THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 17, 1997 TAG: 9702170035
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: George Tucker
LENGTH: 74 lines
George Washington, arguably Virginia's most distinguished son and whose 265th birthday anniversary will be celebrated Saturday, was not particularly noted for having a back-slapping sense of humor. Even so, if he had lived to see the publication of a book I encountered some time ago in the genealogy collection of Kirn Memorial Library that purported to contain irrefutable evidence concerning the remote ancestry of a branch of his family, I am sure he would have greeted the assertion with a sly chuckle.
Titled ``The Willises of Virginia,'' the volume, published during the early years of the present century, attempted with deadpan seriousness to give a minutely detailed account of the lineage of the Willis families of Gloucester County, Fredericksburg and Southside Creek, Va., all of them close kin to the ``father of our country.''
To make the connection clear, the Willises are descended from George Reade (1608-1671) and his wife, Elizabeth Marteau (1627-1687), a couple also definitely known to have been the grandparents twice removed of the master of Mount Vernon. Once the family connection between the Willises and Farmer George was made, however, the author took off for the Cloud Cuckoo Land of speculation.
Beginning on page 152 and continuing through page 155, the author inserted a formidable family chart claiming to trace George Reade, the common ancestor of the Willises and Washington, ``from Adam through Royal Lines'' over countless centuries prefaced by this observation: ``That blood is thicker than water is a human proverb expressing Divine truth. Family relations are very precious. This goes back to God's eternal law.''
After that curtain raiser, the author brought up such heavy ``begat'' artillery as the Old and New Testaments as well as Burke's ``Genealogical Heraldic Compendium of American Genealogy'' to prove that the Willises and Washington were directly descended from Adam and Eve. What is more, the author included the exact, not conjectural, dates of birth and death for each patriarchal, ecclesiastical and royal ancestor on the chart - a risky practice considering the antiquity of the biblical persons mentioned.
According to the chart, George Washington, who knew little about his ancestry except that his great-grandfather John Washington came to Virginia from England during the 17th century, belonged to the 130th generation in line of descent from the original occupants of the Garden of Eden.
To be more precise, the chart further revealed that Washington and his Willis kin were direct lineal descendants of Seth, a son of Adam and Eve, who in turn was the progenitor of such high and mighty worthies as Methuselah, Noah, Shem, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Ruth and Boaz, Joseph of Arimathea (``the father of Anna, cousin of the Virgin Mary''), Charles Martel and Charlemagne, as well as any number of kings and queens of England and France.
Finally, toward the end of the chart, the author touched terra firma as far as Virginia was concerned by tacking on George Reade, Washington's known great-great-grandfather, whose daughter, Mildred, married Augustine Warner of Warner Hall in Gloucester County. This couple, as every well-informed Virginia genealogical buff knows, were the parents of Mildred Warner, the wife of George Washington's grandfather Lawrence Washington.
Well, after that ancestral roller-coaster ride I was happy to put the book back on the shelf - but not before recalling my favorite Washington yarn that made me speculate that old George would have willingly chopped down that particular family tree with a wry smile.
On one occasion after the Revolutionary War, Washington, as the honored guest at a dinner party, was placed at the head of the table that abutted a Franklin stove in which the fire burned briskly. When the seat of honor became too hot for comfort, he asked for permission to move to a cooler spot at the table. Amused by his request, his hostess quipped, ``Oh, fie, General, I thought an old soldier like you could stand fire better than that.''
``Indeed I can, madam,'' Washington replied with a stately bow, ``but not in my rear!'' ILLUSTRATION: Drawing<
Had Washington known that a book traces him to Adam and Eve, his
smile may have been even broader.