where was george washington originally from?
Virginia
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 Washington was of primarily English gentry descent , especially from Sulgrave , England . His great @-@ grandfather , John Washington , emigrated to Virginia in 1656 and began accumulating land and slaves , as did his son Lawrence and his grandson , George 's father , Augustine . Augustine was a tobacco planter who also tried his hand in iron @-@ mining ventures . In George 's youth , the Washingtons were moderately prosperous members of the Virginia gentry , of " middling rank " rather than one of the leading planter families . At this time , Virginia and other southern colonies had employed slave labor , in which slaveholders ( and the rich in general ) formed the ruling class and much of the economy was based upon slave labor . 

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 George Washington was born in Kortrijk , Belgium to Jean Guillaume Washington ( John William Washington ) of England and Marie Louise Tant of Belgium , on May 20 , 1871 . Following then @-@ current nationality law , which considered fatherhood primary , Washington was a British subject until he was naturalized as an American in May 1918 . At least six siblings in the family also settled in different parts of the United States and Central America . A number of accounts claim a relation to U.S. President George Washington , but this is not clearly explained . 

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 Washington 's military experience began in the French and Indian War with a commission as a major in the militia of the British Province of Virginia . In 1753 Washington was sent as an ambassador from the British crown to the French officials and Indians as far north as present @-@ day Erie , Pennsylvania . The following year he led another expedition to the area to assist in the construction of a fort at present @-@ day Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . Before reaching that point , he and some of his men , accompanied by Indian allies , ambushed a French scouting party . Its leader was killed , although the exact circumstances of his death were disputed . This peacetime act of aggression is seen as one of the first military steps leading to the global Seven Years ' War . The French responded by attacking fortifications Washington erected following the ambush , forcing his surrender . Released on parole , Washington and his troops returned to Virginia . 

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 Through his father , Washington was a grandson of Thornton Augustine Washington , a great @-@ grandson of Samuel Washington , and a great @-@ grandnephew of first President of the United States George Washington . Through his mother , he was a great @-@ grandson of Robert Rutherford , a United States House Representative from Virginia , and a nephew of Henry Bedinger III , also a member of the U.S. House of Representatives who later served as Chargé d 'Affaires and Minister to Denmark for President Franklin Pierce . Washington was raised in a large family at Cedar Lawn , where he had four brothers and eight sisters : 

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 The source of the term " Empire State " is uncertain . It has been attributed to the state 's wealth and resources , but there is some doubt regarding that . Two possible stories involve America 's first president George Washington . 
