Martha Dandridge Custis Washington -- [Biography »]
(1731-1802)

NOTES:
Wife of George Washington

Oldest daughter of John and Frances Dandridge, she was born June 2, 1731, on a plantation near Williamsburg, Virginia. Like her second husband, George, she had little formal education but was self-taught in manners as well as the domestic and social skills necessary to maintain and manage a plantation household.

She was about five feet tall, dark haired and had gentle manners. At 18 she married wealthy Daniel Park Custis with whom she had four children; two died in infancy and two, a son, John "Jack" Park Custis, and a daughter, Martha "Patsy" Custis, were very young when her husband died in 1757 leaving her as one of the wealthiest widows in Virginia.

She married George on January 6, 1759, which combined her wealth and staff of about 300 slaves with Mt. Vernons although, for the most part, Washington kept a separate accounting of her assets. He "adopted" the children and raised them as his own.

She accompanied the President to temporary capitals in New York and Phildelphia and provided formal entertainment for guest who visited the President's houses although Martha was an informal person who did not like pomp and empty ceremony. She once said, "I am fond of only what comes from the heart."

Abigail Adams, a close friend, sat with her at parties and receptions, and said she was "one of those unassuming characters which create Love and Esteem."

In 1797 the Washingtons left public life and returned to Mount Vernon. There George died in 1799 and with deep concerns for privacy she burned their letters before her own death from "severe fever" on May 22, 1802.