington and his fourth wife, Anne Steptoe.[2]

George Steptoe Washington was named for his uncle, President George Washington,[3] while his middle name came from that of his mother's family. George had four brothers and two sisters (as well as several half-brothers and sisters): Ferdinand Washington (1767–1788), Frederick Augustus Washington (1768–1769), Lucinda Washington (1769–1770), Lawrence Augustine Washington (1774–1824), Harriet Washington (1776–1822), and Thomas Washington (1778–1838).[2]

After his father's death, he, along with brother Lawrence Augustine and sister Harriet, went to live with their uncle George Washington for a time.[4] The future president paid for him and his brother to be educated at Georgetown academy,[3] where according to historian Ron Chernow, "they were wild and uncontrollable and a constant trial to Washington".[5][6]

Master of Harewood

After his father's death in 1781,[7] George would eventually inherit the plantation of Harewood,[8] as well as other properties in what is now West Virginia. While, for a time, he would study law in Philadelphia with Edmund Randolph, the young George Steptoe Washington would serve as his uncle's secretary. The younger Washington was a source of some worry and much expense to his uncle (who supported him and his younger brother Lawrence, and paid for their education),[9][10] who sent letters of encouragement and, occasionally of reproof.[11]

Washington was actively involved in the operation of his Harewood plantation, and bought and sold a number of parcels of land in Virginia and elsewhere.[8] He also served in the militia, rising to the rank of Major.

Personal life

While in Philadelphia in 1793, George, who was twenty-two years of age, eloped with Lucy Anne Payne (1769–1846), a sister of future First Lady Dolley Madison. Lucy was only fifteen, and a member of the Society of Friends, who disowned her because of her marriage. The families reconciled, and later Lucy's mother Mary Coles Payne, would bring the younger Payne children to Harewood to live with the Washingtons. The parlor of Harewood was the site of the marriage of James Madison and Dolley Payne Todd in 1794.[12] Together, George and Lucy had four children:[2]

1. George Steptoe Washington (1796–1796), who died in infancy.[2]
2. Samuel Walter Washington (1797–1831), a medical doctor who married Louisa Clemson (b. 1805) and had three daughters.[2]
3. William Temple Washington (1800–1877), who married Margaret Calhoun Fletcher (1805–1865) and had issue.[2]
4. George Steptoe Washington, Jr. (1806–1831), who married Gabriella Augusta Hawkins and no children.[2]

On January 10, 1809, George Steptoe Washington died of consumption at the age of thirty-seven in Augusta, Georgia, where he had gone to establish another plantation. His widow subsequently married Judge Thomas Todd, who was an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.[13] Their wedding was the first ever to be held in the White House. Todd died in 1826, and Lucy died at the age of 74 in 1846.[2]

Descendants

Through his son Samuel, he was the grandfather of Lucy Elizabeth Washington (b. 1823), who married John Bainbridge Packett (1817–1872) and had issue; Christian Maria Washington (1826–1895), who married Richard Blackburn Washington (1822–1910), a relative of hers and had issue; Annie S.C. Washington (1831–1911), who married Thomas Augustus Brown and had issue including Forrest Washington Brown (1855–1934), who married Emma Beverly Tucker.[14]

Richard Blackburn Washington was the great-grandson of John Augustine Washington who was a younger brother of George and Samuel Washington and the uncle of George Steptoe Washington. Richard B. Washington was therefore Christian's third cousin.[12] After his father (John Augustine Washington II)'s death in 1832, Richard inherited the plantation of Blakeley in Jefferson County, West Virginia, but, in 1875, would sell Blakeley and move to Harewood.[15]

Through his son William, George Steptoe Washington was the grandfather of Jane Washington (b. 1834), who married Thomas Gascoigne Moncure (1837–1906) and had no issue; Lucy Washington (1822–1825), who died young; Millissent Fowler Washington (1824–1893), who married Robert Grier McPherson (1819–1899) and had issue; William Temple Washington, Jr. (b. 1827); Thomas West Washington (1829–1868); Eugenia Scholay Washington (1838–1900), a founder of the lineage societies, Daughters of the American Revolution and Daughters of the Founders and Patriots of America; and Ferdinand Steptoe Washington (1843–1912). Wikipedia