Walter Aston (burgess)

Lieutenant Colonel Walter Aston (c.1606–April 6, 1656) was a Virginia political figure, planter and militia leader. Aston served as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses in the first half of the 17th century.[1] [2]

Walter Aston
Born1606
DiedApril 6, 1656(1656-04-06) (aged 49–50)
Known forVirginian political figure, planter and militia

Biography

edit

Aston was born in England and came to Virginia in approximately 1628.[3]

Aston represented Shirley Hundred Island for the first time from 1629 to 1630. He continued to be a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1631–1632, 1632–1633, 1641, 1642-1643.[4] Aston later served as a justice of the peace for Charles City County, and by the time he died on April 6, 1656. he was a Lieutenant Colonel of the Virginia militia.[3] Aston was buried at the original Westover Parish Church, Charles City County, Virginia. He was buried at Westover Parish Church (in the cemetery on the grounds west of Westover Plantation, not in the graveyard next to the new church).[5]

Family

edit
 
Coat of Arms of Walter Aston

Aston married twice, first to a woman whose maiden name was Warbowe then to Hannah Jordan who outlived him. His son, Walter Aston, Jr. (died January 29, 1667), is buried near his father.[6][5]

Aston is buried near the original site of the Westover Church next to Theodorick Bland of Westover[7] and near Benjamin Harrison.

United States Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush are descended from Lt. Col. Aston through his daughter Mary who married Col. Richard Cocke.[8][9]

References

edit
  1. ^ Paul C. Reed, "The False English Origin of Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Aston of Charles City County, Virginia," The American Genealogist, 76 (2001): 234-36.
  2. ^ Paul C. Reed and Nathan W. Murphy, "Restoring the Ancestry of Walter Aston of Charles City County, Virginia," The American Genealogist, 89 (2017): 1-20.
  3. ^ a b Tyler, Lyon Gardiner (1915). Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 174. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  4. ^ Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary, Martha W. McCartney, pages 94-95.
  5. ^ a b kimshockey (reb) (July 5, 2003), Col Walter Aston (Memorial# 7656547), Find a Grave, retrieved 17 August 2016
  6. ^ “Virginia Gleanings in England.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 24, no. 1, Virginia Historical Society, 1916, pp. 66–69, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4243489.
  7. ^ Bland, Theodorick (1840), "Appendix", in Campbell, Charles (ed.), The Bland papers: Being a Selection from the Manuscripts of Colonel Theodorick Bland Jr. of Prince George County Virginia, vol. I, Petersburg, Virginia: Edmund & Julian C. Ruffin, pp. 145–149
  8. ^ The Royal Descents of Five Hundred Immigrants, by Gary Boyd Roberts.
  9. ^ Ancestors of American Presidents, by Gary Boyd Roberts