Monday is Washington’s Birthday and I am thinking about an ancestor who lived near him.

I decided this would be a good time for the second entry in my They Lived Near: series.

The first entry in the series was They lived Near: Abraham Lincoln.

Each post in the series features someone or something that my ancestors lived near.

In this case we know that George Washington and my 7th Great Grandfather, Captain Lewis Ellzey knew each other.

Captain Ellzey served with Washington, but perhaps not in the way you may think.

He did not serve with him in the French and Indian War or the Revolutionary War, but rather in the Truro Parish of Virginia in the Pohick Church.

The pin in the map above shows the location of the Pohick church near Washington, D.C.

I used Google maps to see how far the Pohick Church was from Mount Vernon. It is only seven miles away.

Here you see Captain Lewis Ellzey listed as one of the vestrymen of Truro Parish.

The vestrymen were not part of the clergy, but rather took care of the administration of the parish.

Captain Ellzey was a vestryman from 1744-1748 and again for a short time in 1765.

Some well known vestrymen in Truro parish through the years included Augustine Washington, George Mason, George Washington and William Fairfax.

George Washington served as a vestryman from 1762 – 1785. There was a very short time in 1765 when Mount Vernon was part of a new Fairfax parish, and it was during that time that Ellzey was again a vestryman in Truro parish.

I also found this entry while searching out information for this post. The birth of my 6th Great Grandmother Sarah Ellzey is listed in the vestry book of Truro Parish. She was born on the 24th day of April in 1736.

For any family members that are reading this, here is the surname path back to Captain Ellzey so you can see if you are in this branch of the family:

Braman -> Leeper -> Bunt -> Turner -> Ellzey

It is really cool to have this connection to George Washington. To have an ancestor who went to church with Washington is much more interesting than one who would have served with him in the revolution.

Steven