Mildred Gale (died young)

Notes

“Whitehaven proclaimed it to all the world on the headstone. It read: d 1700, Mildred Gale nee Warner of Warner Hall Virginia, wife of George Gale merchant of Whitehaven, Here also lie with her, her baby daughter and her African slave Jane.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/263151095/mildred-gale

Mildred Gale made her will on 24th January 1701, before her baby Mildred's baptism on 25th Jan 1701.

Her Negro servant was baptized Jane on the 7th Jan 1701.

Mildred was buried on the 30th January 1701, her maid, Jane, on the 20th February and the baby Mildred on 26th May.

Mildred was buried in the grounds of the Chapel of St.Nicholas in the centre of Whitehaven.

The grave of Mildred Gale was probably destroyed by the re-arrangement of graves in the small churchyard.

The lost headstone read:

d 1700, Mildred Gale nee Warner of Warner Hall Virginia, wife of George Gale merchant of Whitehaven, Here also lie with her, her baby daughter and her African slave Jane.

In 1700, Mildred Warner married 2nd to George Gale of Whitehaven, England, a prominent merchant who helped forge trade links between Whitehaven, England and Virginia. She settled in Whitehaven and became pregnant. However, she contracted a fever and made her will before the baptism of her child. Mildred died on 30 January 1701.

Mildred was buried in the grounds of St Nicholas's Church in Whitehaven alongside her baby daughter and slave, Jane. The exact whereabouts of her grave is unknown, due to several graveyard re-arrangements and a subsequent fire in the church in 1971.[7] but a commemorative plaque is in the garden of the church.[8]

Mildred Warner was the grandmother of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Mildred married Lawrence Washington. It was from this marriage in which Augustine Washington, the father of George Washington, was born.

In 1800 after the death of Lawrence Washington, the widow Mildred Washington married George Gale, who was part of a family of Whitehaven merchants trading with Virginia. The Gales were Irish dissenters who had fled Tralee and after suffering in Newcastle had set up in Whitehaven about 1665 under the more sympathetic wing of John Lowther. In fact John Gale appears to have lived on land originally occupied by the Wyberghs known as the Old Hall which probably became Christopher Lowther's first residence in Whitehaven.

PLEASE NOTE: Mildred Warner is actually buried at St. Nicholas Church Cemetery, Whitehaven, England, Find A Grave Memorial# 21925 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21925

As with all people buried in St Nic's Whitehaven we dont know the location of the remains, there are no plots as such, all we know with 100% certainly is that Mildred Warner Gale is in the church grounds, somewhere, this is her only memorial.

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Gale
2. James Simpson, Richard Saul Ferguson, William Gershom Collingwood, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmoreland Antiquarian & Archeological Society (1888), pages 114–120 (Item notes: v.9 Original from the University of California Digitized Jul 24, 2007) < GoogleBooks >
3. Siddall, David (November 8, 2006). "Riddle of slave buried with Washington's grandmother". The Whitehaven News. Retrieved January 24, 2024. < link > Muriel Cinnamon, who wrote a book on the Gale family, told The News this week: “I think the family had Jane baptised either in London or on the way to Whitehaven. They probably knew she was ailing and the baptism would have enabled her to be buried alongside her mistress. Jane is referred to in the parish register as a ‘negro servant’ rather than slave.”
4. Whitehaven - St Nicholas' Church and Gardens' < link > Inside the tower is a plaque to the memory of Mildred Warner Gale, the grandmother of George Washington. She was buried in the grounds, 30th January 1700/1. Her husband, George Gale, was buried on his plantation, called 'Tusculum', in Somerset County, just outside of Princess Anne, Maryland, USA.