- John Parke Custis
John Parke Custis (
27 November 1754 –5 November 1781 ) was aVirginia planter and stepson ofGeorge Washington .He was most likely born at White House, his parents' plantation in New Kent County,
Virginia . He was the son ofDaniel Parke Custis , a wealthy planter, andMartha Dandridge Custis . After the death of his father in 1757, he inherited almost 18,000 acres (73 km²) of land. In 1759 his mother marriedGeorge Washington and moved with her children to Mount Vernon. Custis briefly attended King's College (laterColumbia University ) in 1773.On
3 February 1774 Custis married Eleanor Calvert, a granddaughter ofCharles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore . Of their seven children, four survived infancy:* Elizabeth Parke Custis (1776-1831), married Thomas Law
* Martha Parke Custis (1777-1854), married Thomas Peter
* Eleanor Parke Custis (1779-1852), married Lawrence Lewis
*George Washington Parke Custis (1781-1857), married Mary Lee Fitzhugh.Custis sat in the
Virginia House of Delegates from 1778 until 1781. He served as a civilian aide-de-camp to Washington during thesiege of Yorktown . He contracted camp fever and died in New Kent County not long after Cornwallis's surrender. He was buried in York County, near Williamsburg.References
*Frank E. Grizzard Jr. "George Washington: A Biographical Companion" (2002), pages 67-70.
*John T. Kneebone et al., eds., "Dictionary of Virginia Biography" (Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1998- ), 3:639-640. ISBN 0-88490-206-4
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.