Bailey Washington
Bailey Washington was an American planter and legislator who served one term as a delegate from Stafford County in the Virginia House of Delegates and many years as local justice of the peace.
Early and family life
A second cousin of George Washington, Bailey Washington was the fourth and final son born to Henry Washington and his wife Mary Butler. His name partly honors his grandmother Ann Baynham's third husband, Joseph Bailey, who died childless but named his step-granddaughter Mary Butler one of his heirs; Ann Baynham Butler Webster Bailey would also name this child in her will. His father, although born in Westmoreland County, moved to Stafford County as a young man and became a planter, as well as one of the local justices in 1731 and 1745 and the Stafford County sheriff in 1737. However, he died when Bailey was a boy. His elder brothers were Henry Washington II, Nathaniel Washington and John Washington ; he also had a sister Mary Washington.Bailey Washington married in 1749 to Catherine Storke, the daughter of William Storke and the former Elizabeth Hart of then vast St. Paul's parish. They had sons Henry Washington, William Washington, Bailey Jr., and John Washington, and daughters Elizabeth Washington Storke and Mary Butler Washington Peyton.
Career
When he reached legal age, Bailey Washington gained control of land near Aquia which he inherited from his father, and where he eventually moved after building a home he called "Windsor Forest" there in Overwharton Parish. Bailey Washington had initially farmed in the Chotank District. He expanded his landholdings to about 1200 acres by the time of the American Revolutionary War, operating his farms by using enslaved laborers. In the 1787 Virginia tax census, he and his son Bailey Washington Jr. owned slaves in Stafford County. In 1803 he paid taxes for 25 enslaved adults and 3 slaves between 12 and 16 years old, plus 14 horses in 1803 In 1807 he paid taxes for 20 enslaved adults and 2 slaves between 12 and 16 years old, plus 10 horsesBailey Washington served as one of the Stafford County justices of the peace from 1754 until at least 1779. Although one index of the Virginia House of Delegates indicates this man won election to that body in 1780 and served one term, another source believes that only his sons Henry and Bailey Washington Jr. served in the state legislature.