George Steptoe Washington

George Steptoe Washington (August 17, 1771 – January 10, 1809) was a Virginia planter and militia officer. He was born at Harewood, the family plantation located in Berkeley County, Virginia (present-day Jefferson County, West Virginia). Washington was the fourth of seven children of Samuel Washington and Anne Steptoe. His siblings included Ferdinand Washington (1767–1788), Frederick Augustus Washington (1768–1769), Lucinda Washington (1769–1770), Lawrence Augustine Washington (1774–1824), Harriet Washington (1776–1822), and Thomas Washington (1778–1838). After the death of his father, Washington and his siblings, including Lawrence Augustine and Harriet, resided with their uncle George Washington, the first President of the United States. George Washington paid for George Steptoe Washington and his brother to attend Georgetown Academy. He studied law in Philadelphia under Edmund Randolph and briefly served as his uncle’s secretary, receiving letters of encouragement and occasional reproach.

In 1793, at the age of twenty-two, Washington eloped with Lucy Anne Payne (1769–1846), a younger sister of Dolley Madison, then aged fifteen. Lucy was a member of the Society of Friends but was disowned by her family due to her marriage. The families eventually reconciled, and Lucy's mother, Mary Coles Payne, brought the Payne children to live at Harewood. The marriage produced four children: George Steptoe Washington (1796–1796), who died in infancy; Samuel Walter Washington (1797–1831), a medical doctor; William Temple Washington (1800–1877); and George Steptoe Washington Jr. (1806–1831).

Following the death of his father in 1781, Washington inherited Harewood and other properties in what would later become West Virginia. He was one of the seven individuals designated as executors of his uncle George Washington’s estate. Among these, Bushrod Washington (son of John Augustine Washington) and Lawrence Lewis actively managed the estate, with Washington also named as an executor and recipient of one of George Washington’s swords. The other executors included Martha Washington, William Augustine Washington, Samuel Washington, and George Washington Parke Custis.

Washington operated Harewood plantation using enslaved labor and engaged in land transactions within Virginia and beyond. He held the rank of Major in regional militia activities, while other relatives served as captains or colonels.

He died of tuberculosis on January 10, 1809, in Augusta, Georgia, where he had traveled to establish another plantation. His widow, Lucy, later married Judge Thomas Todd, an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Their wedding was the first to take place in the White House. Lucy Todd died in 1846.

Harewood House remains extant. In 1875, Richard Blackburn Washington acquired Harewood and some nearby plantations, which he inherited through lineage tracing back to John Augustine Washington, not Samuel Washington.

His descendants include several individuals who married into notable families. His son Samuel was the grandfather of Lucy Elizabeth Washington (b. 1823), Christian Maria Washington (1826–1895), and others. Through his son William, he was grandfather to Jane Washington (b. 1834), Lucy Washington (1822–1825), Millissent Fowler Washington (1824–1893), William Temple Washington Jr. (b. 1827), Thomas West Washington (1829–1868), and Eugenia Scholay Washington (1838–1900), who founded the lineage societies, Daughters of the American Revolution and Daughters of the Founders and Patriots of America. Ferdinand Steptoe Washington (1843–1912) was another grandson.