Davidson-Rutherford-Wilson County TN Archives Biographies.....Washington, William Hunter 1850 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tn/tnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com August 28, 2005, 4:40 am Author: Will T. Hale WILLIAM HUNTER WASHINGTON. For many years a member of the Tennessee bar, Mr. Washington is a lawyer who has conferred distinction upon his profession in this state, and has a long record of practical achievement and public honors. He is a native Tennesseean, descended from an historical family, and for many years has been among the leaders of the Nashville bar. William Hunter Washington, who was born on a farm in Rutherford county, Tennessee, September 9, 1850, is directly descended from John Washington who was the uncle of George Washington, and a grandson of the original John Washington, who immigrated from the north of England in the year 1657 and settled at Bridges Creek on the Potomac river, in the county of Westmoreland, Virginia. That was the beginning of the history of the noted Washington family in America. This pioneer American, John Washington, married Anne Pope and left two sons, named Lawrence and John, and one daughter, Anne. Lawrence Washington (2) married Mildred Warner, and left two sons, John and Augustine, the latter becoming the father of General Washington, the first president of the United States. John (3) the first of these two sons, married Catherine Whiting, and their two sons were Warner and Henry and their three daughters were named Mary, Elizabeth and Catherine. Of these, Warner Washington (4) married a Miss Macon, by whom he had one son, Warner Washington (5), who married a Miss Whiting, and they were the parents of several sons and daughters, one of the sons being Francis Whiting Washington (6), who was the paternal grandfather of William Hunter Washington, the Nashville lawyer. Francis Whiting Washington (6), the paternal grandfather, was born in Clarke county, Virginia, in 1781. When he was less than thirty years old, early in the nineteenth century, he immigrated over the Allegheny mountains into Tennessee, and became one of the early settlers in Williamson county, this state. He later married Eliza Mason Hall, of Nashville, Tennessee, and from Tennessee he moved into Kentucky, locating in Logan county, which was his home for several years, when he took up his residence in Nashville. In that city, he was engaged in the drug business for a number of years, and had an active part in the affairs of the city during that early period. During the latter years of his life he removed to Augusta, Georgia, which was his home at the time of his death, in 1871, when he had attained the advanced age of ninety years. One of the five sons of this first Tennessee settler in the family was also named Francis Whiting Washington (7), who was the father of the Nashville attorney. He married Sarah Catherine Crockett, and from Nashville moved to a farm near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He served with credit during the war as a Confederate soldier, and lived a long and active life as a farmer, and substantial citizen. His wife was a granddaughter of Col. Anthony Crockett, who was a cousin of the famous David Crockett. William Hunter Washington (8) is eighth in descent from the American founder of the family. He was the oldest of the children of his parents, and his early youth and childhood was spent in the troubled times of the Civil war. He was educated in Washington College (Washington & Lee University), Virginia, which he left with a certificate of distinguished undergraduate, and at Union University, Tennessee, from which he graduated with the degree of A. B. In 1872 he became a law student in Cumberland University, at Lebanon, Tennessee, where he took the junior course. His preparation for his profession was also continued in the University of Michigan, from which well known institution he was graduated with the degree of LL. B. on March 27, 1873. On the tenth day of the following April he began practice, in an office of his own at Murfreesboro. His first important elevation in public life was in 1878, when he was elected attorney-general for the Nashville district, which comprised Davidson and Rutherford counties. The duties of this office he discharged with great efficiency and fidelity for eight years, and on retiring from the office took up practice in Nashville, where he has enjoyed continued and profitable success. Mr. Washington is well known as a public spirited citizen and an influential Democrat. In 1908 he served as presidential elector in Tennessee. He is generally recognized as a man of exceptional legal attainment and has often been honored with invitations to address public gatherings. In 1901 he delivered the annual address before the Tennessee Society of Missouri at St. Louis, and at that time was elected an honorary member of the society, whose membership is made up of native Tennesseeans living in the state of Missouri. Mr. Washington was first married to Miss Alberta Lamar, whose father was Henry J. Lamar, a prominent banker at Macon, Georgia, and a member of the distinguished Lamar family of that state. Her death occurred about a year after her marriage, and she left one son, Henry J. Lamar Washington, who is now a resident of New York City, and who married Miss Marguerite Osborne of New York City. Mr. Washington's present wife bore the name of Miss Rowena Thompson, and her father was the late Col. Robert Thompson of Nashville, who was one of the founders of the cotton seed oil interests of the south and a prominent manufacturer of Nashville. His death occurred in Nashville in 1886. Colonel Thompson was a thirty-second degree Mason, and for many years a director of the Fourth National Bank. In his death Nashville and the whole south lost one of their best friends. Additional Comments: From: A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans : the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities by Will T. Hale Chicago: Lewis Pub. 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