The man who founded Alexandria and named Mount Vernon
In short: Before George Washington became a president, his older half-brother Lawrence was building a legacy. A soldier and politician, Lawrence navigated the treacherous waters of colonial Virginia, survived tropical fevers that decimated his regiment, and laid the foundations for one of America's most famous estates.
Lawrence Washington was a pivotal figure in colonial Virginia, serving as a soldier, planter, and politician. He helped secure the 1749 creation of Alexandria through vital legislative efforts as an original member of the Ohio Company of Virginia. He also named Mount Vernon, the estate later made famous by his half-brother George, after his commanding officer, Admiral Edward Vernon.
His military career was defined by the War of Jenkins' Ear. In 1740, Lawrence was awarded a Captain's Commission in Gooch's American Regiment. During the 1741 assault on Cartagena de Indias, he survived because he was serving as a Captain of the Soldiers acting as Marines on Admiral Vernon's flagship, the 80-gun HMS Princess Caroline. This position spared him from the tropical diseases that killed nearly 90 percent of the American colonists stationed on troop ships.
Despite his survival of the Caribbean campaigns, Lawrence's health declined due to tuberculosis. He sought relief in the warm climates of Barbados and Bermuda, but these efforts failed. He returned to Virginia and died at Mount Vernon in July 1752. His death left the estate to George Washington, who had managed the plantation since Lawrence's passing.
Lawrence's life was marked by both achievement and tragedy. While he successfully helped establish new towns and expanded his family's landholdings, he and his wife Anne Fairfax saw none of their four children survive childhood. His legacy remains preserved in the archives of the Mount Vernon estate and through the portrait that remains the only surviving image of him.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Lawrence Washington (1718–1752)
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