Col John "The Immigrant" Washington

  General Notes:

Early life and family

Washington, son of Lawrence and Amphillis Twigden, was born in Purleigh, Essex, England around 1631 and emigrated to the Colony of Virginia in 1656. He had been second officer on a merchant ship that foundered in the Potomac River, but left after the ship was refloated.[1]
Survey of 1674, certified by Thomas Lee, for 5,000-acre land grant to John Washington and Nicholas Spencer. Acreage later known as Mount Vernon
[edit] Arriving in the Colony of Virginia

He first came to Virginia in 1656 and stayed at the house of Col. Nathaniel Pope, a plantation owner. During this stay, he fell in love with his host's daughter Anne. Washington married Anne Pope in 1658, and the couple eventually had three children: Lawrence, John, and Anne. Their wedding gift from Pope consisted of 700 acres (2.8 km2) on Mattox Creek in Westmoreland County of Virginia's Northern Neck.[1]

Washington became a successful planter. He served in the Virginia House of Burgesses.[1] During the events leading to Bacon's Rebellion, he was appointed a Colonel in the Virginia militia and led a company of men to back a group of Marylanders during a supposed parley. Six chiefs of various tribes were killed, and retaliations increased.[2] He was criticized for this by William Berkeley, but received popular support.[3]

The local parish of the Anglican Church (the established church in Virginia, and thereby a tax district of the county) was changed to Washington in his honor.[1]

He is buried along with his wife at the George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Colonial Beach, Westmoreland County Virginia. His vault is the largest in the small family burial plot.

John married Living