Basic Facts about George Washington:
Birth: Feb 22, 1723 at Pope’s Creek, Westmoreland County, Virginia
Death: Dec 14, 1799 at Mount Vernon, Virginia
Married: Jan 6, 1759 to Martha Dandridge Custis
Children: Two stepchildren, John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis
President: Two terms beginning April 30, 1789 and March 4, 1793
Family Life:
Martha Dandridge (June 2, 1731-May 22, 1802) married Daniel Parke Custis May 15, 1750. The Custis plantation was called the “White House”. They had four children: Daniel, Jr. (1751-1754, probably died of malaria), Frances (1753-1757), John “Jackie” Parke (1754-1781) and Martha “Patsy” Parke (1756-1773). Daniel Custis died July 8, 1757 of heart failure.
Martha Dandridge Custis married George Washington on January 6, 1759. They had no children together. Both of Washington’s stepchildren, John and Martha, died prior to him becoming President.
- Martha “Patsy” Custis died at age 17 of epilepsy.
- John “Jack” Custis, heir to the Custis estate, showed little interest in his education, much to the dismay of his step-father. Jack married Eleanor “Nelly” Calvert on Feb 3, 1774 when he was 21 and she was 17. They had seven children in the next seven years.
- unnamed daughter (1775)
- Elizabeth (1776-1831)
- Martha “Patsy” (1777-1854)
- Eleanor “Nelly” (1779-1852)
- unnamed twin daughters who lived for three weeks (1780)
- George Washington Custis (1781-1857)
They lived at Abingdon Estate, a property John had unwisely purchased. Following Eleanor’s death the property was sold. Part of the land later became Ronald Reagan Washington Airport and part Arlington National Cemetery.
John died of “camp fever” in 1781 at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. After John’s death, George and Martha Washington raised the youngest two of John’s four children, Eleanor (Nelly) Parke Custis (March 31, 1779 – July 15, 1852), and George Washington Parke (Washy) Custis (April 30, 1781 – October 10, 1857). George Washington Custis’ daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, married Robert E. Lee.
John’s widow, Eleanor “Nelly”, later married David Stuart and had an additional 16 children.
Other:
Believing that shaking hands was beneath a president, Washington bowed to his visitors.
Washington has the distinction of being the only president to be elected unanimously by the electoral college.
Washington had one remaining tooth at the time of his inauguration. During his lifetime he wore dentures made of human (some his own), cow, or hippopotamus teeth, ivory, or lead, but he never wore wooden teeth.
The six white horses in Washington’s stables had their teeth brushed every morning on Washington’s orders.
The nation’s capital was located in Philadelphia during Washington’s administration making him the only president who didn’t live in Washington, D.C. during his presidency.
Washington is the only president to have been inaugurated in two different cities – New York and Philadelphia
The very name by which the president should be addressed incited dispute. The Senate agreed on “His Highness, the President of the United States of America and the Protector of the Same”. The House of Representatives, however, refused to consent to this title, claiming it too monarchial. The title “Mr. President” was finally agreed to.
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Sources:
Internet Public Library
Greenman, Barbara. The Timeline History of U. S. Presidents and First Ladies. Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, California, 2009.