Washington was born around 1824 to Glasgow Saunders and Charlotte Hayes. He began working at the Capitol during the building’s construction in 1834, when he was around ten years old. Glasgow Saunders and Washington are listed together on the 1834 Report of the Commissioners appointed to superintend the re-building of the North Carolina State Capitol.

Glasgow was highly paid for this project; his labor was valued at $1.00 per day, double what the labor of most of the enslaved men generated. Peter Saunders and Washington Saunders, listed just below Glasgow, were compensated significantly less, only 15 and 20 cents respectively. Washington’s lower compensation makes sense - he was a child, likely working alongside his father Glasgow.

His enslaver as a child was likely Romulus Saunders. Washington was around age 10 when he worked at the Capitol in 1834. In the 1840 slave schedule in the US census, Romulus was listed as enslaving four young men between age 10 and 23 - it's likely one of those was Washington. In the Treasurer's & Comptroller's records that the state kept on all the laborers who worked at the Capitol project, Washington's wages are signed for by Nancy Saunders, Romulus's daughter.

Though much is unknown about Washington’s early life while he was enslaved, he survived to Emancipation and stayed in Raleigh. A skilled laborer, Washington worked as a stone mason throughout Raleigh, and the 1870 census records him as a “brick mason.”

He worked with both brick and stone, and applied his knowledge to lead parts of the construction of Saint Ambrose Church and Benson Library on the Saint Augustine University campus.

Washington was integral to the construction of campus building from the beginning. When working on the chapel at Saint Augustine’s, Washington also served as faculty for the school.

George Washington Hayes died in Raleigh, September 15, 1903 when he was 79 years old. His cause of death was listed as “meningitis.”

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Photograph description: Top: Brick laying class at Saint Augustine’s - 1899-1900 yearbook. Photo likely contains Washington Hayes. 

Left bottom:  Image of the chapel Washington helped erect. 

Right bottom: Faculty list from Saint Augustine's Yearbook. 

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 Source: The North Carolina State Capitol - From The Naming To Knowing Project