Lawrence Lewis was George Washington's nephew, the son of Washington's sister Betty and Fielding Lewis. In his retirement, Washington was fond of Lewis and he often trusted Lewis to assist in his personal affairs. Lewis assisted his uncle with the management of Mount Vernon beginning in August 1797. Shortly thereafter he married Martha Washington’s granddaughter Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis. After George Washington's death in 1799, Lewis helped Martha Washington in the same capacity until 1802.
Early Life
Lawrence Lewis was born in Culpepper County, Virginia in 1767. His mother, Betty Washington Lewis, was the younger sister of George Washington. His father, Fielding Lewis, Sr., was a prominent merchant and planter. In 1775, the family moved into their newly constructed Georgian mansion in Fredericksburg, known today as Kenmore Plantation. His father used his considerable fortune to support the war effort in the American Revolution, including funding an armory for the Continental Army. Fielding Lewis’s support for the American cause damaged the family’s finances, especially after his death in 1781. He was educated at Fredericksburg Academy, but his prospects were limited given the financial strain experienced by his family. He married Susannah Edmonton, who was from a wealthy family in Essex, Virginia, but she and their child died during childbirth in 1790. During the Whiskey Rebellion, Lewis served as General Daniel Morgan's aide-de-camp in western Pennsylvania in 1794 earning the rank of Major.
Role at Mount Vernon
Initially, Washington wanted Lewis to manage Mount Vernon while he was service as president, but ultimately hired his brother Howell Lewis. When he returned to Mount Vernon after his retirement from the presidency, he requested Lawrence Lewis join him there to assist his farm manager James Anderson and his secretary Tobias Lear. However, the role he envisioned for his nephew was more all-encompassing than assisting with Mount Vernon or in keeping his personal papers, "I require some person (fit & Proper) to ease me of the trouble of entertaining company; particularly Nights, as it is my inclination to retire. . .either to bed, or to my study, soon after candle light."1
Lewis arrived at Mount Vernon to begin his management duties on the evening of August 31, 1797, living in the mansion with his extended family. A part from tasks involving the five farms and assisting Washington, he entertained guests both short-term and extended. When Washington was briefly away in Philadelphia to serve as commander-in-chief under John Adams during the Quasi-War, he appointed Lewis as a Captain in the Corps of Light Dragoons should a declared conflict emerge.2
Marriage to Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis
While in Philadelphia, Washington also discovered Lewis had entered a relationship with his step-granddaughter Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis and they planned to get married. Washington recalled and shared the news with his brother-in-law, “They having, while I was at Philadelphia, without my having the smallest suspicion that such an affair was in agitation, formed their Contract for this purpose.”3 On George Washington's last birthday, February 22, 1799, they married.4 In the fall of that year, Washington rented the Dogue Run farm, mill, and distillery to Lewis. In addition, Washington promised to will Lewis his outlying farm land so the couple could settle close to Mount Vernon.5
After Washington’s death, the couple remained at Mount Vernon to assist Martha Washington. Of the couple’s eight children, only three survived to adulthood, and their eldest was born at Mount Vernon before the death of the first president. Afterwards, the family moved to their Woodlawn plantation, built on land willed to them by Washington. The mansion was designed by U.S. Capitol architect William Thornton. At Woodlawn, they enslaved dozens of people, including individuals previously enslaved at Mount Vernon considered “dower” property of Martha Washington.
In 1831, after vandals attempted to steal George Washington's body from his tomb at Mount Vernon, Lawrence Lewis along with George Washington Parke Custis built a new brick tomb where George Washington, Martha Washington, and other family members were reinterred. Lawrence was interred there when he died in 1839.
Notes:
1. “George Washington to Lawrence Lewis, 4 August 1797,” Founders Online, National Archives
2. “Lawrence Lewis to George Washington, 21 November 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives.
3. “George Washington to Bartholomew Dandridge, 25 January 1799,” Founders Online, National Archives.
4. “George Washington to George Deneale, 19 February 1799,” Founders Online, National Archives.
5. "George Washington to Lawrence Lewis, 20 September 1799," The Writings of George Washington, Retirement Series, Vol. 37.
Bibliography:
Duke, Jane Taylor. Kenmore and the Lewises. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1949.
Fraser, Flora. The Washingtons: George and Martha Partners in Friendship and Love. Anchor Books, 2015.
Sorley, Merrow Egerton. Lewis of Warner Hall: The History of a Family Including the Genealogy of Descendants in Both the Male and Female Lines, Biographical Sketches of its Members, and their Descent from other Early Virginia Families. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1935.
