Daniel Parke Custis was a wealthy Virginia planter whose widow, Martha, married
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
.
He was the son of
John CustisJohn Custis was a member of the Governor's Council in the British colony of Virginia. Often he is designated as John Custis IV or John Custis, of Williamsburg, to distinguish him from his grandfather, father, and other relatives of the same name. The son of John Custis John Custis (August...
(1678–1749), a powerful member of Virginia's Governor's Council, and Frances Parke Custis.
http://www.whosyomama.com/gabroaddrick3/4/27770.htm He was a grandson of
Daniel ParkeDaniel Parke sat on the colonial Virginia governor's Council from 1695 until 1697. His elder legitimate daughter married John Custis, and his younger married William Byrd II. Parke served as an aide to John Churchill, 1st duke of Marlborough, and after the Battle of Blenheim carried news of...
, also a member of the Council and governor of the
Leeward IslandsThe Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...
.
Custis was born in
York County, VirginiaYork County is a county located on the north side of the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Situated on the York River and many tributaries, the county seat is the unincorporated town of Yorktown...
, and died in
New Kent County, VirginiaAt the 2000 census, there were 13,462 people, 4,925 households and 3,895 families residing in the county. The population density was 64 per square mile . There were 5,203 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...
. He married
Martha DandridgeMartha Dandridge Custis Washington was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington is considered to be the first First Lady of the United States...
on 15 May 1750. They had four children:
- Daniel Parke Custis, Jr. (November 19, 1751 – February 19, 1754)
- Frances Parke Custis (April 12, 1753 – April 1, 1757)
- John “Jacky” Parke Custis
John Parke Custis was a Virginia planter, the son of Martha Washington and stepson of George Washington.-Childhood:...
(November 27, 1754 – November 5, 1781)
- Martha “Patsy” Parke Custis (1756 – June 19, 1773)
Custis did not choose to take a leading role in colonial Virginia politics. Two years after his death, his widow, Martha, married
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, who became stepfather to the two surviving Custis children.
Custis Estate
Daniel Parke Custis died intestate, so his widow received the lifetime use of one-third of his property ("dower share"), with the other two-thirds held in trust for their children. The January 1759 Custis Estate inventory lists 285 enslaved Africans. The October 1759 Custis Estate inventory lists 17779 acres (71.9 km²) of land, spread over 5 counties.
John Parke CustisJohn Parke Custis was a Virginia planter, the son of Martha Washington and stepson of George Washington.-Childhood:...
was the only one of their children to reach his majority, and became the sole heir. Upon her marriage to
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, the dower share, including the "dower negroes," came under Washington's control, pursuant to the common law doctrine of
seisinSeisin is the term denoting the legal possession of a feudal fiefdom . It was used in the form of "the son and heir of X has obtained seisin of his inheritance", and thus is effectively a term concerned with conveyancing in the feudal era...
jure uxorisJure uxoris is a Latin term that means "by right of his wife" or "in right of a wife". It is commonly used to refer to a title held by a man whose wife holds it in her own right. In other words, he acquired the title simply by being her husband....
, but upon his death, reverted to her, and then, upon her death, to her first husband's children. Because of Martha Washington's "dower share" (which included 153 enslaved Africans in 1799), the Custis Estate was not liquidated until after her 1802 death.
Descendants