Bailey Washington

Bailey Washington (September 10, 1731June 11, 1807) was an American planter and legislator who served one term as a delegate from Stafford County in the Virginia House of Delegates and many years as local justice of the peace. Early and family life A second cousin of George Washington, Bailey Washington was the fourth and final son born to Henry Washington (1694-1748) and his wife Mary Butler. His name partly honors his grandmother Ann Baynham's third husband, Joseph Bailey, who died childless but named his step-granddaughter Mary Butler one of his heirs; Ann Baynham Butler Webster Bailey would also name this child in her will. His father, although born in Westmoreland County, moved to Stafford County as a young man and became a planter, as well as one of the local justices (handling administrative as well as judicial matters) in 1731 and 1745 and the Stafford County sheriff in 1737. However, he died when Bailey was a boy. His elder brothers were Henry Washington II (1721-1745), Nathaniel Washington (1726-1745) and John Washington (1730-1782; sometimes called "John Washington of Hilton" after his farm); he also had a sister Mary Washington (1728-1748). Bailey Washington married in 1749 (when he was 17 years old) to Catherine Storke (1723-1804), the daughter of William Storke (1690-1726) and the former Elizabeth Hart (1695-1760) of then vast St. Paul's parish. They had sons Henry Washington (1749-1825), who would serve in the House of Delegates representing Prince William County before financial troubles prompted moves to Jefferson County, Kentucky and eventually what became Limestone County, Alabama), William Washington (1752-1810; a war hero), Bailey Jr. (1753-1814; who also represented Stafford County), and John Washington (b.1756 and presumed not to have reached adulthood), and daughters Elizabeth Washington Storke (1758-circa 1798) and Mary Butler Washington Peyton (1760-1822). Career When he reached legal age, Bailey Washington gained control of land near Aquia which he inherited from his father (in part because most of his elder brothers died young), and where he eventually moved after building a home he called "Windsor Forest" there in Overwharton Parish. Bailey Washington had initially farmed in the Chotank District (part of St. Paul's Parish, which became part of King George County when Stafford County was reorganized).