Lawrence Washington (1718–1752)

Uncommon card · No. 103937

Lawrence Washington (1718 – July 26, 1752) was a British soldier, planter, politician, and landowner in colonial Virginia. As a founding member of the Ohio Company of Virginia, and a member of the colonial legislature representing Fairfax County, Virginia, he founded the town of Alexandria, Virginia on the banks of the Potomac River in 1749. Washington was the older half-brother of George Washington, the future President of the United States. He was the first of the family to live in the house known as Mount Vernon, which he named after British Admiral Edward Vernon, his commanding officer in the War of Jenkins' Ear. Washington became ill with tuberculosis. He and George travelled to Barbados, hoping that the warm climate would alleviate his ill health. This failed, and Lawrence died at Mount Vernon the following year.

Read on Wikipedia · Image It is possible the portrait was painted by Gustavus Hesselius, an itinerant painter working out of Annapolis, Maryland, Public domain