Martha Washington

Sections

• Early Life
  • Birth and Family of Origin
  • Childhood
  • Courtship of Daniel Parke Custis and Martha Dandridge
• The Custis Years
  • First Marriage and Children
  • Death and Widowhood
  • The Courtship of Martha Custis and George Washington
• Life at Mount Vernon Before the Presidency
  • Family Life
  • Mistress of the Household
  • Sociability
• The War for Independence
  • The Patriotic Cause
  • At the Front
• The 1790s
  • First Lady
  • Slavery
  • Retirement at Mount Vernon
• The Twilight Years
  • The Deaths of George and Martha Washington
  • Legacies

Martha Washington: A Life

Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was born into a world of elite social custom and privilege in the 1730s. Little did she know that she would marry twice, give birth to four children — losing two of them to illness in childhood — and bear witness to the Revolution and the creation of a new nation. This site will allow you to explore the contours of Martha Washington’s life while also providing you with a window on women’s lives during the 18th century, including women’s access to property and education, their role in the Revolution, their thoughts on the promises of rights called for in the founding documents, and their everyday experiences of marriage, motherhood, labor, sickness, and death.