George of Washington

George Freiherr von Washington (born July 31, 1856 at Pöls Castle , † December 22, 1929 in Graz - Geidorf ) was an Austrian relative of the first American President George Washington . The family crypt is located in the Protestant part of the St. Peter city cemetery in Graz.

biography

George von Washington was the son of Freiherr Maximilian Emanuel von Washington and Duchess Friederike von Oldenburg . They named their firstborn son after the American president, of whom he was a distant relative. His godfather was Duke Elimar von Oldenburg, son of Grand Duke Paul Friedrich August I of Oldenburg from his third marriage to Princess Cäcilie of Sweden (House Holstein-Gottorf). Throughout his life, George of Washington had a close relationship with his artistic uncle as well as with his aunt, Queen Amalie of Greece . There was also a relationship with the British royal family: The grandmother of the current Queen Elisabeth II , Maria von Württemberg (Teck) was a third cousin (the two had a common great-grandfather / Grand Duke Friedrich Eugen von Württemberg). During a tour of the European royal houses, the then Princess Maria von Württemberg-Teck also visited her cousin at Pöls Castle.

There was also a relationship to the Habsburg family : the maternal grandmother (Duchess Friederike von Oldenburg) was the sister of the first wife of Emperor Franz II , Elisabeth Wilhelmine Luise of Austria , née. Princess of Württemberg. Another connection between George of Washington and the Austrian imperial family exists through the connection of the Oldenburg-Wittelsbach-Habsburg houses through the marriage of Otto von Bayern with Amalie von Oldenburg (later from Greece) - Otto von Bayern was the first cousin of Kaiser Franz Josef I. ((Franz Josef's mother Sophie of Bavaria was the sister (half-sister) of King Otto's father King Ludwig I)) an uncle of Elisabeth of Austria (called Sisi).

On March 27, 1883, George von Washington married Countess Gisela Welser von Welsersheimb (born August 25, 1857 in Graz, † July 1, 1913 at Pöls Castle), the marriage remained childless. He inherited the family seat of Pöls Castle including lands of around 120 hectares. During World War I , Baron Washington joined the Galician Uhlan Regiment "Prince zu Schwarzenberg" No. 2 and fought on the Eastern Front against Russia. Like his father, he was a member of the Royal Prussian Order of St. John . Note: Lt. own information - see the booklet by Margarethe Pauly "Friederike von Washington / Duchess of Oldenburg (1820–1891)" published by Verlag Isensee in 2008, page 59. He was already too old for military service (1914–58 years) and stayed during The entire war period at Pöls Castle. The statement by the author Pauly that C. Streit was a journalist is based on an error. Mr. Clarenca K. Streit, who also visited the Washington family around this time, was the Vienna correspondent of the US magazine TIME The report on his visit to Pöls Castle is in the original German translation in the house of the Rößmann family.

Since he was childless, he considered adopting an American relative as an heir. He turned to William Lanier Washington of New York City , who was the head of the Washington family in America. Both kept in correspondence and Baron Washington presented his American relative with a gold signet ring of his grandfather Jacob (James) of Washington, which showed the family crest of President George Washington, as well as portraits of his father and grandfather. Since Austria-Hungary was at war with the United States of America from 1916 and the monarchy collapsed shortly afterwards, there was no American relative who took over the inheritance.

On November 24, 1924, he married Maria (used Kreuzig, née Pichler). On this occasion he transferred his entire fortune, with small exceptions for his illegitimate daughter Huberta von Hohenpriel (illegitimate daughter from a liaison with a servant), to his second wife.

Since his brother Stephan Ludwig died childless in Palermo on September 10, 1899 at the age of 41 , this aristocratic branch became extinct with the death of the last Baron of Washington.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ on this also Margarethe Pauly: Friederike v. Washington Duchess of Oldenburg . In: Oldenburg Research Volume 25, Page 36

literature

• Baron George Washington Fighting for Austria. In: New York Times . September 3, 1916, p. SM14 , accessed on July 21, 2009 : "Collateral Descendant of the First President of the US, an Officer of the Austrian Lancers, May Make New Yorker His Heir" 
• Charles and Hugh Brogan Mosley (Eds.): American Presidential Families. Alan Sutton and Morris Genealogical Books, London 1994, p. 47.

Web links

• Commons: George of Washington