George Eskridge (abt 1660 – 1735)
and Rebecca Bonum (1665 – 1715)
Sarah Eskridge (1707 – 1753) and
Willougby Newton (1702 – 1767)
George Eskridge was born in about 1660 in Lincolnshire, England.
By the time of his death in 1735 he had established
a huge plantation in Westmorland County and amassed nearly 10,000 acres of land
throughout the Colony. As one of Westmorland
County’s most prominent citizens he was an eminent lawyer, a Colonel in the county
militia and represented Westmorland in the House of Burgesses. He first came to
Virginia in a much lower social position.
Around 1670 when he was a young student in Wales, George was
seized by a press gang that carried him on board a ship bound for Virginia. There, he was indentured as a servant to a planter.
After 8 years he worked off his indenture and returned to England. He established himself as an eminent lawyer and
politician in England before he returned to Westmorland County around 1696, established
his vast holdings and became part of the landed gentry as well as a powerful politician.
He was well acquainted with the prominent
early families of Virginia including the Carters, the Washingtons, Newtons and the
Balls. Joseph Ball had a daughter, Mary.
After Joseph and his wife died, Mary was
orphaned. She became the ward of George Eskridge
and lived with him at his Sandy Point estate. There she met and married Augustine Washington,
who appears to be Eskridge’s brother in law. The son of Mary Ball and Augustine
Washington was George Washington. It is said
that President George Washington was named in honor of George Eskridge.
George Eskridge married Rebecca Bonum, his second wife, in 1688.
Their daughter, Sarah, was born in 1707.
Sarah married Captain Willoughby Newton in
1723.
Willoughby was descended from a long line of Newtons in Westmorland
County. His father Thomas Newton married Elizabeth Storke in 1701. Elizabeth Stork was the daughter of Nehemiah Storke
and Beheathland Gilson. Beheathland Gilson’s
Great Grandfather was Robert Beheathland,
who had landed at Jamestown in 1607. The marriage of George Eskridge’s daughter
to Willoughby Newton genealogically connected an original Jamestown settler to a
later important Westmorland County settler.
Captain Thomas Newton lived in the same Westmorland County area
as Colonel George Eskridge. They were contemporary neighboring gentry. Colonel Eskridge established a huge plantation
in Westmorland County in 1696, and by the time of his death had nearly 10,000 acres
of land throughout Virginia. Colonel Eskridge’s will left large land holdings to
Willoughby. In turn Willoughby’s will left
a large acreage in what’s now Loudoun County to his daughter Catherine Newton Lane.
|
George Eskridge |
Rebecca Bonom |
Sandy Point Historical Marker |
Willoughby Newton Inventory |
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