Martha Washington

Martha Dandridge was born on June 2, 1731, on her parents' tobacco plantation, Chestnut Grove Plantation in New Kent County the Colony of Virginia. She was the oldest daughter of Frances Jones, herself the daughter of the politician Orlando Jones and granddaughter of an Anglican rector, John Dandridge| and John Dandridge, a Virginia planter and an illegitimate white half-brother, Ralph Dandridge. Dandridge's father was well connected with the Virginia aristocracy despite his relative lack of wealth, and she was taught to behave as a woman of the upper class. Dandridge received a relatively high-quality education for the daughter of a planter, though it was still inferior to that of her brothers. She took to equestrianism, at one point riding her horse up and down the stairs of her uncle's home and escaping chastisement because her father was so impressed by her skill. Frances Jones Dandridge Frances Jones Dandridge (August 6, 1710 – April 9, 1785), nicknamed Fanny, Martha's mother. Fanny was born in 1710 on a plantation near Williamsburg near the capital on Queen's Creek. Fanny had an older brother, Lane Jones, born in 1707. Fanny's father, Orlando Jones, was a Burgess for New Kent County in 1718 in the House of Burgesses, the leading legislative body in Colonial Virginia. Her mother (m. January 31, 1702), Martha Macon Jones (Saint Peter, New Kent County, 1687-Macon's Island, Williamsburg, May 4, 1716), was daughter of Colonel Gideon Macon, died when Fanny was only six years old. Her father soon remarried. His second wife, Mary Elizabeth William Jones, became the sole parent of the two children just three years later when Orlando Jones died. Orlando and Mary had no children together. Fanny inherited ten enslaved people and land in King William County from her father, which she brought to the marriage. or 1715. Born to John and Ann Dandridge of England, He and his wife Unity West Dandridge, an heiress, lived on the opposite bank of the river from Chestnut Grove at his Elsing Green estate in King William County, Virginia. and Ralph Dandridge. ==Marriage to Daniel Parke Custis (1749–1757)==

In 1749, Dandridge met Daniel Parke Custis, the son of a wealthy planter in Virginia. Daniel Parke Custis was one of the wealthiest men in the Virginia colony as well as one of the largest slaveowners, owning nearly 300 slaves. after a portrait by John WollastonCustis became a widow at the age of 26 when her husband died (probably from a severe throat infection). Upon his death, Custis inherited the large estate that he had previously inherited from his father. ==Early years of marriage to George Washington (1758–1774)==

Courtship and wedding By one account Custis met George Washington during the Williamsburg social season, and they courted over the following months during his leaves from the military. Their marriage remained happy over the following 40 years, in part because of their similar worldviews. Washington's last surviving child, John, left King's College that fall and married Eleanor Calvert in February 1774. The Washingtons hoped for more children throughout their marriage, but they were unable to conceive. == American Revolution (1775–1789) ==

Early revolution , circa 1856, based on a portrait by his father, Charles Willson Peale Life for the Washingtons was interrupted as the American Revolution escalated in the 1770s. Washington was kept informed of the war's developments by her husband, sometimes performing clerical work for him, and she was even permitted to know military secrets. On April 6, Elizabeth Drinker and three friends arrived at Valley Forge to plead with the General to release their husbands from jail; the men, all Quakers, had refused to swear a loyalty oath to the American revolutionaries. Because the commander was not available at first, the women visited with Martha. Drinker described her later in her diary as "a sociable pretty kind of Woman". Washington's son John was serving as a civilian aide to his father during the siege of Yorktown in 1781 when he died of "camp fever", a diagnosis for epidemic typhus. Postwar retirement The Washingtons returned to Mount Vernon in 1783. They stayed at Mount Vernon for much of the Confederation period, living in retirement with their nephew, nieces, and grandchildren. Washington, now in poorer health, believed that her husband was finished with public service. She spent her time raising their grandchildren, constantly worried for their health after having all four of her children and many other relatives die of illness. She also resumed hosting company at Mount Vernon, recruiting several of her nieces and other young women to assist her, as the house was overwhelmed with visitors. Their life at Mount Vernon was interrupted again when he was asked to participate at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and again when he was chosen as the first president of the United States in 1789. ==First Lady of the United States (1789–1797)==

() After the war, Washington was not fully supportive of her husband's agreeing to be president of the newly formed United States. She did not immediately join him at the capital in New York City, only arriving in May 1789. After arriving at the capital, Washington became the inaugural First Lady of the United States, though the term would not be used until later. Instead, she was referred to as "Lady Washington". As the inaugural first lady, many of Washington's practices became traditions for future first ladies, including the opening of the presidential mansion (later, the White House) to the public on New Year's Day, a practice that would continue until the presidency of Herbert Hoover. Personal life The first presidential residence was a house on Cherry Street, followed by a house on Broadway. The capital was moved to Philadelphia in 1790, and the presidential residence again moved, When she learned that her husband might take on a second term as president, she uncharacteristically protested against the decision. Despite her opposition, he was reelected in 1793, and she reluctantly accepted four more years as the wife of the president. She found the pageantry of the presidency to be boring and artificial. Washington was not exempt from the political attacks often levied at her husband's administration by opposition-owned newspapers. While her social role was celebrated by her husband's supporters, the anti-Federalists criticized her as emulating royalty and encouraging aristocracy. At the same time, other critics accused her social activities of being too informal. To her displeasure, she found that she was constantly the subject of public attention, and she was forced to pay increased attention to her hair and clothes each day. Despite this, she still opted to dress simply in homespun clothes, feeling that it was more appropriate in a republic. ==Later life and death (1797–1802)==

The Washingtons left the capital immediately after the inauguration of John Adams, making the return journey to Mount Vernon, which by then had begun to decay. As a widow, Washington spent her final years living in a garret where she knitted, sewed, and responded to letters. Though Washington was the legal owner of her husband's property, she gave control of its business affairs to her relatives. She had anticipated her death since that of her husband. When she developed a fever in 1802, Washington burned all of her husband's letters to her, summoned a clergyman to administer last communion, and chose her funeral dress. In 1831, the surviving executors of George's estate removed the bodies of the Washingtons from the old vault to a similar structure within the present enclosure at Mount Vernon. == Legacy ==

Just as her husband had set the precedent for the presidency, Washington established what would eventually become the role of first lady. She was prominent in the ceremonial aspects of the presidency, assisting her husband in his role as head of state, but she had very little public involvement in his administrative role as head of government. This would be the standard of presidential wives for the next century. It was merged with Emory & Henry College in 1918, and the main original building of Martha Washington College was converted to the Martha Washington Inn. Martha Washington Seminary, a finishing school for young women in Washington, DC, was opened in 1905, and it ceased operations in 1949. A postage stamp featuring Martha Washington, the first stamp to honor an American woman, was issued as part of the 1902 stamp series. An stamp, it was printed in violet-black ink. The second stamp issued in her honor, a definitive stamp printed in yellow-brown ink, was released in 1923. A stamp was issued in 1938 to honor Washington as part of the Presidential Issue series. Washington's image was featured on the one dollar silver certificate banknote beginning in 1886, making her the second woman to appear on an American banknote after Pocahontas. To prevent confusion with existing coinage, pattern coins testing new metals have been produced by the U.S. mint, or a company contracted to it, with Martha Washington on the obverse. Historian assessments Since 1982 Siena College Research Institute has periodically conducted surveys asking historians to assess American first ladies according to a cumulative score on the independent criteria of their background, value to the country, intelligence, courage, accomplishments, integrity, leadership, being their own women, public image, and value to the president. Consistently, Washington has been ranked in the upper-half of first ladies by historians in these surveys. In terms of cumulative assessment, Washington has been ranked: • 9th-best of 42 in 1982 • 10th-best of 40 in 2020 In the 2008 Siena Research Institute survey, Washington was ranked 3rd-highest in the criteria of public image. In the 2014 survey, Washington and her husband were ranked the 2nd-highest out of 39 first couples in terms of being a "power couple". ==See also==