The Paper of Eleanor (Nelly) Pare Custis Lewis. Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.

Mount Vernon Ladies' Association

Weems, Mason Locke. Peter S. Onuf, ed. The Life of Washington. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1996.

Custis, John, IV. Josephine Little Zuppan, ed. The Letterbook of John Custis IV of Williamsburg, 1717-1742. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.

Cresswell, Nicholas. The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell, 1774-1777. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1968.

“News that our Army has surprised Washington and taken him prisoner. Afraid it is too good to be authentic. His great caution will always prevent him being made a prisoner to our inactive General [Howe]….Before the expiration of the War [French & Indian] he [Washington] married a Mrs. Custis, a widow lady, with whom he had a very good fortune. By her entreaties he left the Army, in which he never gained any great esteem by his own country Officers or men….His House is at a place called Mount Vernon…where he has a very fine Plantation and Farm…He keeps an excellent table and a stranger, let him be of what Country or nation, he will always meet with a most hospitable reception at it. His entertainments were always conducted with the most regularity and in the genteelest manner of any I ever was at on the Continent (and I have been at several of them, that is, before he was made

journal

Latrobe, Benjamin Henry. The Journal of Latrobe; Being the Notes and Sketches of an Architect, Naturalist and Traveler in the United States from 1796 to 1820. New York: B. Franklin, 1971.

July 1797: “[July 1797]…Upon my return to the house [Mount Vernon], I found Mrs. Washington and her granddaughter, Miss Custis, in the hall. I introduced myself to Mrs. Washington as a friend of her nephew, and she immediately entered into conversation upon the prospect [view] from the lawn, and presently gave me an account of her family in a good-humored free manner that was extremely pleasant and flattering. She retains strong remains of considerable beauty, seems to enjoy very good health, and to have a good humor. She has no affectation of superiority in the slightest degree, but acts completely in the character of the mistress of the house of a respectable and opulent country gentleman….” (57)

journal

Cadou, Carol Borchert. The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon. Manchester: Hudson Hills Press, 2006.

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

Louther, Henry Thompson. "The Estate of J.P. Custis in Account with John Hooe, Cr., 1790." The William & Mary Quarterly, Second Series, 23 2 (April, 1943): 209-211.

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

Jensen, Merrill, John P. Kaminiski, and Gaspare J. Saladino, eds. Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1976.

From Olney Winsor to Mrs. Olney Winsor: “…we…arrived at Mount Vernon about one—where we were received by the General & his family with great freedom and politeness, at the same time without any ceremonious parade….Mrs. Washington is an elegant figure for a person of her years, perhaps 45 [she was actually almost 57].—she is rather fleshy, of good complexion, has a large portly double chin, and an open & engageing [sic] Countenance, on which a pleasing smile sets during Conversation, in which she bears an agreeable part.-…She was dressed in a plain black Sattin [sic] gown, with long Sleves [sic], figured Lawn Apron & Handkf, guaze [sic] french [sic] night Cap with black bowes [sic]—all very neat—but not guady [sic]—.” (523)