Scope and Content Note
The Woodhouse Collection Relating to George Washington, including the Wakefield papers and papers relating to other Washington family members, spans the years 1656-1930, with the bulk from 1825 to 1887. Compiled by Henry Woodhouse, the collection consists of originals as well as typewritten transcripts and photocopies of deeds, wills, testaments, indentures, bonds, surveys, maps, plats, inventories, account statements, receipts, vouchers, bills of sale, descriptive statements, certificates, land grants, memoranda, clippings, legal papers, and some correspondence, primarily among family members. In addition to the matter of Washington’s birthplace, the papers shed light on the acquisition, the partitioning, and the management of various lands by members of the Washington and related families. The papers also help clarify the genealogical relationship between the Washingtons and related families.
Included in the collection are two published works: Wills of the American Ancestors of General George Washington (Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1891, 19 pp.), edited by Joseph M. Toner, and Wills of Westmoreland Co., Va., 1654-1800 (Appeals Press, 1925, 229 pp.), by Augusta B. Fothergill. Also in the collection are manuscript notes by Henry Woodhouse entitled “Where Was George Washington Born?”
Prominent family members mentioned in the collection are Francis Lightfoot Lee, Richard Henry Lee, Augustine Washington, father of George Washington (1732-1799), George Washington (son of Lawrence Washington), George Corbin Washington, Henry Washington (of Alexandria, Virginia), Henry Augustine Washington, Lawrence Washington (1791-1785), Richard Washington, Robert James Washington, and William Augustine Washington.