Martha Custis, age 27, and George Washington, age 26, married on January 6, 1759, at the White House plantation. Martha Dandridge Custis in 1757: mezzotint by John Folwell (1863) after a portrait by John Wollaston Īccording to her biographer, 'she capably ran the five plantations left to her when her first husband died, bargaining with London merchants for the best tobacco prices'. In all, she was left in custody of some 17,500 acres of land and 300 slaves, apart from other investments and cash. The other two children, John (Jacky) Parke Custis (Novem– November 5, 1781) and Martha (Patsy) Parke Custis (1756 – June 19, 1773), survived to young adulthood.ĭaniel Parke Custis's death in 1757 left Martha a rich young widow at age 26, with independent control over a dower inheritance for her lifetime, and trustee control over the inheritance of her minor children. Daniel (Novem– February 19, 1754) and Frances (Ap– April 1, 1757) died in childhood. They had four children together: Daniel, Frances, John, and Martha. On May 15, 1750, at age 18, Dandridge married Daniel Parke Custis, a rich planter two decades her senior, and moved to his residence, White House Plantation, located on the south shore of the Pamunkey River, a few miles upriver from Chestnut Grove. She may have also had an illegitimate half-brother named Ralph Dandridge (years of birth and death unknown), who was probably white. Costin's enslaved mother was of African and Cherokee descent, and her father was believed to be John Dandridge. ĭandridge may have had an illegitimate half-sister, Ann Dandridge Costin (years of birth and death unknown), who was born into slavery. She was the oldest daughter of John Dandridge (1700–1756), a Virginia planter and immigrant from England, by his wife Frances Jones (1710–1785), who was of American birth and English, Welsh, and French descent. Martha Dandridge was born on June 2, 1731, on her parents' plantation Chestnut Grove in the Colony of Virginia.

6 Dower slaves, estate, death, and interment.

4 At the 1777–1778 Valley Forge encampment.

Days until we become mr and mrs