Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis

Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis (March 31, 1779 – July 15, 1852), known as Nelly, was the granddaughter of Martha Washington and step-granddaughter of George Washington.

Nelly was most likely born at Mount Airy, her maternal grandfather's estate in Prince George's County, Maryland, although local tradition holds that she was born at Abingdon Plantation (now the site of Reagan National Airport in Arlington County, Virginia). Nelly was the daughter of John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert Custis. Her father was the only surviving child of Daniel Parke Custis and his widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, who married George Washington in 1759. Nelly was also the granddaughter of Benedict Swingate Calvert, son of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore. Following the premature death of John Parke Custis in 1781, Nelly and her brother, George Washington Parke Custis, were informally adopted by the Washingtons.

During George Washington's presidency, Nelly helped entertain guests at the President's House in Philadelphia, and later at Mount Vernon. The talented and beautiful young woman often accompanied her adoptive parents to social events.

On February 22, 1799, Nelly Custis married George Washington's nephew, Lawrence Lewis of Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Washingtons' wedding gift was 2,000 acres adjacent to Mount Vernon, on which the Lewises built Woodlawn Plantation.

Beginning in the mid-1830s the Lewises began dividing their time between Virginia and their surviving daughters' homes in Louisiana. About 1830 they moved to Audley plantation in Clarke County, Virginia. Nelly Custis Lewis continued to live there after her husband's death in 1839.

Throughout her life, she regarded herself as a preserver of George Washington's legacy. She shared memories and mementos, entertained and corresponded with those seeking information on the first president, and verified or debunked stories. She is buried at Mount Vernon in an enclosure adjacent to George and Martha Washington's tomb.

ee also

* Elizabeth Parke Custis Law (sister)
* Martha Parke Custis Peter (sister)
* George Washington Parke Custis (brother)
* Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee (niece)
* Robert E. Lee (nephew-in-law)
* Oney Judge (slave)

References

* Brady, Patricia. "Martha Washington: An American Life". New York: Viking/Penguin Group, 2005. ISBN 0-670-03430-4.
* Kneebone, John T., et al., eds. "Dictionary of Virginia Biography". Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1998- . Volume 3, pages 627-628. ISBN 0-88490-206-4.
* Ribblett, David L. "Nelly Custis: Child of Mount Vernon". Mount Vernon, Va., 1993.

External links

* [http://www.woodlawn1805.org/ Woodlawn Plantation]
* [http://www.kenmore.org/collections/portraits/nelly_and_lawrence.html Portraits of Eleanor Custis Lewis and Lawrence Lewis at Kenmore]