Images of 17th century Virginia locales

Here are some images which help us to visualize the surroundings of our Pope, Washington, Wright, and Haynie ancestors, in what is called the Northern Neck of Virginia.

There are two Park Service photos taken near Popes Creek, location of the George Washington Birthplace National Monument.  Popes Creek is named after our ancestor Nathaniel Pope, father of Anne Pope Washington.  (It looks big enough to have been called a river!)

The interior images are from one of the very few surviving 17th century Va. homes.  It's called Bacon's Castle, as some of the rebels congregated there in the 1670s; it was not owned by the Bacon family.

Best of all, perhaps, is the Yeocomico Church, because it was actually attended by our Wright ancestors in the 1600s and early 1700s.  I learned that the Yeocomico River or Creek is the dividing line between Northumberland and Westmoreland Counties, where all of these various ancestors of ours lived.

One more Washington-Haynie connection

In the 18th century there was a young girl named (Sarah) Sally Ball Haynie; she and her mother Elizabeth Haynie were related to George Washington's mother, the former Mary Ball, and fell on hard times.  Washington helped to provide for her, including leaving her $300 in his will, which was quite a large sum in 1799.

This young woman was undoubtedly a cousin to our Haynie forebears.

Here is a link to a transcribed letter of personal advice written by the retired President to Miss Haynie in 1798:

http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/marriage/haynie.html

Washington surname

Historically, the name Washington came from Wessyngton, which in turn was the Norman French rendition of an earlier Middle English version of an Anglo-Saxon place name:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Old_Hall