Martha Parke Custis was born on 31 December 1777 in the Blue Room at Mount Vernon. She was the second-eldest surviving daughter of John Parke Custis, son of Martha Washington and her first husband Daniel Parke Custis, and his wife Eleanor Calvert, daughter of Benedict Swingate Calvert and his wife Elizabeth Calvert. Martha was named for her father"s late sister, Martha "Patsy" Parke Custis (1756–1773).
Her siblings included Elizabeth Parke Custis Law (1776–1831), Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis (1779–1854), and George Washington Parke Custis (1781–1857). She was known to her family as "Patsy." At first the family alternated between living at the Washingtons" plantation, Mount Vernon in Virginia, and the Calverts" plantation, Mount Airy in Maryland. In 1778, John Parke Custis purchased Abingdon, a 900-acre (36 km2) plantation on the west bank of the Potomac River (now the site of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport).
Abingdon was conveniently located equidistant between Mount Vernon and Mount Airy.
Her step-grandfather bequeathed her $8,000, 1/32 of his estate. Martha Washington died in 1802, and Thomas Peter served as executor of her estate.
She later inherited about 40 additional slaves following the 1811 death of her mother (from father John Parke Custis"s estate). Her $8,000 inheritance from George Washington was used to purchase property in Washington, District of Columbia in 1805.
The property, comprising one city block on the crest of Georgetown Heights, had an excellent view of the Potomac River.
The couple commissioned Doctor William Thornton, architect of the United States Capitol, to design their mansion which they named Martha Parke Custis Peter died on 13 July 1854.
