Martha Washington

Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 2, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural first lady of the United States. During her lifetime, she was often referred to as "Lady Washington".[2]

Martha Washington
19th-century portrait by unknown artist
after Gilbert Stuart and after Charles Willson Peale
First Lady of the United States
In role
April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797
PresidentGeorge Washington
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byAbigail Adams
Personal details
Born
Martha Dandridge

(1731-06-02)June 2, 1731[1]
Chestnut Grove, Virginia, British America
DiedMay 22, 1802(1802-05-22) (aged 70)
Mount Vernon, Virginia, U.S.
Resting placeMount Vernon, Virginia, U.S.
38°42′28.4″N 77°05′09.9″W
Spouse(s)
Daniel Parke Custis
​
​
(m. 1750; died 1757)​

​
​
(m. 1759; died 1799)​
Children
  • Daniel
  • Frances
  • John
  • Martha
Parent(s)John Dandridge
Frances Dandridge
Signature

Martha Dandridge first married Daniel Parke Custis. They had four children, two of whom survived to young adulthood. Daniel's death made Martha a widow at age 26. She brought her vast wealth to her marriage to Washington, which enabled him to buy land to add to his personal estate. She also brought with her 84 dower slaves[3] from Daniel Custis' estate for use during her lifetime. They and their descendants reverted to Custis' estate at her death and were inherited by his heirs.[4] The Washingtons did not have children together, but they did rear her two surviving children, John and Martha. They also helped both of their extended families.

Early life

Martha Dandridge was born on June 2, 1731, on her parents' plantation Chestnut Grove in the Colony of Virginia. She was the oldest daughter of John Dandridge, a Virginia planter and immigrant from England, and Frances Jones, the granddaughter of an Anglican rector.[5]: 2  Martha had three brothers and four sisters: John (1733–1749), William (1734–1776), Bartholomew (1737–1785), Anna Maria "Fanny" Bassett (1739–1777), Frances Dandridge (1744–1757), Elizabeth Aylett Henley (1749–1800), and Mary Dandridge (1756–1763).[6]

Dandridge may have had an illegitimate half-sister, Ann Dandridge Costin (years of birth and death unknown), who was born into slavery.[7] Costin's enslaved mother was of African and Cherokee descent, and her father was believed to be John Dandridge.[8] She may have also had an illegitimate half-brother named Ralph Dandridge (years of birth and death unknown), who was most likely white.[8]

Dandridge's father was well-connected with the Virginia aristocracy despite his relative lack of wealth, and she was taught to behave as a woman of the upper class.[9] She received a relatively high quality education for the daughter of a planter, though it was still inferior to that of her brothers.[10]

Marriage to Daniel Parke Custis
Daniel Parke Custis

In 1749, Dandridge met Daniel Parke Custis, the son of a wealthy planter in Virginia.[9] They wished to marry, but the father of Dandridge's prospective groom was highly selective of what woman would marry into the family's fortune. She eventually won his approval, and Dandridge married Custis, who was two decades her senior, on May 15, 1750.[5]: 2 

She moved to his residence at White House Plantation, located on the south shore of the Pamunkey River, a few miles upriver from Chestnut Grove. They had four children together: Daniel, Frances, John, and Martha. Daniel (November 19, 1751 – February 19, 1754) and Frances (April 12, 1753 – April 1, 1757) 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.

While her father had owned 15 to 20 slaves, her husband owned nearly 300, making him one of the largest slaveowners and wealthiest men in the Virginia colony.[11] The full Custis estate contained plantations and farms totaling about 27 square miles (70 km2), and 285 enslaved men, women, and children attached to those holdings.

Custis became a widow at the age of 26 when her husband died of heart failure. Upon his death, she inherited the large estate that he had previously inherited from his father.[9] After his death in 1757, she received one third of his estate outright, and the remaining two thirds were granted to their two young children. The total inheritance amounted to approximately $33,000 (equivalent to $982,246 in 2021), 17,000 acres of land, and hundreds of slaves. With this inheritance, she was left with the responsibility of managing the farmland, overseeing the well-being of the slaves, and fighting extensive legal battles about the details of the inheritance.[5]: 2  According to her biographer, "she capably ran the five plantations left to her when her first husband died, bargaining with London merchants for the best tobacco prices".[12]

Marriage to George Washington

Courtship and wedding
Martha Dandridge Custis in 1757: mezzotint by John Folwell (1863) after a portrait by John Wollaston

Custis, age 27, and Washington, age 26, married on January 6, 1759, at the White House plantation. As a man who lived and owned property in the area, Washington likely knew both Martha and Daniel Parke Custis for some time before Daniel's death. During March 1758, he visited Martha Custis twice at the White House plantation; the second time, he came away with either an engagement of marriage or at least her promise to think about his proposal. At the time, she was also being courted by planter Charles Carter, who was even wealthier than Washington.[12]

The wedding was grand. George's suit was of blue and silver cloth with red trimming and gold knee buckles.[13] The bride wore purple silk shoes with spangled buckles, which are displayed at Mount Vernon.[12] The couple honeymooned at the Custis family's White House plantation for several weeks,[12] followed by a stay in Williamsburg where her husband was a representative,[5]: 3  before setting up house at his Mount Vernon estate. They appeared to have had a solid marriage.[12] At the time of their wedding, she was one of the wealthiest widows in the Thirteen Colonies.[14]

Mount Vernon

From 1759 to 1775, the Washingtons lived at Mount Vernon where they tended to their plantation.[9] Washington ran the household and regularly entertained visitors. She knitted and oversaw the making of clothes, and she became talented in curing meat in their smokehouse. The Washingtons had no children together, but they raised Martha's two surviving children. She was highly protective of them, especially after her two previous children had died and Patsy was found to have epilepsy.[5]: 3  In 1773, Patsy died when she was 17 during an epileptic seizure.[15][16] John Parke "Jacky" Custis left King's College that fall and married Eleanor Calvert in February 1774.[16] The Washingtons hoped for more children throughout their marriage, but they were unable to conceive.[5]: 3–4 

Although the Washingtons wielded managerial control over the whole estate, they received income only from Martha's "dower" third. The remainder of the income went to a trust held for John Parke Custis until he reached maturity at age 21. Washington's husband used her wealth to buy additional land and slaves; he more than tripled the size of Mount Vernon (2,650 acres (10.7 km2) in 1757; 8,251 acres (33.39 km2) in 1787). For more than 40 years, her "dower" slaves farmed the plantation alongside her husband's. By law, neither of the Washingtons could sell Custis lands or slaves, which Martha's dower and the trust owned.[11][17]

American Revolution

Life for the Washingtons was interrupted as the American Revolution escalated in the 1770s. Washington strongly supported her husband's Patriot beliefs and his increasingly prominence within the movement. She stayed at Mount Vernon when he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in 1775, overseeing the construction of new wings to their home. She then moved to the home of her brother-in-law so as not to be so conspicuous of a target during the American Revolutionary War.[5]: 4 

Washington eventually visited her husband in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from where he and the other Continental Army officers were operating. While staying in Cambridge, she served as a hostess for guests of the officers and she formed a sewing circle. Though she hid it from those around her, she was frightened by the gunfire that could be heard from the nearby Siege of Boston.[5]: 4  Washington accompanied her husband when operations were relocated to New York, but she was sent to Philadelphia as British forces came closer. The American Revolution became increasingly stressful for her after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, as the risks he faced on the battlefield increased. Each winter, Washington would join her husband at his encampment while fighting was stalled, improving morale for the soldiers and for her husband personally. The quality of her housing varied during these visits, both in comfort and in safety.[5]: 5 

John was serving as a civilian aide to George Washington during the siege of Yorktown in 1781 when he died of "camp fever" (probably epidemic typhus). After John Parke Custis' death, the Washingtons raised the youngest two of his four children, Eleanor (Nelly) Parke Custis (March 31, 1779 – July 15, 1852) and George Washington Parke (Washy) Custis (April 30, 1781 – October 10, 1857), the two older sisters remained with their mother.[16] The Washingtons also provided personal and financial support to the children of many of their relatives and friends.[18]

1777–1778 Valley Forge encampment

According to tradition, Martha Washington was described as having spent her days at the Revolutionary War winter encampments visiting the common soldiers in their huts. However, Nancy Loane, author of Following the Drum: Women at the Valley Forge Encampment, says there is no evidence that Washington visited the common soldiers.[19] Loane also notes that Martha Washington was fashionably dressed, assertive, and a woman of great wealth and independent means. She joined her husband during the Revolution for all the Continental Army's winter encampments. Before the revolution began, she had kept close to home; during it, she traveled thousands of miles to be with her husband.[20] General Lafayette observed that she loved "her husband madly".[21]

The Continental Army settled in Valley Forge, the third of the eight winter encampments of the Revolution, on December 19, Washington traveled 10 days and hundreds of miles to join her husband in Pennsylvania.[22]

Martha Washington by Rembrandt Peale, circa 1856, based on a portrait by his father, Charles Willson Peale

Martha Washington took her familiar role as her husband's hostess at camp. On April 6, Elizabeth Drinker and three friends arrived at Valley Forge to plead with the General to release their husbands from jail; the men, all Quakers, had refused to swear a loyalty oath to the American revolutionaries. Because the commander was not available at first, the women visited with Martha. She was regarded as a matriarch in the camps she visited.[23] Drinker described her later in her diary as "a sociable pretty kind of Woman."[24]

Martha Washington also socialized with the wives of the senior officers at Valley Forge. Years later, Pierre DuPonceau, an aide to Baron von Steuben, recalled that in the evenings the ladies and officers at camp would meet at each other's quarters for conversation. During these social evenings, each lady and gentleman present was "called upon in turn for a song" as they sipped tea or coffee.[25]

Confederation period

During the Confederation period, the Washingtons lived in retirement at Mount Vernon with their nephew, nieces, and grandchildren.[5]: 6  Washington, now in poorer health, believed that her husband was finished with public service. Their life at Mount Vernon was interrupted again when he was asked to participate at the Constitutional Convention in 1797 and again when he was chosen as the first president of the United States in 1789.[5]: 7 

First lady of the United States
Washington at Verplanck's Point, by John Trumbull, 1790

After the war, Washington was not fully supportive of her husband's agreeing to be president of the newly formed United States.[26] She did not immediately join him at the capital in New York City, only arriving in May 1789.[9] She arrived on the presidential barge, escorted by her husband, immediately establishing the president's wife as a public figure.[27]: 3  As the wife of both the head of government and the head of state, Washington was immediately faced with the pressure of representing the United States. She had to present the United States as a dignified nation, but she also had to respect the spirit of democracy by refusing to present herself as a queen.[5]: 7  She balanced these responsibilities by playing the role of a social hostess at presidential events, a role that would become the primary function of the first lady. In turn, this made the position of first lady an important point of contact between the president and the people.[14]

After arriving at the capital, Washington became the inaugural first lady of the United States, though the term would not be used until later. In this role, she hosted many affairs of state at New York City and Philadelphia during their years as temporary capitals. The social circles that developed among those in American politics became known as the Republican Court.[28][29] Washington presented an image of herself as an amiable wife, but privately she complained about the restrictions placed on her life.[30]

As the inaugural first lady, many of Washington's practices in the White House became traditions for future first ladies, including the opening of the White House to the public on New Year's Day, a practice that would continue until the Hoover administration.[9] Her husband also delegated to her the responsibility of hosting drawing room events on Fridays in which ladies were permitted to attend.[27]: 5  During the first such party, she remained seated while her husband introduced guests. The guests were uncertain as to whether they should follow the royal custom of waiting for the hostess to leave before they do, and she resolved the issue by announcing her husband always retired at nine.[27]: 6 

The presidential residence was first a house on Cherry Street, followed by a house on Broadway. The capital was moved to Philadelphia in 1790, and the presidential residence again moved, this time to a house on Market Street.[27]: 7  Washington much preferred the Philadelphia residence, as it had a greater social life and was closer to Mount Vernon.[5]: 8  Taking her responsibility as the lady of the house seriously, Washington returned the calls of every lady that left her card at the heavily-trafficked presidential home, always doing so within three days.[27]: 6  While serving as first lady, Washington became close to Polly Lear, the wife of her husband's secretary Tobias Lear.[5]: 8  In July 1790, artist John Trumbull gave Washington a full-length portrait painting of her husband as a gift. It was displayed in their home at Mount Vernon in the New Room.[31] In 1796, Washington's slave and personal maid Oney Judge escaped and fled to New Hampshire. Despite Washington's insistence, her husband did not attempt to pursue Judge.[10]

Washington was not exempt to the political attacks often levied by opposition-owned newspapers. While her social role was celebrated by her husband's supporters, the anti-Federalists criticized her as emulating royalty and encouraging aristocracy.[14] When Washington learned that her husband may take on a second term as president, she uncharacteristically protested against the decision. Despite her opposition, he was reelected in 1793, and she remained first lady until 1797.[5]: 8 

Later life and death

The Washingtons retired again to Mount Vernon after leaving the presidency, this time accompanied by two French boys that they had adopted for the duration of the French Revolution. In their retirement, they saw to several renovations for their home, which had been overlooked during their time at the capital. Washington feared that her husband would again be called away to lead a provisional army against France, but no such conflict took place. Her husband died on December 14, 1799. As a widow, Washington spent her final years living in a garret where she knitted, sewed, and responded to letters. Though she was the legal owner of her husband's property, she gave control of its business affairs to her relatives. She disliked Jeffersonian politics, and she took offense to what she felt was a lack of respect for the presidency displayed by Thomas Jefferson while he held the office. [5]: 9 

In December 1800, Washington signed a deed of manumission for her deceased husband's slaves.[32] The slaves received their freedom on January 1, 1801, a little over a year after George's death.[17][33] Washington's health, always somewhat precarious, declined after her husband's death.[34] Two and a half years after the death of her husband, Washington died on May 22, 1802, at the age of 70.[34]

Following her death, Martha Washington's body was interred in the original Washington family tomb vault at Mount Vernon.[35] In 1831, the surviving executors of George's estate removed the bodies of the Washingtons from the old vault to a similar structure within the present enclosure at Mount Vernon.[35]

Legacy

Just as her husband had set the precedent for the presidency, Washington established what would eventually become the role of first lady. She was prominent in the ceremonial aspects of the presidency, assisting her husband in his role as head of state, but she had very little public involvement in his administrative role as head of government. This would be the standard of presidential wives for the next century.[27]: 7–8 

Honors
Martha Washington 1902 issue stamp

Washington had two military ships named after her: USS Lady Washington in 1776 and USS Martha Washington during World War I.

The first U.S. postage stamp honoring an American woman honored Martha Washington, and was issued as part of the 1902 stamp series.[36] An 8-cent stamp, it was printed in violet-black ink. The second stamp issued in her honor, a 4-cent definitive stamp printed in orange-brown ink, was released in 1923.[37] The third stamp to honor Washington was issued in 1938, as part of the Presidential Issue series. A 1+1⁄2-cent stamp, it was printed in yellow-brown ink.[38]

Washington is the only woman (other than allegories of Justice, Liberty, etc.) depicted on the face of a United States Banknote. Her engraved portrait bust was used on the face of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1886 and 1891. She and her husband George are depicted together on the reverse of the $1 silver certificate of 1896. The First Spouse Program under the Presidential $1 Coin Act authorizes the United States Mint to issue 1/2 ounce $10 gold coins and bronze medal duplicates[39] to honor the first spouses of the United States. The Martha Washington coin was released on June 19, 2007, and was sold out in hours. To prevent confusion with existing coinage, pattern coins testing new metals have been produced by the U.S. mint, or a company contracted to it, with Martha Washington on the obverse.[40][41]

External video
"First Lady Martha Washington", First Ladies: Influence & Image, C-SPAN[42]

The Martha Washington College for Women was founded in Abingdon, Virginia in 1860.[43] In 1918, its administration was merged with Emory & Henry College[44] and in 1931, Martha Washington ceased to function as a separate entity, merging completely with Emory & Henry. The main original building of Martha Washington College is now known and operated as the Martha Washington Inn.[45] There was also Martha Washington Seminary, a finishing school for young women in Washington, DC,[46] that was founded in 1905[47] and ceased operations in 1949.[48]

Historian assessments

Since 1982 Siena College Research Institute has periodically conducted surveys asking historians to assess American first ladies according to a cumulative score on the independent criteria of their background, value to the country, intelligence, courage, accomplishments, integrity, leadership, being their own women, public image, and value to the president.[49] Consistently, Washington has been ranked in the upper-half of first ladies by historians in these surveys. In terms of cumulative assessment, Washington has been ranked:

  • 9th-best of 42 in 1982[50]
  • 12th-best of 37 in 1993[50]
  • 13th-best of 38 in 2003[50]
  • 9th-best of 38 in 2008[50]
  • 9th-best of 39 in 2014[51]

In the 2008 Siena Research Institute survey, Washington was ranked 3rd-highest in the criteria of public image.[50] In the 2014 survey, Washington and her husband were ranked the 2nd-highest out of 39 first couples in terms of being a "power couple".[52]

See also
  • Samuel Osgood House — First Presidential Mansion
  • Alexander Macomb House — Second Presidential Mansion
  • President's House (Philadelphia) — Third Presidential Mansion
  • Dandridge, Tennessee — the only town in the United States named after Martha Dandridge Washington

References
  1. Cary, Wilson Miles (July 1896). Tyler, Lyon G. (ed.). "The Dandridges of Virginia". The William and Mary Quarterly. Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. 5 (1): 33.
  2. Figueroa, Acton (January 1, 2003). Washington. World Almanac Library. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-8368-5162-5.
  3. "Martha Washington as a Slaveowner". George Washington's Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  4. Dunbar, Erica Armstrong (February 16, 2015). "George Washington, Slave Catcher". The New York Times. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  5. Schneider, Dorothy; Schneider, Carl J. (2010). First Ladies: A Biographical Dictionary (3rd ed.). Facts on File. pp. 1–10. ISBN 978-1-4381-0815-5.
  6. Cary, Wilson Miles (1896). "The Dandridges of Virginia". The William and Mary Quarterly. JSTOR. 5 (1): 30–39. doi:10.2307/1921234. JSTOR 1921234.(subscription required)
  7. Wiencek, Henry (2013). An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. Macmillan. p. 286. ISBN 9781466856592. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
  8. Bryan, Helen (2002). Martha Washington, First Lady of Liberty. Wiley. pp. 26–27. ISBN 978-0-471-15892-9. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
  9. Diller, Daniel C.; Robertson, Stephen L. (2001). The Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents: White House Biographies, 1789–2001. CQ Press. pp. 145–146. ISBN 978-1-56802-573-5.
  10. Longo, James McMurtry (2011). From Classroom to White House: The Presidents and First Ladies as Students and Teachers. McFarland. pp. 8–10. ISBN 978-0-7864-8846-9.
  11. "Martha Washington & Slavery". George Washington's Mount Vernon: Digital Encyclopedia. Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. 2015. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  12. Schulte, Brigid (February 2, 2009). "Fresh Look at Martha Washington: Less First Frump, More Foxy Lady". ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  13. The Complete Book of U. S. Presidents ISBN 0-517-18353-6
  14. Beasley, Maurine H. (2005). First Ladies and the Press: The Unfinished Partnership of the Media Age. Northwestern University Press. pp. 27–29. ISBN 9780810123120.
  15. Doherty, Michael J. (August 1, 2004). "The sudden death of Patsy Custis, or George Washington on sudden unexplained death in epilepsy". Epilepsy & Behavior. 5 (4): 598–600. doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2004.03.010. PMID 15256201. S2CID 21485281 – via ScienceDirect.
  16. Yates, Bernice-Marie (2003). The Perfect Gentleman: The Life and Letters of George Washington Custis Lee. Fairfax, Virginia: Xulon Press. pp. 34–39. ISBN 1-59160-451-6. OCLC 54805966. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  17. "George Washington and Slavery". George Washington's Mount Vernon: Digital Encyclopedia. Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. 2015. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  18. Chernow, Ron (2010). "Chapter Forty-One "The Ruins of the Past"". Washington, A Life. Penguin Books. p. 507. Washington offered to pay for the education of ... George Washington Greene. It was yet another example of Washington's extraordinary generosity in caring for the offspring of friends and family
  19. Loane, Nancy K. Following the Drum: Women at the Valley Forge Encampment. Potomac Books, Inco., Washington, D.C., 2009. ISBN 978-1-59797-385-4.
  20. Thompson, Mary. "Martha Washington". www.mountvernon.org. Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
  21. "Lafayette to Adrienne de Noailles de Lafayette, January 6, 1778," in Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution, ed. Stanley J. Idzerda (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1977), 1: 225.
  22. "Nathanael Greene to Gen. Alexander McDougall, February 5, 1778", in The Papers of General Nathanael Greene, ed. Richard K. Showman (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980), 2:276.
  23. "Martha Washington." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Vol. 32. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Biography in Context. Web. October 15, 2015.
  24. Elizabeth Sandwith Drinker, The Diary of Elizabeth Drinker, ed. Elaine Foreman Crane (Boston: Northeastern University press, 1991), p. 297
  25. "Autobiographical Letters of Peter S. DuPonceau," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography XL (1916): 181.
  26. "The First First Lady". mountvernon.org. Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  27. Caroli, Betty (2010). First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 3–8. ISBN 978-0-19-539285-2.
  28. Griswold, Rufus W. (1854). The Republican court : or, American society in the days of Washington. B. Appleton & Co. pp. 163. and from this time the drawing-rooms of the presidential residence were opened from eight till ten o'clock every Friday evening for visits to Mrs. Washington
  29. David S. Shields and Fredrika J. Teute. "The Republican Court and the Historiography of a Women's Domain in the Public Sphere." Journal of the Early Republic 35#2 (2015): 169–183. online summary abstract(subscription required)
  30. Firkus, Angela (2021). America's Early Women Celebrities: The Famous and Scorned from Martha Washington to Silent Film Star Mary Fuller. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishers. pp. 18–22. ISBN 978-1-4766-4184-3. OCLC 1239322450.
  31. "Painting by Washington's Aide de Camp Now on View at Mount Vernon". Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. December 9, 2014.
  32. Notes of the Publisher: Dower Negroes. Authenticated Copy of the Last Will and Testament of George Washington of Mount Vernon, Embracing a Schedule of his Real Estate and Notes Thereto by the Testator. To Which is Added Historical Notes and Biographical Sketches, by the Publisher. Washington, D.C.: A.J. Jackson. 1868. p. 9. At Google Books.
  33. Chadwick, Bruce (2007). General and Mrs. Washington: The Untold Story of a Marriage and a Revolution. Sourcebooks, Inc. pp. 331. ISBN 9781402274954. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
  34. "The Twilight Years: The Deaths of George and Martha Washington". Martha's biography. Martha Washington – A Life. Archived from the original on September 8, 2015. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  35. "The Tomb". George Washington's Mount Vernon: Digital Encyclopedia. Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. 2015. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  36. Brody, Roger S. (May 16, 2006). "8-cent Martha Washington". Arago: People, Postage and the Post. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  37. Juell, Rod (May 16, 2006). "4-cent Martha Washington". Arago: People, Postage and the Post. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  38. Shapiro, Jeff (May 16, 2006). "1 1/2-cent Martha Washington". Arago: People, Postage and the Post. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  39. U.S. Mint: First Spouse Program. Accessed June 27, 2008. "The United States Mint also produces and make available to the public bronze medal duplicates of the First Spouse Gold Coins."
  40. Martha Washington 1965 pattern coin
  41. Martha Washington Test Pieces
  42. "First Lady Martha Washington". C-SPAN. February 25, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
  43. Tennis, Joe (2004). Southwest Virginia Crossroads: An Almanac of Place Names and Places to See. The Overmountain Press. p. 76. ISBN 9781570722561. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  44. "A Brief History of Emory & Henry College". Emory & Henry College. Archived from the original on May 17, 2012. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  45. "Martha Washington College". Waymarking.Com. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  46. "Martha Washington Seminary". The Independent. July 6, 1914. Retrieved July 28, 2012.
  47. Washington, City and Capital. United States Government Printing Office. 1937. p. 673.
  48. Cherkasky, Mara (2007). Mount Pleasant. Arcadia Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 9780738544069. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  49. "Eleanor Roosevelt Retains Top Spot as America's Best First Lady Michelle Obama Enters Study as 5th, Hillary Clinton Drops to 6th Clinton Seen First Lady Most as Presidential Material; Laura Bush, Pat Nixon, Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman Could Have Done More in Office Eleanor & FDR Top Power Couple; Mary Drags Lincolns Down in the Ratings" (PDF). scri.siena.edu. Siena Research Institute. February 15, 2014. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
  50. "Ranking America's First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt Still #1 Abigail Adams Regains 2nd Place Hillary moves from 5 th to 4 th; Jackie Kennedy from 4th to 3rd Mary Todd Lincoln Remains in 36th" (PDF). Siena Research Institute. December 18, 2008. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
  51. "Siena College Research Institute/C-SPAN Study of the First Ladies of the United States 2014 FirstLadies2014_Full Rankings.xls" (PDF). scri.siena.edu. Sienna College Research Institute/C-SPAN. 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
  52. "2014 Power Couple Score" (PDF). scri.siena.edu/. Siena Research Institute/C-SPAN Study of the First Ladies of the United States. Retrieved October 9, 2022.

Further reading
  • Fraser, Flora (2015). The Washingtons: George and Martha. "Join'd by Friendship, Crown'd by Love". New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-27278-2.
  • Schwartz, Marie Jenkins (2017). Ties That Bound: Founding First Ladies and Slaves. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-14755-0.
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