John Thornton Augustine Washington

Early life

Washington was born on May 20, 1783 at "Berry Hill" plantation near Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia) and was the eldest son of Thornton Augustine Washington, a nephew of George Washington, with his first wife Mildred Berry Washington. Washington had one younger brother, Thomas Berry Washington (born c. 1792), who died in childhood, and a younger half-brother from his father's second marriage, Samuel Washington.

Military and political career

Unlike other prominent members of the Washington family, John Washington was not fond of public life. According to his son, Washington had a preference for "the quiet and congenial occupation of a country gentleman." During the War of 1812, Washington was offered the rank of captain and the command of a company of cavalry in the United States Army, but turned down the offer in order to participate in the fighting as a private. Following the war, Washington served one term as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, but declined to run for a second term. Washington was then appointed to the position of High Sheriff of Jefferson County, but he refused the appointment and it was then offered to a deputy.

Land holdings

Washington inherited his parents' "Berry Hill" plantation, where in 1825 he built the present Federal-style dwelling on the property he renamed "Cedar Lawn." In addition to his "Cedar Lawn" estate, Washington also owned lands along Bullskin Run, a small tributary stream of the Shenandoah River, near "Cedar Lawn" and also on the Kanawha River in Mason County.

Marriage and children

On September 2, 1810 at Shepherdstown, Washington married Elizabeth Conrad Bedinger, the daughter of Daniel Bedinger and Sarah Rutherford Bedinger. Elizabeth's father was an officer in the American Revolutionary War and her maternal grandfather Robert Rutherford was a member of the United States House of Representatives representing the lower Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Her brother, Henry Bedinger III, was also a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and later served as Chargé d'Affaires and Minister to Denmark for United States President Franklin Pierce.

Washington and his wife Elizabeth produced a large family including five sons and eight daughters:

Lawrence Berry Washington (November 26, 1811 – September 21, 1856)

Daniel Bedinger Washington (born February 8, 1814)

∞ first cousin Lucy A. Washington Wharton, October 24, 1843 at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia)

Virginia Thornton Washington (March 2, 1816 – November 13, 1838), died unmarried

Sally Eleanor Washington (April 7, 1818 – January 21, 1858), died unmarried

Benjamin Franklin Washington (April 7, 1820 – January 22, 1872)

∞ Georgianna Hite Ransom, October 22, 1845 at Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia)

Georgiana Augusta Washington Smith (born March 13, 1822)

∞ John Wheeler Smith, November 20, 1851 at "Cedar Lawn," Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia)

Mary Elizabeth Washington Asbury (born March 4, 1824)

∞ Squire Asbury (grand-nephew of U.S. President Zachary Taylor), September 21, 1858 in Johnson County, Missouri

Col. John Thornton Augustine Washington (January 22, 1826 – July 10, 1894)

∞ Olive Anne Jones, March 8, 1860 at San Antonio, Texas

Mildred Berry Washington (September 3, 1827 – September 12, 1827)

Mildred Berry Washington Bedinger (March 8, 1829 – November 7, 1871)

∞ Solomon Singleton Bedinger, February 8, 1854 at "Cedar Lawn," Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia)

Hon. George Washington (born December 9, 1830)

∞ Mary Virginia Dempsey, April 11, 1871 at Otterville, Missouri

Susan Ellsworth Washington Bedinger (born April 1, 1833)

∞ Henry Clay Bedinger, May 22, 1857 in Johnson County, Missouri

Henrietta Gray Washington (September 30, 1835 – December 18, 1838)

Later life

Washington's wife Elizabeth died on October 21, 1837 at "Cedar Lawn" and Washington himself died at "Cedar Lawn" four years later on October 9, 1841. Washington's children had departed the homestead for other areas or moved to nearby estates by the time of his death, and the "Cedar Lawn" property passed from the Washington family. Washington had finished drafting his will on July 16, 1840 and it was proved nine days after his death in Charles Town on October 18, 1841. Washington and his wife were interred at "Harewood," the estate formerly owned by his grandfather Colonel Samuel Washington and from which "Cedar Lawn" was created. The family bible acquired by Washington on September 1, 1818 in which he inscribed a record of the dates and locations of his family's births, deaths, and weddings was passed down through his descendants and is currently in the possession of the Bedinger family.

Theoretical American royal succession

According to a May 1908 article in The Scrap Book entitled "If Washington Had Been Crowned" and a February 1951 article in Life entitled "If Washington Had Become King: A Carpenter or an Engineer Might Now Rule the U.S.," John Thornton Augustine Washington would have likely succeeded his great uncle George Washington as "king" of the United States had Washington accepted the position of monarch rather than that of president. Following the laws of male preference primogeniture succession recognized by the Kingdom of Great Britain at the time of American independence, John Thornton Augustine Washington would have been the lawful heir presumptive to Washington as the eldest son of Thornton Washington, who in turn was the eldest son of Samuel Washington, Washington's eldest full brother. A theoretical "King John I of the United States" would have had a lengthy reign spanning from Washington's death in 1799 until 1841.