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Benjamin Franklin Washington
Born
Benjamin Franklin Washington

(1820-04-07)April 7, 1820
DiedJanuary 22, 1872(1872-01-22) (aged 51)
San Francisco, California, United States
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States of America
Occupation(s)American newspaper editor and Forty-niner
SpouseGeorgianna Hite Ransom (1845-1872, his death)
Parent(s) John Thornton Augustine Washington (father)
Elizabeth Conrad Bedinger (mother)
Relatives Lawrence Berry Washington (brother)
Robert Rutherford (great-grandfather)
Samuel Washington (great-grandfather)
George Washington (great-granduncle)

Benjamin Franklin Washington (April 7, 1820 – January 22, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and Forty-niner and a member of the Washington family.

Early life and family

Washington's birthplace, " Cedar Lawn" near Charles Town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. " Cedar Lawn" was built by Washington's father, John Thornton Augustine Washington, in 1825.

Benjamin Franklin Washington was born on April 7, 1820 at " Cedar Lawn" plantation near Charles Town in Jefferson County, Virginia (present-day West Virginia) and was the fifth child of John Thornton Augustine Washington and his wife Elizabeth Conrad Bedinger Washington. [1] [2] [3]

Through his father, Washington was a grandson of Thornton Augustine Washington, a great-grandson of Samuel Washington, and a great-grandnephew of first President of the United States George Washington. [1] [2] Through his mother, he was a great-grandson of Robert Rutherford, a United States House Representative from Virginia, and a nephew of Henry Bedinger III, also a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and later served as Chargé d'Affaires and Minister to Denmark for President Franklin Pierce. [1] [4] Washington was raised in a large family at Cedar Lawn, where he had four brothers and eight sisters: [1] [5] [6]

  • Lawrence Berry Washington (1811–1856)
  • Daniel Bedinger Washington (born 1814)
  • Virginia Thornton Washington (1816–1838)
  • Sally Eleanor Washington (1818–1858)
  • Georgiana Augusta Washington Smith (born 1822)
  • Mary Elizabeth Washington Asbury (born 1824)
  • John Thornton Augustine Washington (1826–1894)
  • Mildred Berry Washington (September 3–12, 1827)
  • Mildred Berry Washington Bedinger (1829–1871)
  • George Washington (born 1830)
  • Susan Ellsworth Washington Bedinger (born 1833)
  • Henrietta Gray Washington (1835–1838)

Because of the large number of siblings in his family, Washington's inheritance from his father in 1841 was not sizable, and he and his brothers pursued a number of business opportunities to build their personal wealth. [7]

References

Bibliography


Category:1820 births Category:1872 deaths Category:19th-century American Episcopalians Category:19th-century American journalists Category:American newspaper editors Category:American people of English descent Category:Bedinger family Category:Duellists Category:Editors of California newspapers Category:People from Charles Town, West Virginia Category:People from San Francisco Category:People of the California Gold Rush Category:Washington family Category:Writers from West Virginia