Martha Dandridge was born a long time ago, specifically on this date in 1731. This came about in Chestnut Grove, Virginia, after her parents, John Dandridge and Frances Jones — you know — got busy nine months earlier. She also had three brothers and four sisters. But there also may have been another half-sister, as Martha’s father had relations with one of their slaves.
Anyway, some 27 years later, she became Martha Washington, and eventually would be the First, First Lady of the United States.
She was married once before she got hitched to George though. Yes, she had been the wife of Daniel Parke Custis, a rich planter. Daniel was two decades older than Martha. Regardless of that, they had four children together: Daniel, Frances, John, and Martha.
Two of their kids, Daniel and Frances, died in childhood. The other two children, John (Jacky) Parke Custis (November 27, 1754–November 5, 1781) and Martha (“Patsy”) Parke Custis (1756–June 19, 1773), survived to young adulthood.
But then her husband Curtis died. In 1757. So Martha became a very rich young widow at age 25. She must have been clever, somehow, because she ended up with independent control over a dower inheritance for her lifetime. Not only that, but she had trustee control over the inheritance of her minor children.
And when you added the rest of things up, she had in her possession some 17,500 acres of land and 300 slaves, apart from other investments and cash. And she was quite able. She capably ran the five plantations left to her when her first husband died. She bargained with London merchants for the best tobacco prices. I don’t think of Martha as being a shrewd businesswoman, but apparently, she was.
So yes, she brought a lot of wealth into the marriage with George, who seemed to be a pretty good guy. But they never had children. I guess George may have been shooting blanks, OR there’s something else he wasn’t telling us. Regardless, they raised her remaining two children, until they died. “Martha Patsy” died when she had a seizure at age 16. “John Jacky” died while serving with George, some kind of fever. The Washingtons would go on to raise two of John Jacky’s kids though. Their grandbabies.
It just seems like they were nice people, those Washingtons. They provided a lot of financial support over the years, to various family members, which included many nieces and nephews.
And she, stuck by George. Martha was content to live a private life at Mount Vernon and her homes from the Curtis estate. But she also followed Washington to his winter encampments for each of eight years. She helped keep up morale among the officers.
So yes, today is her birthday.
A lot more happened historically, through the years on June 2.
1863 Harriet Tubman leads Union guerrillas into Maryland, freeing slaves
1875 Alexander Graham Bell makes first sound transmission
1896 Guglielmo Marconi applies to patent the radio, accepted 2 July 1897
1924 President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act, declaring all Native Americans to be American citizens
1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey, London, England
1933 FDR authorizes 1st swimming pool built inside the White House
And the biggie!
2004 Ken Jennings begins his 74-game winning streak on the syndicated game show Jeopardy!
And so much more.
We just never know what might happen, historically, on any given day.
About this time last year, our biggest worry was the side-effects of vaping on young people.
And today, we have…
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Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.
— George S. Patton
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“Life is unpredictable. The words “always” and “never ever” cannot be uttered by mortals like us.”
― Anupama Garg
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“Don’t judge a book by its cover”
― George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
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(Citings from “This Day in History”)
