George Washington. The pro-1

George Washington. The pro-1 genitor of the Washington’s of, whom this Testator was one, seems to have been William De Hertbern, of Norman origin, whom we; find in the century succeeding the conquest of William, in possession of certain estates held of the Bishop de Pusaz in knigbt’s fee, situated in Durham, England. The! surname De Hertbern was taken from a village on the Palatinate which he held of the bishop, supposed to be ' the same now called Hartburn on the banks of the Tees. The first actual mention we “ find of the family is in die Bolden * Book. (Irving’s Life of Washington. Vol. I) ) In this it is stated that William de Hertbern had exchanged his village of iH'ertbern for the manor and village of Wessyngton in the same diocese, paying the bishop certain quit-rents, etc. .This occurred in 1183, the earliest data to which we can trace, and it seems that from this period forward the family assumed the name of De Wessyngton. About the time of the reign qf Henry VT, the de or <F was generally dropped from surnames, and the title of armiger, esquire, amongst the head of families, and generosus, or gentleman, among younger sons substituted; and we find the. family name of the Testator to vary from Wassyngton to W a s s i n g t o<n, Washington, and finally to Washington. The branch of the family to which our Washington immediately belongs sprang from Lawrence Washington, Esq., of Gray’9 Inn; son of John Washington, of Warton in Lancashire. This Lau rence Washington received from Henry VIII, in 1538, the grant of the manor of Sulgrave in Northamptonshire, and was known in 1620 as “Washington’s Manor.” We have little note of the Sulgrave branch of the family after the death of CharlesI and the exile of his successor. In 1655 the persecutions of • Cromwell drove many of the adherents of the house of Stuart from England, and many of their party who had no share in the conspiracy, sought refuge in other lands. This may have been the case with two brothers, John and Andrew Washington, greatgrandsons of the grantee of Sulgrave. These brothers arrived in Virginia in 1657, and purchased lands in Westmoreland County on the northern neck, between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. John married a Miss Anne Pope, "of the same county, and resided at Bridgs Creek near where it falls into the Pitomac. We afterwards find bime as Colonel of Virginia forces, cooperating with those of Maryland against a band of Seneca Indians. His grandson, Augustine