Summary
After George Washington's sudden death, his wife Martha insisted on burning nearly all their personal correspondence. It was an unfortunate decision made in the name of privacy, for history lost not only a record of a great public marriage, but the real passion and thoughts of the United States' first president and first lady. The author, Patricia Brady, currently the director of the New Orleans Collection, has ingeniously taken a portrait of Martha at mid-age, and then using computer technology projected an image back of Martha at age 26. Her biography is somewhat similarly ingenious and is a carefully constructed mosaic of Martha and what historians extrapolate about her through her times and class. She emerges as a more complex and complicated figure than previously imagined.
Despite the intense opposition of her fiance's irascible father, Martha Dandridge was married to Daniel Custis, a wealthy older Virginian planter. In a bold move, she had appeared before the father, and apparently got him to agree to the love match despite her paltry dowry. But then at age 26, with two children bound to her, she was left a wealthy Virginia widow when Daniel died Later she had other suitors, but immediately fell in love with a tall, dashing military figure, Maj. George Washington. As for Washington, he was still in love with his neighbor's wife, Sally Fairfax, and letters remain of their connection, some written during his courtship of Martha. But by the mores of the time, Sally was off limits, and Washington married, and settled into a comfortable conventional life.See the full content of this document
Extract
What We Know About Our First First Lady
The marriage of George and Martha did not produce any children, but a host of nieces and nephews along with her childr...
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