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Major Benjamin Strother

Major Benjamin Strother ( circa 1700-1765), son of Captain William Strother ( circa 1665-1726) and Margaret Thornton, his wife, of King George County, was a brother of William Strother, Gentleman, ( circa 1696-1733) previously mentioned. Major Strother married first circa 1726 Mary (Mason) Fitzhugh, widow of George Fitzhugh, Gentleman,

(169?-1722), who represented Stafford County in the House of Burgesses in 1718, and daughter of Colonel George Mason (16 -1716) and Mary Fowke, his first wife, by whom she had an only child to survive infancy, Colonel William Fitzhugh (1721-1798) who removed to Maryland. Colonel William Fitzhugh and his cousin William Fitzhugh, Esquire of Chatham, were both intimate acquaintances of Colonel George Washington and both often at Mount Vernon. However, in various published accounts these two William Fitzhughs have been confused and misidentified.

Major Benjamin and Mary (Mason) Strother had issue three daughters only, viz:

(1) Margaret Strother (circa 1730- May 31, 1761) who married first on October 26, 1750 John Murdock (17 -1759), son of Jeremiah Murdock, Gentleman, of King George County; he died without issue in Stafford County. She married secondly on March 10, 1760 Colonel William Bronough (1730-1800), son of Colonel Jeremiah Bronough (1702-1749) and Sympha Rose Ann Field Mason (1703-1761) of King George and Fairfax counties, by whom she had an only child, Mary Mason Bronough who married on October 2, 1792 her cousin William Fowke and died without issue. Colonel William Bronough (1730-1800) married secondly on October 13, 1762, Mary (Doniphan) Cooke (July 10, 1737- December 26, 1781), daughter of Mott Doniphan, Gentleman, previously mentioned, and widow of Travers Cooke, Gentleman, (17 -1759), subsequently mentioned, by whom he had seven children. On February 27, 1783 Colonel William Bronough married thirdly Rebecca Craine and had three children. Hs will, together with many records of the family, are in Loudoun County, Va.

(2) Alice Strother (November 30, 1732- December , 1795) married on December 16, 1756, Robert Washington, Gentleman, ( January 25, 1730- circa 1800) of Woodstock, Saint Paul’s Parish, Stafford County, son of Townshend and Elizabeth (Lund) Washington of Green Hill, Saint Paul’s Parish. This couple had several children among whom was Lund Washington ( 1767-1853), postmaster of Washington, D.C., to whom we are indebted for a most informative family manuscript written about 1848 in which he records many genealogical facts of several Stafford County families which would otherwise have been lost. He married first on February 11, 1793 Susanna Monroe Grayson ( May 29, 1768- April 20, 1822) , daughter of the Reverend Mr. Spence Grayson (1734-1798), and secondly on April 11, 1823, Sally Johnson ( October 9, 1797- August 15, 1871), daughter of John Johnson of Worchester County, Maryland. Lund Washington left issue by both wives; he and some other members of his family are buried in the Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

(3) Ann Strother was married by the Reverend Mr. William Stuart, rector of Saint Paul’s Parish, on September 16, 1763 to John James ( circa 1732-circa 1794). He was administrator of the estate of his father-in-law, Major Benjamin Strother, and seems to have succeeded to his plantation near Potomac Church. The inventory of his estate was recorded in now missing Stafford County Will Nook “Y” (1793-1804), page 83. On March 6, 1789 Lund Washington, Senior, ( 1737-1796) wrote General George Washington relating a report heard by his nephew Lund Washington ( Junior) (1767-1853) while he was lately in Stafford County: John James of Stafford County said “that we should have a very pretty President at the head of our new government one who had paid off his debts within the time of the War with paper money altho it had been lent to him in specia.” Lund Washington informs the General that the report was started by Colonel Mason and adds, “he is no friend of yours.”

John and Ann (Strother) James had a large family of whom there is considerable detail in the Lund Washington manuscript. John James was the son of George James, Gentleman, of Fredericksburg, who died in 1753 leaving a handsome estate in Spotsylvania, Stafford and Prince William counties, and Mary Wheeler, his wife, only child of John Wheeler, Gentleman, (1684-1746) of Overwharton Parish who bequeathed to his grandson John James all his land in Prince William County.

Major Benjamin Strother married secondly on December 6, 1760 Elizabeth ( Rowzee) Waller Peyton (circa 1715-182, widow of Charles Waller, Gentleman, ( 17 -1749) and John Peyton, Gentleman, ( 1691-1760) both of Stafford County. There is an account of Major Benjamin Strother and his wives in Tyler’s Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Volume 19, pages 224-227 and the Reverend Horace E. Hayden in his Virginia Genealogies, pages 495-498, details the family of John Peyton (1691-1760) of Stony Hill.