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pg. 5
In the biographies of Judge Paul Carrington and General Edward Carrington, sons of George
Carrington, men who made the name most honorable (of Virginia), the family in England is
traced from one Michael Carrington who was Sword Bearer to Richard the Lionhearted, who
accompanied the king in the 13th century on crusades to the Holy Land. Michael Carrington
died in battle but left a young son in Ireland who became the ancestor of hundreds of
Carringtons in Ireland and England during the stormy reign of the Stuarts in the 17th
century. During the 4 centuries from Sword Bearer to the American immigrant, especially in
view of the primogeniture inheritance laws, it would be expected that some became English
landlords and identified with the ruling class and some became tradesmen and artisans and
identified with the serving class.
The English revolution put Cromwell at the head of the English government for a time, and
thousands of the ruling class found asylums in America then. Dr. Paul Carrington went to
Barbados Island at that time and took his English fortune with him. He became the
grandfather of George Carrington, the Virginia immigrant and founder of the Virginia
Carrington family, who as an English gentleman was permitted to patent thousands of acres
of rich land in the upper James River valley. He and his children established great
plantations including hundreds of servants and tenants.
In the preface of this book, it says that when the book was being prepared that many of
the Carrington families did not respond to the request for information.