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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)
RelativesLawrence 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

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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

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Bibliography

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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