Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1912 — Page 2

Washington Real Name

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• - HE real name of the flrat president of the ■ United States 1 Washington. His baptismal name was ■sW fiSi George ’ and he was born February 22 in the year 1732. The old colony of Virginia was his birthplace, but the true name of his male ancestors was not Washington. This may seem a sweeping statement in the light of generally accepted history, but careful research has established beyond doubt that the ancient founder of the family from which came the Father of our Country was named William De Hertburn. Tha key to this apparent paradox lies in the fact that. In common with many noblemen and monarchs of Europe, the first president possessed an estate name and a real, or family name, the latter being known as the patronymic, or paternal name. The first Washingtons were of French, and not English, origin, and were numbered among the powerful knights of the northern portion of France. When the Duke of Normandy conceived the ambition of becoming King of England he called to his aid the Catholics of France, and among those who responded to his appeal was an ancestor of George Washington. The duke gathered his soldiers about him and announced that by right and promise he deserved and Intended to be the new-King of England. His spirited address had the desired effect and the knights and their vassals thronged to the standard until there was soon gathered under the leadership of William, Duke of Normandy, the greatest army France had ever, mustered, ready for the field and thirsting for the glories of conquest. Among the many banners thrown to the breeze appeared the shield of the multi-great-grandfather of our own George Washington. His name was William de Hertburn. The 60,000 followers of the duke set sail in 3,000 vessels of war for the English coast and landed without oposltion, because of the English King Harold’s conflict with the Norwegians In another part of his invaded domains. On October 14, 1066, the rival armies met, and on the field of Hastings took place one of the most terrific battles in the history

Washington’s Crested Carriage.

. England. William of Normandy was the victor, and King Harold, with -tens of thousands of his English, was among the slain. The victorious French marched to London, and on Christmas day theyproclaimed their dashing leader “William I, Conqueror and King of England.” King William, like all ills French knights, loved the French Ideals of government, church and home, and infused into the old English national and domestic life all the customs of his native land. Even the English language, which William never could learn, was gradually set aside, and among the loyal French knights who assisted the Conqueror in enforcing his reforms was the distant kin of George Washington. This early ancestor of our first president was numbered among the intimates of the King, and was one of the leaders of the French Conquest. In the past, American historians, possibly because of the strong influence upon literature exercised by England, placed the Washington ancestry as beginning in that country; but careful investigation bears out the statement that the Washingtons were of definite and direct French origin. They were French both in sentiment and training, and the original name was De Hertburn. Naturally the question arises, why was the name changed, and what induced these faithful French subjects of William of Normandy to assume an Khglish cognomen? The explanation it simple enough. William theContfieror was a careful and far-seeing man. He realised that his usurpation of the English throne was a very radical departure in a govern periment, to say the least; and he was anxious to mould the people, whom IM had made his vassals by dint of [ tffe strong band, into as close duplicates of the French as possible. In ortier words, he strove to implant the Ffench Ideals Into, the English character as deeply as circumstances pertfStted. The complicated heraldic records found in the pages of the famous "Doomsday Book" is undoubtedly the best evidence that the King wished to make his radical campaign of permanent record, and hence a great number of men of education and ability and noting all the land and water conditions of England. They also in these visitations made lengthy entries as to the original English estate owners as

The PROF. BERNARD J. CIGRAND

well as an accurate record of the biographical and heraldic character of the new or French proprietors. And in this last seemingly unnecessary entry appears the statement that the brave, ever reliable Knight, Sir William De Hertburn, for military service to William I, be granted with feudal rights and power the extensive estate known as Wessyngton, and henceforth said Sir Knight shall be known as Sir William de Wessylngton; but he shall still be a vassal of the bishop and his heraldic denomination shall continue to be. Arms: Argent, two bars gules (red); in chief, three mullets of the second. Crest: A raven with wings endorsed proper, issuing out of a ducal coronet or (gold)." As a further demonstration of the importance of the De Hertburns, or “Wessyngtons,” history furnishes the information that the estate in question was under the command of the Bishop of Durham, and situated tn a locality exposed to the attack of-the Scot* of northern England. On this border there was constant warfare, and the king naturally selected the bravest and most warlike of his adherents to hold lands in the disputed country -between Durham and York was laid waste, and for ten years it was practically a desert, no man having the courage to attempt cultivation of the blasted fields or inhabit the

ruined towns. One hundred thousand people died in this debatable strip of land, and there, where active hostilities ever reigned, the De Hertburns, or Wessyngtons, were stationed. This record of the great family is absolutely authentic in every detail, having been proved by minute research and personal visits to the locality where its members were lords of the soil —a task which embraced fifteen years

of heraldic investigation. Later the estate known as Wessyngton was spelled and entered officially as Wessington, the proprietors assuming the same name. Then it was recorded as Washington, and a natural change of the owner’s name in accordance with that of his land followed. The proprietors became known as William, John, Laurence, Robert and Nicholas De Washington. * Finally tae heraldic shields

and French prefix of “De” was dropper, and the modern spelling of W-a-s-h-i-n-g-t-o-n prevailed. =======■ The Washingtons were very-prom-inent in the military as well as the civic phases of English life. In the days of Henry VIII, when that mgnarch was in conflict with of Rome, Lawrence Washington sided with the king, and the latter confiscated -the monasteries, convents and churches of the Roman Catholic church, giving to this Washington the Sulgrave estate, where for over a century the Washington family ruled su-

preme. A decline in their fortunes then appears to have taken place, for in 1620, the year the PIP grims set sail for America, the Washingtons were practically driven from the Sulgrave estate to take up residence at Brighton with minor manors and holdings. The loss of the hundreds of acres of rich meadows and harvest fields was in a measure counteracted by the marriage of a Sir William Washington to a sister of George Villiars, Duke of Buckingham. This union brought about new alliances and affiliations which made Washingtons possible in America, and ultimately led to the rearing of George Washington to be the military leader of the colonies and eventually our first chief executive. This marriage brought' the Washington family into direct domestic social and court relationship with the prominent and powerful favorite of the then reigning monarch, and political circumstance destined the

Washingtons to espouse ' the cause of the king, rather than the Idol of the Commons —Oliver Cromwell The Washingtons performed heroic services • for the king, but when Cromwell proved victorious and seized the reins ,of government, they, found England to be no longer a safe dwelling place. Prison sentences, exile and death was

Washington’s True Coat-of-Arms.

the unhappy lot of the royalists, or King’s Cavaliers; and rather than, bow to one whom they looked upon as a usurper, many of the Washingtons fled to foreign lands. John and Lawrence, brothers, came to Virginia, the former being the grandfather of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Among the distinguished Washingtons who escaped persecution by flight from England was one whose identity - genealogists long sought vainly to verify—the brother of General George Washington’s great grandfather. This' Washington’s name was James, and be fled to Rotterdam, Holland, where in 1650 he wedded Clara Vander Lan--en, daughter of the mayor of the port. From this union was derived the present Dutch and German Washingtons a sturdy folk who adapted themselves to these governments under which they have held and are at present bolding official positions of high station. One of these German Washingtons offered his services in a military capacity to the United States consul at Frankfort-on-Main in 1862-. He expressed himself as anxious to enlist in the Union army, and presented the consul with a verified genealogical chart prepared from the records of the Dutch government. This gentleman was Baron da Washington. The statement has been certified by William W. Murphy, consul at that point, and attested by the Honorable Frederick Kapp, of New York City, who was visiting in Germany and wrote a letter in which the circumstances were fully described. The original correspondence and data in my possession relating to the Dutch and German Washingtons prove the baron to have been a direct lineal

Graves of Washington’s Ancestors at Sulgrave, England.

descendant of the James Washington who- landed in Holland In 1650. He married a Bavarian lady and held a certificate of honorable discharge showing that be had been a lieutenant in the Bavarian army. To obtain a commission as officer In the Federal army was his wish, but because of the Inability of dur consul to assure him

of this honor, and possibly because he deemed that sufficient respect had not been shown to one, of such noted ancestry, he did not emigrate to the United States. However, before the interview was closed, he deposited with the American consul a certified genealogical chart on which the following appears: “Baron de Washington is a direct descendant of the ancient and honorable Washington family of England,, the earliest emigrant to Holland being James Washington, one of the four brothers of Stuart sympathizers (Charles I). James came to Holland in 1650, his two brothers emigrated to Virginia, and the third brother remained in England, where he was serving as a'divine.” This remarkable bit of genealogical history gives the earliest and most authentic record of the Dutch and German Washingtons, of which there are many and of whom the church records abound tn entries of marriages, births and deaths. Further investigation brings tn light the fact that this earliest Dutch emigrant, James, was married ita the English church of Rotterdam, all of which tends to corroborate that he was of English training. Baron de Washington was born in 1833, and his brother Max married the Duchess of Oldenburg and in this way became connected with one of the oldest sovereign families of Europe. The House of Oldenburg is the prime

branch of the Holstein-Gottorp stock, which has given emperors to Russia and Kings to Denmark, and is prominently related to the present King of England, George V. And Jacob Washington was first lieutenant of the Dutch navy in 1845, this branch being related to the wealthy banking firm, Cornelius L. Keurenaur of The Hague. Upwards of seventy-five

Washingtons are numbered among the inhabitants of Holland and Bavaria. Hence the Washingtons, in the farthest genealogical tracings, hail from France. We next find them in England and then in Holland and Bavaria. Regarding the Washingtonian coat-of-arms some odd discoveries have also come to light. Quite contrary to our American belief the Washington shield does not contain “stars and stripes,” notwithstanding that more than a thousand books and as.many more published articles so proclaim it. The facts are that the Washington shield contains “bars and mullets (spurs of the Knight’s boots”. The earliest reference which I have.

been able to find which announces the Washington shield blazoned with stars and stripes, relates to a public banquet at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1851, where the ideas of an English poet—Martin Tupper by name —were voiced, proclaiming that the American flag, with its heraldic notions, was borrowed from the Washington shield, which possessed stars and stripes. Ever since this banquet American authors and orators have, without further investigation, accept-

ed the statement as correct. The English poet was misled by his fervid fancy, for the Heralds* College at London, the highest authority on British heraldry, writes as follows: “A Washington shield with stars and stripes (pales) has never been of record.” It is altogether probable that Tupper, as well as others, was deceived by the shape of the “mullets.” These spurs, as worn by the knights of old, were round in form, resembling modern cog-wheels somewhat, and their bristling points possibly suggested the “stars” of which Tupper spoke. *' Hundreds of writers have also announced that the crest on General George Washington's coast-of-anns is an eagle, and that this family emblem was the foundation of the suggestion that the eagle be the emblem of the American republic. While the crtat may appear like an eagle, the facts are that the heraldic grant of arms to this Washington branch present a r%-

ven issuing from a golden ducal crown, the crest of the family. Furthermore, Washington himself dearly shows by correspondence with the Herald’s office at London that it 'was not an eagle, and the letter is dated ten years after the eagle had become the emblem of the republic (June 20, 1782). His letter was sent from Phll-

adelphla May 2, 1792, the third year of his presidency, and the package was sealed with-the Washington family arms as is indicated in a letter which reads: . - “The arms enclosed in your letter are the same that are held by the family Here; though I have also seen, and have used, as you may perceive by the seal, to this packet, a flying griffin for the crest.” The Washington crest, “a raven issuing from a ducal coronet, gold,” was evidently given because of the sportsmanship of the early English Washingtons. In fact the crow, falcon and hawk have been for more than four hundred yeans the emblem of sport. The pastime of hawking was engaged in only by the wealthy and the Washingtons were noted for Their love of hunting and sporting. Benson J. Leasing lent some color to the foregoing conclusion when he wrote- of the English Washingtons: “For more than two hundred years the De Wessyngtons, or Washingtons, were conspiring after their kind (robber knights) fighting, hawking, carousing and gaming.” This grant of the raven was in 1500, at about the same time that hawking was at its height as a sport, for at about the same period we find that in Spain’the son of Columbus atempted to prove that his father was •of aristocratic and also of heraldic family in that “he was of a people who kept their own hawks.” This alone, in those days, stamped the man as a falconer, as only people of high social standing were permitted by license to engage in that enjoyment; hence a raven, a falcon, a crow or a hawk on the shield or crest indicated prominence. This sporty and hunting disposition of the Washingtons was distinctly manifested in the Washingtons of Virginia, of which our first president also gave liberal expression. There are five distinct Washington shields, but in the heraldic records they are pronounced of the same origin, as follows: A silver (argent) shield upon which are two red (gules) bars; in the top (chief) three red mullets (spurs of knights’ boots). A red (gules) shield with a single

Ancient Washington Shield.

WHtefßTlver)barcharged~withTifree mullets. A red shield with a white bar upon which are three cinguefoilles, also red. A red shield with two bars white, in chief three martlets. A shield of four bars, white and red, three mullets. A shield in green, a lion rampant in white, within a border gobonated white and blue. These constituted the- heraldic arms of all Washington people as recorded in the English College of Heralds. Washington was fond of genealogical investigations, and in the College of Heralds can be seen a score or more of pages he wrote at various times in his eager search after family arms and crests. He was proud of bis heraldic ancestors, and this family estimate is well expressed in the frequency with which he blazoned the Washington shields upon his choice tokens and valuables. Many such instances may be noted in his heraldic watch charms, his several personal seals; the doors of his carriages; the porcelain of his dinner set; the silver ware of his liquor service; the fireplace and the mirrors; the picture frames and his library walls; his bookplate and his saddle, and practically everything upon which a family signature or shield might be engraved, painted or printed. The illness of Sir Isaac Heard, the head of the English department of heraldry, closed the correspondence relating to Washington's eager attempt to prepare a Washington genealogy and origin and evolution of the family coat-of-arms. This Interesting -correspondence has never yet been scripturally reproduced, and it is to be regretted that a continuance of the investigation was disturbed "by Illness, since many disputed biographical problems would doubtless have been solved. The man who is doing good work is. writing his name on the memory of the world. Stone monuments are only seen by < very few. no odds how high they may be built Where all men are' not allowed a” hand in making the laws that govern them, they are slaves. They must bow to the dictates of other men and have no redress.

STORIES OF CAMP AND WAR

INDIANS AT POISON SPRINGS Many Fighting Redskins Engaged in Civil War—Sometimes One Tribe ( Arrayed Against Another. j Many Indians were, in the armies operating in Missouri, Arkansas and northern Louisiana in the Civil war. Enlistment was begun by the Confederates in the early days of hostilities, but not all the red natibns "would consent to fight against'the Union. Thus tribes were arrayed against_one another, One instance of an engagement between Indians of a victorious Confederate army and three regiments of Union soldiers is told by William Ramey, a resident of Chicago. On ApriL.lß, 1864, was fought the battle of Poison Springs, Ark., by part of Gen. Frederick Steele’s expedition, of which Mr. Ramey tells as follows: "When General Banks was carrying on his Red River campaign in the spring of 1864 General Steele was coming up with a reinforcing corps. The 18th lowa regiment, in which <1

“Then We Saw the Indians Coming.”

was a private of Company G, Was a part of this corps. Before we got to Camden, Ark., which was held by the Union army, we learned that General Banks had been defeated by the combined forces of Generals Kirby Smith, Price and Marmaduke. “The 18th lowa was sent out soon after We reached the camp at Camden. A forage train was on its way back to camp after making collections out in the country, and we were sent to reinforce the guard of two colored regiments. We started out in the afternoon and by night we had come up to the train of wagons and had gone into ‘camp near by. We could see why we had been sent out Through the night there came the gleam of camp fires, where the rebel soldiers of General Smith’s army were cooking supper. They had defeated General Banks and were going to chase us through Arkansas. “I don’t know why they did not capture us all. There were only three regiments. That night we were left in peace and the next morning the negro regiments formed and moved the train about three-quarters qf a mile from the camp en the way to Camden; Then an ambushed rebel battery opened on us and we fought there about two hours. 1 “My company was thrown out into the Woods on the skirmish line and we retreated slowly as the Confederates advanced. When the order came for all the regiments to fall back we had lost eight or ten killed and twentyfive or thirty wounded. We had been paralleling a ravine through which flowed a stream and in which the ’poison spring* was hidden. The enemy was beyond the ravine. As we fell back we passed beyond an open clearing and formed behind the rail fence that bordered the road at the farther side of the field, which was pqjhaps twelve acres in extept. Then we saw the Indians coming. "Both the armies were well supplied with Indian troops, though ours were more civilized than the rebels’. Fd rather fight ten white men than one Indian. You never know what he’s going to do. The Indians won’t stay in line, either on the march or on the field. Some of them will go scouting if they are marching, and in battle they scatter so that, you > can’t shoot at them with much exactness. They were all over that clearing. L ’ "We let them come up Within good shooting distance before we opened from behind the fence, and then we had about six hours* good fighting. Before it was over there were bullet boles through my cap and my clothing, but I was not hit. We shot whenever there was anything to aim at, and we could always tell if we had made a hit. An Indian was sure to throw up his hands and yell when he was struck. We coma see plenty of the hands going up into the dlr. That kept up until dark, and by that time we had moved back up a hill and started for Camden. ~ We made the distance before midnight, and then the whole army retreated toward Little Rock with Smith and Price hard at our heels.”. - -- ■. - ■