Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis
Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis ( born March 31, 1779 Mount Airy, Maryland, † July 15, 1852 ), known as Nelly, was the granddaughter of Martha Washington and the Stiefenkelin of George Washington.
Life
Nelly was the daughter of John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert. It was probably in Mount Airy, who was born on the estate of their maternal grandfather, Prince George 's County in Maryland, although some local traditionalists say she was born on the plantation Abingdon in Arlington County, Virginia, where today the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is located. Her father was the only surviving child of Daniel Parke Custis and Martha Dandridge Custis who married a widow in 1759, George Washington. Nelly was also the granddaughter of Benedict Swingate Calvert, the son of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore. After the premature death of John Parke Custis in 1781, Nelly and her younger brother George Washington Parke Custis were adopted by the Washingtons.
During George Washington's presidency helped Nelly in the care of the guests at the presidential household, first in New York City, then in Philadelphia, and later on the Mount Vernon. The talented, beautiful young woman accompanied her adoptive parents often about social events.
On February 22, 1799 Nelly married the widower Lawrence Lewis ( 1767-1839 ), the son of George Washington's sister Betty Washington Lewis of Fredericksburg. As a dowry she received 2000 acres of land, which lay in the neighborhood of Mount Vernon, where they built the plantation Woodlawn. With her marriage Nelly inherited 80 slaves from the estate of John Parke Custis. The possession of Daniel Parke Custis was divided after the death of Martha Washington in 1802 and inherited 35 Nelly dower slaves from Mount Vernon. After her mother 's death in 1811 and the property of John Parke Custis was divided and she inherited an estimated additional 40 slaves.
The couple had the following children:
- Frances Parke Lewis Butler (1799-1875)
- Lorenzo Lewis (1803-1847)
- Mary Eliza Lewis Conrad (1813-1839)
- 5 more children did not reach adulthood
Circa 1830 they moved to the Audley plantation in Clarke County, Virginia. In the mid- 1830s, the couple began to divide his time between Virginia and the home of her surviving daughter in Louisiana. After her husband's death in 1839 Nelly Custis lived on the Audley plantation.
Saw your whole life Nelly themselves as the guardians of the heritage of George Washington. She shared memories and souvenirs, conversed and corresponded with people the information about the first president investigated and confirmed or revealed stories about him. She was buried in Mount Vernon next to George and Martha Washington.