Person Page - 78

     Butler WASHINGTON, son of Augustine WASHINGTON and Jane BUTLER, was born in 1716 in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

Butler WASHINGTON died in infancy before 1729.

     Lawrence WASHINGTON, son of Augustine WASHINGTON and Jane BUTLER, was born in 1718 at Pope's Creek Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was was a soldier and prominent landowner in colonial Virginia. As a founding member of the Ohio Company of Virginia, and a member of the colonial legislature representing Fairfax County, he was chiefly responsible for securing the establishment of the town of Alexandria, Virginia on the banks of the Potomac River in 1749. Washington was also the older and beloved half-brother of future United States President George Washington.¹

According to English custom he received the major part of his father's estate. He renamed the plantation, Mount Vernon, in honor of Admiral Vernon, under whom he had served in the English navy in the Carthagena campaign. Upon his death he left Mount Vernon to his half-brother, George.

In late 1739 the British Parliament decided to raise a "Regiment of Foot" (infantry) in the American colonies, to be utilized in the West Indies for the war against Spain, known as the War of Jenkins' Ear. The regiment, to be composed of four battalions, was designated Colonel William Gooch's 43rd Regiment of Foot, denoting its precedence within the British Army establishment. It was further decided to allow the company commanders to be recruited in the colonies and Colonel William Blakeney was sent across the Atlantic with blank Commissions, signed by King George II, to be distributed to the various governors. On 10 July 1740, Virginia Governor William Gooch awarded the senior (of 4) Captain's Commission in one of Virginia's companies to the 22-year-old Lawrence Washington: his Commission survives in the archives of the Mt. Vernon estate. The four Virginia Companies mustered at Williamsburg in August 1740, but the transport ships did not set sail for Jamaica until early October. The main British invasion force did not arrive Jamaica until early January 1741, and the Conjunct Expedition, under the dual command of Vice Admiral Edward Vernon and Brigadier General Thomas Wentworth, got under way in late January. In early February the decision was made to assault the Spanish fortress at Cartagena (in present day Colombia). At that time, some of the Americans were transferred to Admiral Vernon's warships to be utilized as Marines. Lawrence was fortunate, as he would later write to his father, to be appointed "Captain of the Soldiers acting as Marines" on board Vernon's flagship, the 80-gun HMS Princess Caroline. Because of this service, the 43rd Foot was called "Gooch's Marines."

Lawrence was a survivor of the expeditions against the seaport of Cartagena, New Granada and against Cuba and Panama. The assault against Cartagena, in March-April 1741, proved a disaster, as over half of the British force fell ill and died of tropical diseases, chiefly yellow fever and malaria. The fever predominated amongst the newly arrived troop ships, while the crews on Vernon's warships, having already been in the Caribbean for one year, were largely inured against disease. Thus, Lawrence Washington survived the fevers which killed off nearly 90 percent of the Americans.

In January 1741, some 3,255 officers and men of Gooch’s "American Regiment" were on board ship in the harbor of Kingston, Jamaica. Not quite two years later, on 24 October 1742, the American survivors could muster only 17 officers and 130 enlisted men, who returned to North America in November and December, accompanied by 268 sick soldiers. On 17 January 1743, The New York Weekly Journal contained a dispatch from Jamaica dated 24 October 1742: from Jamaica, we are informed that General Wentworth had received Orders to return to Great Britain with his British Forces and to reduce [disband] the American Regiment under Colonel Gooch. Each man is to be paid to the 24th of October and sent home on four transports, viz: one to New York, two to Virginia, and one to North Carolina. Writing a history of "British Settlements in North America" in 1748, Bostonian Dr. William Douglas stated that of five hundred men sent from Massachusetts, not over fifty returned.

Washington also participated in the 1741 British landing at Guantanamo (Cumberland Harbor) Cuba, part of Admiral Vernon's plan -- never realized -- to attack Santigo from the rear (by land) and from the front (by sea), on Santiago de Cuba.

Upon his return to Virginia at the end of 1742, Lawrence discovered that the post of militia commander, Adjutant, was vacant. He applied for the post and was appointed Adjutant, at the rank of Major, by Governor Gooch in Spring 1743.¹

Lawrence married Anne FAIRFAX in July 1743 in Belvoir, Virginia. She was the daughter of Colonel William Fairfax of neighboring Belvoir, himself a land agent for his cousin, Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron. The marriage of the 15-year old Anne to the newly returned 25-year old army veteran appears to have been prompted by Anne's disclosure to her parents that the family's minister, the Reverend Charles Green of Truro Parish, had taken opportunities with her.

Anne was a woman of charm, grace, and culture. She and Lawrence had several children (none of whom survived childhood): Jane (1744-1745), Fairfax (1747), Mildred (1748-1749) and Sarah (1750-1754). Sarah was her father's heir. Had she lived she would have inherited the property now known as Mount Vernon instead of her uncle George Washington.^2,1

The new county of Fairfax was created in 1742, carved out of Prince William County, and Lawrence was elected to Virginia's House of Burgesses in 1744 as a representative for Fairfax (both the county and the family.) In 1747, he joined with other prominent landowners and businessmen in the Northern Neck to create The Ohio Company of Virginia, with the intention of opening trade to the American interior linked to the Potomac River. To do so, the Company required an entrepot, a gateway for trade. The site of Hugh West's tobacco warehouse, near the mouth of (Great) Hunting Creek, was deemed a suitable location because its deep water access allowed ships from London to sail directly to the wharf. However, the local tobacco planters were desirous of siting a new town away from the river (and its "played out" tobacco fields) and further upstream on Hunting Creek. During the legislative session of 1748-49, Lawrence was responsible for promoting the river site and securing the votes necessary to approve a new town on the Potomac. In May 1749, Governor William Gooch signed an Act to establish the town of Alexandria, and Lawrence was granted permission to "be absent from the Service of the House, for the Recovery of his Health." Prior to the first public auction of town lots, in July 1749, Lawrence sailed to London to conduct business on behalf of the Ohio Company, and to consult English physicians regarding his health. His younger brother George, an aspiring land surveyor, attended the "Public Vendue" (auction) and copied the town map, "A Plan of Alexandria, Now Belhaven", and listed the selling prices of individual lots for his brother.

George Washington accompanied his half-brother Lawrence to the warm springs at Bath (present-day Berkeley Springs, West Virginia), which Lawrence visited frequently to improve his health. In 1751, they travelled together to Barbados hoping that its climate might further help Lawrence who was now very ill with tuberculosis. This was the only trip that George Washington ever took outside the confines of what was to become the United States of America. Lawrence returned to Virgininia in June and died of tuberculosis at Mount Vernon in July 1752. His widow remarried into the Lee family shortly thereafter, allowing 20-year old George to live at, and manage, the Mount Vernon plantation. He became the owner when Anne and her only son died nine years later.^1,3

Lawrence WASHINGTON died in July 1752 at Mount Vernon in Fairfax County, Virginia.²

     Augustine WASHINGTON, son of Augustine WASHINGTON and Jane BUTLER, was born in 1720 in Virginia.

Augustine WASHINGTON died in 1762.

     Jane WASHINGTON, daughter of Augustine WASHINGTON and Jane BUTLER, was born in 1722 in Virginia.

Jane WASHINGTON died on 17 January 1735.¹

     Anne FAIRFAX was born in 1728 in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts.

Anne married Lawrence WASHINGTON, son of Augustine WASHINGTON and Jane BUTLER, in July 1743 in Belvoir, Virginia. She was the daughter of Colonel William Fairfax of neighboring Belvoir, himself a land agent for his cousin, Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron. The marriage of the 15-year old Anne to the newly returned 25-year old army veteran appears to have been prompted by Anne's disclosure to her parents that the family's minister, the Reverend Charles Green of Truro Parish, had taken opportunities with her.

Anne was a woman of charm, grace, and culture. She and Lawrence had several children (none of whom survived childhood): Jane (1744-1745), Fairfax (1747), Mildred (1748-1749) and Sarah (1750-1754). Sarah was her father's heir. Had she lived she would have inherited the property now known as Mount Vernon instead of her uncle George Washington.^1,2

Anne married second George Lee on 16 December 1752 in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

Anne FAIRFAX died in 1761 in Virginia. She was buried in Burnt House Fields, Lee Family Estate, Coles Point, Westmoreland County, Virginia.

     Ada Lamar ABNEY, daughter of Zachariah ABNEY and Alexandria Victoria DOSTER, was born on 28 October 1871 in Prattville, Autauga County, Alabama.¹

Ada Lamar ABNEY died on 1 February 1872 in Prattville, Autauga County, Alabama.² She was buried in Doster-Abney Cemetery, Prattville, Autauga County, Alabama.

     Mary Cornelia HUNT, daughter of Thomas Brown HUNT and Mary Jane NIXON, was born on 8 May 1880 in Pine Level, Autauga County, Alabama.¹ Mary Cornelia HUNT also went by the name of Nealey.

Mary Cornelia HUNT appeared on a census, enumerated 1 June 1880, in the household of her parents Thomas Brown HUNT and Mary Jane NIXON in Pine Flat Beat, Autauga County, Alabama. She was enumerated as Mary Hunt, 3 months old.²

Mary married John Fleming Thorn in 1896 in Autauga County, Alabama.¹

Mary Cornelia HUNT died on 31 May 1968 in Autauga County, Alabama, at age 88.³ She was buried in Pine Level Methodist Church Cemetery, Autauga County, Alabama.

     John Rice HUNT, son of Thomas Brown HUNT and Mary Jane NIXON, was born on 14 July 1883 in Autauga County, Alabama.¹ He was a railroad section foreman.

John Rice HUNT appeared on a census, enumerated 28 June 1900, in the household of Thomas Brown HUNT and Mary Jane NIXON in Liberty Beat, Autauga County, Alabama.²

John married Cynthia D. GIBBONS on 22 June 1903 in Autauga County, Alabama. They married at the home of S. H. Gibbons, who also performed the ceremony. She was the daughter of George Washington and Harriett Elizabeth Gibbons.³

John Rice HUNT and Cynthia D. GIBBONS appeared as head of household on a census enumerated 21 April 1910 in Autauga County, Alabama. The household was listed as John R. Hunt, a 27-year-old railroad section foreman, and Cynthia, his 24-year-old wife. They had been married 6 years. Their children were Mary E., 4, Willie S.(f), 3, and Smith M., 1.⁴

John Rice HUNT died on 1 June 1973 in Autauga County, Alabama, at age 89.⁵ He was buried in Pine Level Methodist Church Cemetery, Autauga County, Alabama.

     Cynthia D. GIBBONS was born on 22 April 1886 in Autauga County, Alabama.

Cynthia married John Rice HUNT, son of Thomas Brown HUNT and Mary Jane NIXON, on 22 June 1903 in Autauga County, Alabama. They married at the home of S. H. Gibbons, who also performed the ceremony. She was the daughter of George Washington and Harriett Elizabeth Gibbons.¹

Cynthia D. GIBBONS and John Rice HUNT appeared as head of household on a census enumerated 21 April 1910 in Autauga County, Alabama. The household was listed as John R. Hunt, a 27-year-old railroad section foreman, and Cynthia, his 24-year-old wife. They had been married 6 years. Their children were Mary E., 4, Willie S.(f), 3, and Smith M., 1.²

Cynthia D. GIBBONS died on 7 February 1984 in Autauga County, Alabama, at age 97.^3,4 She was buried in Pine Level Methodist Church Cemetery, Autauga County, Alabama.

     William Asbury GOODSON, son of Elias Bainbridge GOODSON and Eliza Ann HUNT, was born in 1844 in Autauga County, Alabama.

William Asbury GOODSON died on 8 September 1909 in Montgomery, Alabama.¹

     Thomas Roper GOODSON, son of Elias Bainbridge GOODSON and Eliza Ann HUNT, was born on 15 June 1846 in Autauga County, Alabama.

Thomas Roper GOODSON died on 11 June 1936 in Autauga County, Alabama, at age 89. He was buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery.

     Amanda H. GOODSON, daughter of Elias Bainbridge GOODSON and Eliza Ann HUNT, was born in 1848 in Autauga County, Alabama.

     John Henry GOODSON, son of Elias Bainbridge GOODSON and Eliza Ann HUNT, was born on 22 November 1850 in Autauga County, Alabama.¹

John Henry GOODSON died on 3 January 1933 in Alabama at age 82.¹

     George Washington GOODSON, son of Elias Bainbridge GOODSON and Eliza Ann HUNT, was born in 1853 in Autauga County, Alabama.

George Washington GOODSON died in 1931 in Autauga County, Alabama.¹

     Jesse Jones GOODSON, son of Elias Bainbridge GOODSON and Eliza Ann HUNT, was born on 10 May 1856 in Autauga County, Alabama.¹

Jesse Jones GOODSON died on 4 December 1928 in Autauga County, Alabama, at age 72.¹

     Neil Fleming GOODSON, son of Elias Bainbridge GOODSON and Eliza Ann HUNT, was born on 19 August 1858 in Autauga County, Alabama.¹

Neil Fleming GOODSON died on 1 January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, at age 70.¹

     Cassandra McCRARY , daughter of Jonathan T. McCRARY and Nancy Jane Singletary, was born on 9 November 1875 in Troy, Pike County, Alabama.² Cassandra McCRARY also went by the name of Cora.

Cassandra married James Abbott HUNT, son of William Henry HUNT and Sarah Rebecca CHAMBLISS, on 24 December 1895 in Autauga County, Alabama. The wedding was written up in the January 3, 1896 Prattville Progress as follows: "On the evening of the 24th, ult. at the home of the bride in the northern suburbs of our town Rev. J. T. Ponder spoke the words which united for the journey of life Mr. James Hunt and Miss Casandra McCrary. A goodly number of friends and relatives were present to witness the union of these two young hearts. Both the bride and groom are residents of Prattville and will make their home here."^3,4

Cassandra McCRARY and James Abbott HUNT appeared as head of household on a census enumerated 2 June 1900 in Prattville, Autauga County, Alabama. The household was listed as James Hunt, 26, born Jul 1873, Drygood Clerk; Cassie Hunt, 24, his wife, born 1875; Ernest Hunt, 3, his son, born May 1897; and Evelyn Hunt, 1, his daughter, born May 1899. They had been married four years. They lived on Factory (now Main) Street.⁵

Cassandra McCRARY and James Abbott HUNT appeared as head of household on a census enumerated 28 April 1910 in Autauga County, Alabama. The household was listed as James A. Hunt, a 35-year-old machinist at the gin factory, and his 34-year-old wife, Cassandra. Living with them were there children Earnest M., 12, Mary E., 11, and Dora L., 9.⁶

Cassandra died on 21 July 1936 in Prattville, Autauga County, Alabama, at age 60. She was killed when her car was struck by a M & O freight train near her home on Lower Kingston Road.² She was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Prattville, Alabama.

     Miles Harrison HUNT, son of Thomas Brown HUNT and Mary Jane NIXON, was born on 2 August 1890 in Prattville, Autauga County, Alabama.¹

Miles Harrison HUNT appeared on a census, enumerated 28 June 1900, in the household of Thomas Brown HUNT and Mary Jane NIXON in Liberty Beat, Autauga County, Alabama.²

Due to a need for men to serve during World War I, the United States instituted a draft. The first registration was for men between the ages of 21 and 31. As a result, this first registration included men born between June 5, 1886 and June 5, 1896. Miles filled out a draft card on 5 June 1917 in Autauga County, Alabama. He was a 27-year-old sawmill hand and discribed as medium height with blue eyes and black hair.³

Miles Harrison HUNT appeared on a census, enumerated 16 April 1940, in the household of his brother Jesse Samuel HUNT in Liberty Beat 10, Autauga County, Alabama. He was identified as brother, Harrison M. Hunt, 42, widow, farm labor, 3rd grade education.⁴

Miles Harrison HUNT appeared on a census, enumerated 21 April 1950, in the household of his brother Jesse Samuel HUNT in Liberty, Autauga County, Alabama. He was listed as Harrison Hunt, age 61, farm helper, single, never married, born Alabama.⁵

Miles Harrison HUNT died on 25 November 1970 in Autauga County, Alabama, at age 80. His obituary said he was survived by one sister, Mrs. Annie Roy; three brothers John, Cleveland, and Sam. His pallbearers were Milton, Joey, & Harvey Hunt, Ed Rodgers, Thomas Tatum & Thomas Thorn.⁶ He was buried in Pine Level Methodist Church Cemetery, Autauga County, Alabama.

     Jesse Samuel HUNT, son of Thomas Brown HUNT and Mary Jane NIXON, was born on 14 April 1885 in Prattville, Autauga County, Alabama.¹ He was also known as Sam.

Jesse Samuel HUNT appeared on a census, enumerated 28 June 1900, in the household of Thomas Brown HUNT and Mary Jane NIXON in Liberty Beat, Autauga County, Alabama.²

Jesse married Barbara Cornelia ESCO on 23 March 1911 in Pine Level, Autauga County, Alabama.³

With no end in sight for World War I, the United States instituted it's third and final registration. It included all men who were between the ages of 18 and 21, and 31 to 45 years of age. This added younger men than the previous registrations, those who were born between September 12, 1897 and September 12, 1900; and added an older group of men, born between September 12, 1873 and September 12, 1888. Jesse filled out a draft card on 12 September 1918 in Prattville, Alabama. Jessie Samuel Hunt of Prattville, was 33 years old, born 14 Apr 1885. No street address given. His occupation was farmer. His nearest relative was Barbara Cornelia Hunt of Prattville. He was discribed as a white male, medium height and build, with blue eyes and brown hair.⁴

Barbara died on 24 November 1936 in Autauga County, Alabama, at age 42 leaving Jesse Samuel HUNT as a widow.³

Jesse Samuel HUNT appeared as head of household on a census enumerated 16 April 1940 in Liberty Beat 10, Autauga County, Alabama. The household was listed as J. Sam Hunt, a 55 year old farmer and a widow. He completed four years of school. Also in the household was son, Grover S., age 21, farm laborer with two years of high school; daughter, Jessie F., 26, housework, four years school; son, Ansley E., 16, in school, 2nd year of high school; son, Alford R., 14, in first year of high school; sister, Agnis E. Roy (Eliza), 58 year old widow, 4th grade education;and brother, Harrison M. Hunt, 42, widow, farm labor, 3rd grade education. All born in Alabama. They lived on "Community Road", off Hwy. 31 or Prattville and Wetumpka Road.⁵

Jesse Samuel HUNT appeared as head of household on a census enumerated 21 April 1950 in Liberty, Autauga County, Alabama. The household was listed as Samuel Hunt, a 65 year old farmer and widow; daughter, Jeffie Hunt, age 38, single, never married, keeping house; and brother, Harrison Hunt, 61, single, never married, farm helper. All were born in Alabama. Samuel owned his house and it was said to be located 1/2 mile on right from county line moving toward Pine Level.⁶

Jesse Samuel HUNT died on 26 November 1976 in Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama, at age 91.³ He was buried in Pine Level Methodist Church Cemetery, Autauga County, Alabama.¹

     Barbara Cornelia ESCO was born on 14 October 1894 in Pine Level, Autauga County, Alabama.

Barbara married Jesse Samuel HUNT, son of Thomas Brown HUNT and Mary Jane NIXON, on 23 March 1911 in Pine Level, Autauga County, Alabama.¹ She was buried in Pine Level Methodist Church Cemetery, Autauga County, Alabama.

On 24 November 1936 Barbara Cornelia died in Autauga County, Alabama, at age 42.¹