McCallister, Ellen. "This Melancholy Scene." Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, Annual Report, 1981, 13-15.

From Thomas Law to his son John Law, 5/23/1802

“I have been detained here near three weeks a painful witness of Mrs. Washingtons [sic] sufferings under a fever which terminated her well spent life yesterday at 12 oclock PM—from the beginning she prepared for death, gave advice to her grandchildren sent for the Clergyman & took the sacrament, & at last directed a white gown to be brought which she had previously laid by for the last dress—Fortitude & resignation were display’d throughout, she met death as a relief from the infirmities & melancholy of old age—all she valued in life had been take [sic] from her—I feel unfeigned grief at this loss for marked attention & numerous little kindnesses had created a sincere affection. This melancholy scene conveys a serious lesson to all of us; I fear there is too much truth in the observation of Johnson that Life protracted is protracted woe…On Tuesday I join a real mourner the solemn procession & then bid adieu to this mansion under whose hospitable roof I beheld examples of rectitude & beneficence….our little girl [Law’s daughter Eliza, then about 5 years old] has silently walked about shedding tears & has shewn [sic] real sensibility by never mentg. her Grandmama, who doated [sic] upon her….” (15)

Miles, Ellen G., preface by Edmund S. Morgan. George and Martha Washington: Portraits from the Presidential Years. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery, in association with the University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1999.

Morgan, Edmund Sears. Virginians at Home: Family Life in the Eighteenth Century. Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg, 1952.

Nash, Margaret A. "Rethinking Republican Motherhood: Benjamin Rush and the Young Ladies' Academy of Philadelphia," 17 2 (Summer, 1997): 171-191.

Norton, Mary Beth. "The Evolution of White Women's Experience in Early America." The William & Mary Quarterly, 89 3 (June 1984): 593-619.

Norton, Mary Beth. Founding Mothers & Fathers: Gendered Power and the Forming of American Society. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1996.

Norton, Mary Beth. Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750-1800. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996.

Perkins, Bradford. "A Diplomat's Wife in Philadelphia: Letters of Henrietta Liston, 1796-1800." The William & Mary Quarterly, 11 4 (October, 1954): 592-632.

From Mrs. Henrietta Liston to her uncle, Phila. Feb. 1797: “In my last I mentioned that Mr. Adams had carried his Ellection [sic] for President, it was only by three Votes. Washington is preparing for retirement with a very cheerful Countenance—Mrs. Washingtons [sic] heart seems a little melted, as she never expects to see Philadelphia again; she prest [sic] me to come to Mount-vernon this Summer but I made my excuses, as our wishes bend to the North….” (608)

From Mrs. Henrietta Liston to her uncle, Phila., 7/12/1797: “…to-morrow Congress rises (I am glad of it,) on the following day we dine, by invitation, with the President [John Adams], who, as his Wife is not in very good health is glad to run from the heat of Philadelphia, I believe I told you how pleased I am with Mrs. Adams, she has spirit enough to laugh at [journalist Benjamin F.] Baches [sic] abuse of her Husband, which poor Mrs. Washington could not, I hope to acquire that sort of spirit in time, but the thing is new to me yet-" (613)

Pogue, Dennis J. "The Domestic Architecture of Slavery at George Washington's Mount Vernon." Winterthur Portfolio, 37 1 (Spring, 2002): 3-22.

Ribblett, David L. Nelly Custis: Child of Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon, Va.: Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, 1993.