His eldest son John Washington (1633-1677) was about 19 years of age when his father died, and two years later when his mother died he went to London, probably taking his brother Lawrence with him. The brothers saw the new opportunities in trade with the American colonies, and John, already married, sailed for Virginia in 1656 as mate and voyage partner of Edward Prescott, owner of the Sea Horse of London. His first wife died, and he re-married the daughter of an American planter, Lieutenant-Colonel Nathaniel Pope. Their wedding present was a 700 acre estate at Mattox Creek where their eldest son , Lawrence, was born in 1659 and the American line of the Washington Family was established..
Lawrence married Margaret Butler in 1588. Margaret Butler was the daughter of a Sussex family who could trace it's descent from the Royal plantagenets, and their children collected a number of honours. William, their eldest child married a half sister of the Duke of Buckingham and was knighted. The second son was knighted as Sir John Washington of Thrapston by King Charles I and Thomas, the sixth son was a page to Prince Charles, later King Charles I.
The Reverend Lawrence Washington, M.A., B.D., was a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford and Rector of Purleigh Essex from 1633-43. In 1643, during the English Civil war he was accused as a "Maglignant Royalist" and "oft drunk", and was ejected from his living as Rector of Purleigh and died in poverty.