Martha Washington’s Enslaved People
What You Didn’t Know About the First, First Family
Martha Dandridge got married when she was 18-years-old; not to George, that came later. She had a lot going for her; she came from a wealthy family and was fairly well educated in a time when most women weren’t given the opportunity. She married a man 20 years her senior, Daniel Parke Custis, who had a 17,000-acre estate (plantation), and was one of the richest planters in Virginia. He treated her like the trophy wife she was, giving her the finest in clothing and jewelry. They had four children, two of whom died as infants. When Martha was 26, Daniel suddenly died, leaving her the wealthiest widow in Virginia with two young children.
Martha grew up with her family enslaving people, and at the time of his death, Daniel Parke Curtis owned approximately 250 slaves, 84 of which became Martha’s to use but not technically own. They were part of the Curtis estate, and while Martha “owned” them while she lived. Upon her death, those slaves would pass on to the Curtis heirs. By the time Martha married Colonel George Washington (a slightly younger man this time), she had owned 300 slaves, those slaves had become his to control according to the law at the time, but he could neither free nor sell them. George and Martha never had children, so that they would be inherited by the…
