Col. George W. Eskridge

Pedigree Chart

1st Wife: Rebecca Bonum (1665-1715) 11 Children: George Eskridge Jr (1683-1732) Mary Eskridge (1687-1688) Martha Eskridge (1697-1726) William C. Eskridge (1698-1744) Rebecca Eskridge (1700-1722) Samuel Forten Eskridge (1704-1747) Sarah Eskridge (1707-1753) Daniel Eskridge (1709-1735) Katherine Eskridge (1710-1753) Robert Eskridge (1712-1747) Margaret Eskridge (1712-1801) 2nd Wife: Elizabeth Vaulx (1688-1744) 1 Child: Elizabeth Eskridge (1716-1774)

George W. Eskridge was born on 30 Sep 1660, probably in Lancashire, England. "Tradition tells us that in the latter part of the 17th century, George Eskridge, who was a young law student, while walking along the shore on the north coast of Wales, studying one of his law books, was suddenly seized by the Press Gang, carried aboard ship, and brought to the Colony of Virginia. As the custom was, he was sold to a planter for a term of eight (8) years. During that time, he was not allowed to communicate with his friends at home. He was treated very harshly, and made to sleep on the hearth of the kitchen. On the day that his term expired, the planter found him tearing up the stones of the hearth with a mattock. Upon being asked what he was doing, young Eskridge replied that a guest's bed was always pulled to pieces upon their departure, and he was doing likewise. He then threw down his mattock and walked out of the house." [From The Virginia Magazine of History & Biography, "Genealogies of Virginia Families", V 2, p 719.]

During the eight years in Virginia, his law book, which he brought away with him, was his constant companion. He made his way back to England, completed his studies, was admitted to the bar, and then went to the Colony of Virginia as a judge of the King's Bench. There had never previously been such an office in Virginia.

He located near the mouth of the Teocomice River on the banks of the Potomac River, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He became an eminent lawyer, and represented his county in the House of Burgesses for many years. He attended the nearby famed Yeocomico Episcopal Church (established 1655) where he was Vestryman.

About 1680, he married Rebecca Bonum, daughter of Samuel and Margaret Phillpot Bonum, born about 1665 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Their eleven children are listed above. After her death on 27 Oct 1715 in Westmoreland, at age 50 George married 27-year-old Elizabeth Vaulx in 1716, daughter of Robert Vaulx and Mary Foxal. They had one daughter Elizabeth born in Sandy Point during the next year.

Sandy Point historical marker.

George Eskridge was made guardian of Mary Ball, born 1707, who would become the mother of President George Washington. Mary Ball was born in 1708 to Joseph Ball and Mary Montague Johnson. Mary's father had died when she was three years of age. Her mother Mary Hewes -- the mother of Mary Ball and of Mary's older half-sister, Elizabeth Johnson who married Samuel Bonum Jr. -- married Captain Richard Hewes in 1713, but both he and Mrs. Hewes died in 1721 when Mary was only 13. Her will specified George to be her guardian: "My daughter Mary Johnson Ball, do I put under the tutelage and government of Colonel George Eskridge." Mary spent most of her younger years in the home of the Eskridge family, where George, her mother's beloved friend was appointed executor of her estate. Mary Ball married March 6, 1730, their neighbor Augustine Washington, at George's home at Sandy Point. They named her first son George in honor of her old friend and guardian, Colonel George Eskridge. It was George Eskridge who held their first born as he was christened George Washington. A highway marker near Sandy Point, Westmoreland County, Virginia attests to this fact.

Memorial Plaque

Eskridge's elegant dress and impressive wig were expected accoutrements of the emerging gentry of the colony. Unlike many of his contemporaries in England and his successors in Virginia, he is not, however, presented as a haughty aristocrat, but instead is shown to be concerned with other matters. To judge from the contents of his library, those were intellectual and spiritual. Eskridge collected some two dozen books about law, nearly a dozen on world history, and twice that number of religious treatises. The sober, thoughtful reader of those volumes is captured on canvas in his portrait.

From the year 1702 until 1729 he was granted many thousand acres of land in the eastern part of Virginia which was named Sandy Point. He held several colonial positions. Colonel George Eskridge, of Sandy Point, Westmoreland County, was a successful lawyer and represented his county in the Virginia House of Burgesses during most years from 1705 to 1734.

George was described by author Douglas Southall Freeman as a "lawyer of distinction, a land speculator of skill, and a gentleman of character." He was appointed as the Queen's Attorney in 1703 and in 1719 he was appointed as the Attorney for our Sovereign Lord, the King, in the county.

George died at age 75 on 25 Nov 1735 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He is most likely buried on his estate at Sandy Point, but the exact location is not known.