Martha Dandridge Custis Washington 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 is considered to be the first First Lady of the United States. During her lifetime she was often referred to as "Lady Washington".
Background
Born Martha Dandridge on June 2, 1731, on a plantation near Williamsburg, she was the oldest daughter of wealthy planters John and Frances Dandridge. She had a modest amount of schooling - typical for an eighteenth-century girl. Martha enjoyed riding horses and embroidering while growing up and learning how to manage a household.
When she was eighteen, she married Daniel Park Custis, a wealthy planter, and moved into his mansion, which he called the White House.
Education
Home informal education; trained at home in music, sewing, household management. Later knowledge of plantation management, crop sales, homeopathic medicine, animal husbandry suggests a wider education than previously thought. Probably taught by indentured Dandridge family servant Thomas Leonard, and regularly tutored for about five years until the age of 12 or 13 at Poplar Grove Plantation, the home of a friend of the Chamberlayne family.
Career
At the President's House in temporary capitals, New York and Philadelphia, the Washingtons chose to entertain in formal style, deliberately emphasizing the new republic's wish to be accepted as the equal of the established governments of Europe. Still, Martha's warm hospitality made her guests feel welcome and put strangers at ease. She took little satisfaction in " formal compliments and empty ceremonies" and declared that "I am fond of only what comes from the heart." Abigail Adams, who sat at her right during parties and receptions, praised her as "one of those unassuming characters which create Love and Esteem."
As conflicts between political factions began to grow during Washington’s presidency, Martha turned cool toward those who were critical of her husband’s policies, including Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Nevertheless, there was never a loss of dignity in the social circles that surrounded the president.
Whenever political topics were being discussed, she worked to change the subject to other things, separating business and pleasure. She held her own weekly Friday receptions that Washington would occasionally attend.
Personality
Martha Washington was a gracious and unassuming woman who enjoyed private life. For the first fifteen years of her marriage to George Washington, the couple lived quietly on his Virginia estate, Mount Vernon, as Washington settled into life as a planter. They often traveled to Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia at the time. She owned a home there, and her husband was a member of Virginia’s House of Burgesses, which met there.
The Washingtons were both in their early forties when their calm lives suddenly changed. George Washington would spend more than seven years commanding American forces in the Revolutionary War, and after settling back into life in Virginia, the Washingtons spent eight years in New York and Philadelphia when he served as president of the United States. Even after he left office, at the age of sixty-five, Washington was asked to hold himself in readiness to command American forces if a threatened war broke out with France.
Martha Washington preferred a quiet life, but she adapted to changing circumstances. She acted with the same tactfulness and cheerful spirit wherever the couple’s adventures led.