John Thornton Augustine Washington was born on May 20, 1783 at Berry's Hillplantation near Charles Town, Virginia. He was the eldest son of Thornton Augustine Washington and his first wife Mildred Berry Washington. Washington had one younger brother, Thomas Berry Washington, from his father's marriage to Mildred Berry Washington. His mother died in 1785 and Washington's father married Frances Townsend Washington around 1786. From this marriage, Washington had a younger half-brother, Samuel Washington. Through his father, Washington was a grandson of Samuel Washington, and a grandnephew of Charles Washington and United StatesPresident George Washington. Following the death of his father in 1787, Washington was orphaned at a young age and his maternal uncle Lawrence Berry became his guardian. Washington was raised at his uncle's Berry Plain plantation, and while residing there, he attended Bowling Green Academy. Washington remained at Berry Plain until he was of a "sufficient age" to take control of Berry's Hill plantation, which he inherited from his father.
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.
, built by John Thornton Augustine Washington in 1825.
Virginia Thornton Washington, died unmarried
Sally Eleanor Washington, died unmarried
Benjamin Franklin Washington
Georgiana Augusta Washington Smith
Mary Elizabeth Washington Asbury
Col. John Thornton Augustine Washington
Mildred Berry Washington
Mildred Berry Washington Bedinger
Hon. George Washington
Susan Ellsworth Washington Bedinger
Henrietta Gray Washington
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.
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 primogenituresuccession 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.
