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Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 2, 1731 O.S. – May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, who was the first president of the United States.Although the title was not coined until after her death, she served as the inaugural first lady of the United States, defining the role of the president's wife and setting many precedents that future first ladies observed.
No biological children together. Martha Washington had four children with Daniel Parke Custis. The two oldest (who died before her marriage to George Washington) are: Daniel Parke Custis (November 19, 1751 – February 19, 1754) Frances Parke Custis (April 12, 1753 – April 1, 1757)
They married on January 6, 1759, [9] making Patsy, age two, and her brother John "Jacky" Parke Custis, age four, stepchildren of George Washington. [2] As the Washingtons entered into public life together, Martha Washington came to be known by her formal name, while her daughter and namesake was known as "Patsy". [7]
With Custis's premature death at 26, his widow sent her two youngest children (Eleanor/Nelly and George/Washy) to Mount Vernon to be raised by the Washingtons. [3] In 1783, she married David Stuart of Alexandria, Virginia , with whom she had at least seven additional children who survived infancy.
However, Martha's executor, Bushrod Washington, refused to sell to Custis the Mount Vernon estate on which Custis had been living and which Bushrod Washington (George Washington's nephew) had inherited. Custis thereupon moved into a four-room, 80-year-old house on land inherited from his father, who had called it "Mount Washington".
He also became guardian of her two minor children, and administrator of the Custis estate. John Parke Custis was the only child to reach his majority, upon which he inherited the non-dower two-thirds of his father's estate. Upon George Washington's death on December 14, 1799, the dower share and slaves reverted to Martha.
She was the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis who was the grandson of Martha Washington, the wife of George Washington. Lee was a highly educated woman, who edited and published her father's writings after his death. Mary married Robert E. Lee in 1831 at her parents' home, Arlington House in Virginia. The couple had seven children.
Martha Parke Custis was born on December 31, 1777 [1] [2] in the Blue Room at Mount Vernon. [3] She was the second-eldest surviving daughter of John Parke Custis, son of Martha Washington and her first husband Daniel Parke Custis, and his wife Eleanor Calvert, daughter of Benedict Swingate Calvert and his wife Elizabeth Calvert.