Mildred Warner

Mildred Gale (1671–January 30, 1701), born Mildred Warner in the Colony of Virginia, was the paternal grandmother of Founding Father and first American president George Washington.

Early life

Warner was born in 1671, at Warner Hall, the family home in Gloucester County, Virginia, the daughter of Col. Augustine Warner Jr. (1642–1681) and Mildred Reade. Her paternal grandfather was Augustine Warner Sr.

Family Warner was one of three surviving children of her parents, all women. The other two were Elizabeth Warner and Mary Warner. All three married and left children and descendants.

First marriage Warner married Lawrence Washington (also spelled Laurence Washington) in 1685, a union that produced three children: John Washington, III (1692–1746), Augustine (1694–1743), and Mildred (1698–1747). Augustine would become the father of George Washington. although this was later challenged in the Virginia courts by Lawrence's cousin John Washington, and their custody passed to him. Her will left most of the property she had inherited from her late husband to George Gale. John Washington challenged this in court also.

Death Gale was buried in the grounds of St Nicholas's Church in Whitehaven alongside her baby daughter and slave, Jane. The exact whereabouts of her grave is unknown, due to several graveyard re-arrangements and a subsequent fire in the church in 1971, but a commemorative plaque is in the garden of the church.