December 6, 2024
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on descendants of the Jamestown settlers, writing about royal lineage. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
A 1901 feature article from the Commercial Appeal entitled “Southern Women of Royal Lineage” caught my attention.
According to this article:
So it has come to pass that in the South more than in any other section of the country may be found some of the most positive and clearly defined American types, the largest proportion of those who have been American in unbroken lines of descent for nearly 300 years. Many Southern women represent historic as well as royal lines of descent.
While I cannot confirm or claim the genealogy in this article is completely rooted in fact in relation to royalty, I can share their qualifying Jamestowne ancestor.
Additionally, I include the reference material by which these grand dames claim descent to an unbroken line of 1000 years. You can also check out “English Royalty, Boleyn Lineage, and Jamestown Connections.”
The first subject mentioned in the Commercial Appeal article is Mrs. Benjamin S. Story (1840-1927), a southern belle living in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was born Jeannie Washington Campbell to Jane Wray (Washington) Campbell (1815-1885) and Charles Reynolds Campbell (1806-1888). Jeannie is a direct descendant of Lawrence Washington (1635-1677) and his second wife Joyce Jones (Fleming) Washington, widow of Alexander Fleming and daughter of William Jones of Virginia.
Lawrence’s brother, John Washington, married Anne Pope, daughter of Colonel Nathaniel Pope. They are the great grandparents of General George Washington, making Mrs. Story the general’s great grandniece.
Mrs. Story was the wife of wealthy merchant Benjamin Saxon Story (1834-1901), who was one of the 14 children born to Benjamin Story (1784-1847) and his wife Ann Elizabeth “Eliza” (Clement) Story (1802-1843).
These Washington early lines were part of the English noblemen who came to Jamestown, Virginia. They had royal blood and shared familial lines with the late Queen Elizabeth II. (See: “Jamestown Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 4” and “Part 5.”)
Mrs. Story’s grandfather, Needham Langhorne Washington (1780-1835), the son of Lawrence Washington (1728-1804) and Elizabeth (Dade) Washington (1734-1796), married Sarah Ashton Alexander (1782-1846), the daughter of Captain Gerard and Jane (Ashton) Alexander of historic Waterloo, in King George County, Virginia. This marriage connection makes Mrs. Story a direct descendant of Jamestowne settlers Gerrad Fowke and Adam Thoroughgood.
Below is the wedding announcement of Needham and Sarah published in the Daily National Intelligencer and Washington Express newspaper on 1 June 1821. They were married by the Rev. Mr. Thornton at the seat of the Washington home with witness Otho William Callis, Esq., present.
And I found a death notice for Neeham L. Washington, who died 13 February 1835.
Royal Pedigree Claims
According to the Commercial Appeal article, it is claimed that the ancestor of John and Lawrence Washington, in the year 1000, was Thorfin, the Dane, fourth son of Sigurd, Earl of the Orkney Isles, which were held as a fief under the kings of Denmark.
Much of the information published in this article can be found in The Pedigree and History of the Washington Family: Derived from Odin, the Founder of Scandinavia, B.C. 70, Involving a Period of Eighteen Centuries, and Including Fifty-five Generations, Down to General George Washington, First President of the United States, by Albert Welles.
Mrs. Story also claims descent from the Dukes of Argyll, themselves descended from Thorfin, and traces directly back through the Alexanders to King Robert Bruce of Scotland.
Perhaps Mrs. Story had the same “royal” fascinations as her kinfolk, the colorful character Sydney Horace Lee Washington (1910-1987), son of Horace Lee and Helen Stewart (Williams) Washington, who penned a plethora of genealogies tying the early Virginia lines to the many houses of royal lines. Some are published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Read more at “Portrait of a Fabulist: Sydney Horace Lee Washington.”
While there is much royal blood running through the veins of Jamestowne descendants, some of these lineage claims are to be questioned.
Stay tuned for more including some patriotic relics once owned by Mrs. Story from old Virginia families, recently auctioned…
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Note on the header image: the pier at Jamestown with reproductions of the three ships that arrived at Jamestown in 1607: the “Susan Constant,” “Godspeed,” and “Discovery.” Credit: NOAA Photo Library; Wikimedia Commons.
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