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Biographical Notes

Martha Washington was born Martha Dandridge in New Kent County, Virginia, to John Dandridge and Frances Jones on June 2, 1731. In 1749 she married Daniel Parke Custis and lived with him at his estate, the White House, also in New Kent.

The couple had four children: Daniel Parke (1751-1754), Frances Parke (1753-1757), John ("Jacky") Parke (1754-1781), and Martha ("Patsy") Parke (1757-1773). The family commissioned John Wollaston in 1757 to paint three family portraits, one of Daniel Custis, one of Martha Custis, and one of John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis together. All three are in the collection of Washington & Lee University.

Daniel Parke Custis died suddenly in 1757, at which time Martha Custis became a wealthy widow. She received a lifetime interest in one-third of Daniel Parke Custis's very large estate, including the slaves, and helped manage the remainder, which went to their two surviving children. Martha Custis took up her husband's correspondence with his agents in London, negotiating the price of her tobacco and many other business duties. She placed many orders during this time for goods, including toys and fine clothes for her children.

Colonel George Washington paid two visits to Martha Custis at the White House in the spring of 1758. The two married a little less than a year later, on January 6, 1759. Martha Washington moved to her new husband's home, Mount Vernon, three months later, in April 1759, with her two children.

Her activities between April 1759 and December 1775 included running the Mount Vernon household, visiting and writing family and friends, purchasing fabrics for her family's clothing, observing their health and well-being, and trying many methods and medicines when they were ill. In 1773 her daughter, Martha Parke Custis, died of "fits", or seizures, probably caused by epilepsy. Martha and George Washington had arranged medical consultations and tried many remedies for her, including trips to the natural springs in what is now West Virginia.

From December 1775 to late 1783, Mrs. Washington spent each winter at General Washington's Revolutionary War headquarters. Mrs. Washington's first trip to join her husband was to Cambridge, Massachusetts. She stopped first in Philadelphia, where she wrote to a friend, "I dont doubt but you have see the Figuer our arrival made in the Philadelphia paper-- and I left it in as great pomp as if I had been a very great somebody."

Anna Maria Bassett, Mrs. Washington's sister, died in December 1777. In a comfort letter Mrs. Washington sent to her brother-in-law Burwell Bassett (1734-1793), she wrote that Anna Maria had often talked about Mrs. Washington taking care of Frances ("Fanny") Bassett (1767-1796), one of their seven children, if Anna Maria should die before her daughter grew up. Miss Bassett came to live at Mount Vernon in 1784. John Parke Custis, Martha Washington's son, served briefly as a civilian aide to General Washington in 1781. After he contracted an illness, presumably typhoid, at the Battle of Yorktown, he was taken to Eltham, the home of his aunt and uncle, Anna Maria and Burwell Bassett. His wife, Eleanor Calvert, Mrs. Washington, and General Washington were all present when he died.

Between late 1783 and May 1789, Mrs. Washington stayed at Mount Vernon. She continued her correspondence with her family and the new friends she had made during the war, and took care of her "little family", which now included the younger two of her son and daughter-in-law's four children. After the war, Eleanor Parke Custis (1779-1852) and George Washington Parke Custis (1781-1857) were raised by General and Mrs. Washington, and lived with them at Mount Vernon and their two presidential residences until the death of Mrs. Washington in 1802. Their older sisters, Elizabeth Parke Custis (1776-1732) and Martha Parke Custis (1777-1854) continued to live with their mother, Eleanor Calvert Custis, at their home, Abingdon, a few miles north of Mount Vernon on the Potomac River.

Mrs. Washington and her grandchildren moved to New York in May of 1789 to live with General Washington in the first presidential residence. She was the nation's first First Lady, and her social life became much more active and visible. President and Mrs. Washington set precedents for official entertaining. She wrote her niece in June of 1789 that "you would I fear think me a good deal in the fashion if you could but see me." Although initially reluctant to go back to public life, she was pleased at the prospect of a better education for her grandchildren in the north than what they would have received in Virginia. She also arranged for music and dancing lessons for them during this time.

While the family was away from Mount Vernon during President Washington's two terms in office, Fanny Bassett took care of the domestic responsibilities at Mount Vernon, and her husband, George Augustine Washington, managed the overall plantation. Much of Fanny Bassett's correspondence with her aunt consists of instruction on her domestic responsibilities and of the expressions of affection an aunt felt to the daughter of her late sister.

Mrs. Washington returned with her family to Mount Vernon in May 1797. From this time until her death she continued to correspond with friends and family, receiving visitors, and becoming acquainted with a succession of great-grandchildren. Eleanor Parke Custis married Lawrence Lewis, a nephew of George Washington, on February 22, 1799, in what would also be George Washington's final birthday celebration. The marriage took place at Mount Vernon. Their first child, Frances Parke Lewis, was born at Mount Vernon in November of the same year. The home they later built was on land George Washington gave to them, not far from Mount Vernon.

On December 14, 1799, George Washington died at home. After his death Mrs. Washington continued to receive visitors, but her correspondence was limited to thanking people for their condolence notes. With the assistance of family members, she managed the estate business, collecting rent and directing the overseers and managers. In December of 1800 she made arrangements at the courthouse to manumit those slaves at Mount Vernon who had belonged to George Washington. The manumission took effect on January 1st, 1801.

Mrs. Washington died on May 22, 1802, and her body was placed in the family vault on the estate. Her will provided for her four grandchildren (especially George Washington Parke Custis and Eleanor Parke Custis), who received furniture, silver, china, prints, and bed-hangings, among other things. Other inheritors received stocks, returns on loans, cash, small souvenirs, or money to fit themselves for Martha Washington's funeral. After her death a series of public and private auctions were held in which the remaining contents of Mount Vernon were dispersed. The slaves in whom Mrs. Washington had a life-interest from the estate of her first husband were divided among her four grandchildren.

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Scope and Contents of the Papers

The collection consists of correspondence, bills, travel expense accounts, receipts, invitations, books, clipped autographs, letter covers, a chart, an inventory, a recipe, a provenance note, and a newspaper, documenting the life of Martha Washington, the nation's first First Lady. The papers span the dates 1761 to 1802.

The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence, principally with her close family. Of the correspondence, half of it consists of condolence notes she received and replied to upon the death of her husband, George Washington. Her business papers describe goods and services she purchased, the rent she received from Mount Vernon tenants, and the contents of her home just before she died.

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Arrangement

Materials in each series have been arranged first alphabetically and then chronologically.

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Many materials are available in microfilm. Additionally, some materials have access restrictions set by the donor or Mount Vernon.

Restrictions on Use

Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association as the owner of the collection and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must be obtained by the researcher.

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