Lawrence Washington (September 1659 – February 1698)[1][2][3] was a colonial-era Virginia planter, slave holder, lawyer, soldier and politician.
His mother (who died when Lawrence was a child) was the daughter and heiress of Col. Nathaniel Pope, a merchant and planter who had emigrated first to Maryland, then to Virginia's Northern Neck decades earlier.
Col. Pope had given his son-in-law start-up capital and the property as a marriage present, and died shortly before his first grandson's birth.
[5] After a private education in Virginia as befit his class, Lawrence was sent to England to complete his studies,[6] including training as a lawyer.
[8][15] Her will named Gale as her children's guardian, but in 1704 Lawrence's cousin John Washington successfully petitioned to have custody transferred to him.