Jefferson County, West Virginia Biography: Mrs. Jane Charlotte (WASHINGTON) WILLIS ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , April 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 137 MRS. JANE CHARLOTTE (WASHINGTON) WILLIS, of Charles Town, Jefferson County, is a lineal descendant of Col. John Washington, the founder of the distinguished American family of which George Washington was a representative. Mrs. Willis was born at Mount Vernon, Fairfax County, Virginia, and is a daughter of John Angustin Washington, Jr., who was born in what is now Jefferson County, West Virginia, at Blakeley, a son of John Augustin and Jane Charlotte (Blackburn) Washington, the latter a grand- daughter of Thomas Blackburn. Corbin Washington, great- grandfather of Mrs. Willis, was a great-great-grandson of Col. John and Anne (Pope) Washington. Mount Vernon, the old homestead of the Washington family, was devised by Augustin Washington to Lawrence Washington, who gave to it the name of Mount Vernon in honor of Admiral Vernon of the English Navy. Lawrence Washington had no children, and he gave to his nephew, Bushrod Washing- ton, the old family homestead. Bushrod Washington died childless, and gave the old home to his nephew, John Augustin Washington, Sr., who bequeathed the estate to his wife and she to her son John Augustin, Jr., father of Mrs. Willis of this review, he having been the last private owner of this historic property. John Augustin Washington, Jr., attended the University of Virginia and also Princeton College, New Jersey. He did not adopt a profession, but busied himself with farm in- dustry and continued to reside with his family at Mount Vernon until he sold the property to the Ladies Mount Ver- non Association of the Union, which preserved the same as an American historic shrine. After the sale of this property Mr. Washington purchased and removed with his family to a farm in Fauquier County, Virginia. At the inception of the war between the states he entered the Confederate mil- itary service and served as a colonel on the staff of Gen. Robert E. Lee. While at the head of a reconnoitring ex- pedition in 1861 he was killed by a Union force, on the 13th of September, his wife having died in 1860. After his death his children were taken into the home of his brother, Richard Blackburn Washington, at Blakeley, Jefferson County, West Virginia, as now constituted, and here Mrs. Willis remained until her marriage. Her mother, whose maiden name was Eleanor Love Selden, was a daughter of Wilson Cary Selden and Louise (Fontaine) Alexander Sel- dcn, and, as previously noted, her death occurred in 1860. Louise Fontaine, eldest of the children, is the widow of Col. Roger P. Chew, to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this work, and the names of the other chil- dren are here entered in respective order of birth: Jane Charlotte, Eliza Selden, Anna Maria, Lawrence, Eleanor L. and George. January 13, 1869, recorded the marriage of Nathaniel Hite Willis to Miss Jane Charlotte Washington. Mr. Wil- lis was born at Rock Hall, Jefferson County, in 1842, a son of Thomas Hite Willis, who likewise was born in this county and who was the son of Carver Willis, the latter's wife having been a descendant of Yoist Hite, one of the first settlers in Virginia, now West Virginia. Thomas Hite Wil- lis was for many years engaged in farm enterprise at Rock Hall, and was the owner of a gooodly number of slaves. After his removal to Charles Town he lived retired until his death, in his eighty-fourth year. The maiden name of his wife was Elizabeth Ryland. At the age of nineteen years Nathaniel H. Willis became a soldier of the Confederacy, and he served in dark's Cav- alry until he was captured by the enemy, he having there- after been held as a Federal prisoner of war until the close of the great conflict, when he returned home and resumed farm operations at Rock Hall. In 1906 he removed to Charles Town, where he lived retired until his death, Oc- tober 26, 1914, his widow still remaining in the pleasant home which he here provided. The religious faith of the family is that of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Mr. and Mrs. Willis became the parents of eight children: Elizabeth Ryland, Eleanor Love, Thomas Hite, Richard Washington, Eliza Washington, John Augustin, Pattie and Jean Charlotte.