Marriage
On February 22, 1799, Nelly Custis married George Washington's nephew, the widower Lawrence Lewis, of Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Washingtons' wedding gift was 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) adjacent to Mount Vernon, on which the Lewises built Woodlawn Plantation.
Upon her marriage, Nelly Lewis inherited about 80 slaves from her father's estate. Her grandfather, Daniel Parke Custis's estate was liquidated following Martha Washington's 1802 death, and Nelly Lewis inherited about 35 "dower" slaves from Mount Vernon. Following the death of her mother in 1811, the John Parke Custis estate was liquidated, and she inherited approximately 40 additional slaves.
About 1830 the Lewises moved to Audley plantation in Clarke County, Virginia. Beginning in the mid-1830s they began dividing their time between Virginia and their daughters' homes in Louisiana. Nelly Custis Lewis continued to live at Audley 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.
Read more about this topic: Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
“Why don’t you go home to your wife? I’ll tell you what. I’ll go home to your wife and outside of the improvements, you’ll never know the difference. Pull over to the side of the road there and let me see your marriage license.”
—S.J. Perelman, U.S. screenwriter, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, and Norman Z. McLeod. Groucho Marx, Horsefeathers, a wisecrack made to Huxley College’s outgoing president (1932)
“For the marriage bed ordained by fate for men and women is stronger than an oath and guarded by Justice.”
—Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.)
“And what if my descendants lose the flower
Through natural declension of the soul,
Through too much business with the passing hour,
Through too much play, or marriage with a fool?”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)