Martha Washington

Martha Washington 

1st Lady of the United States

There are many images of Martha Washington in her later years, we often forget that she was a gorgeous gem when she married George. When George met Martha she was a widow from her prior husband Daniel Parke Custis, a wealthy planter, who was twenty years older when she was just only eighteen. Daniel and Martha had four children, sadly two died very young. Martha's husband Daniel left her to be a widow in 1757. Martha was left with the estate (a very big one). During two years later she was being courted by not only George, but also by a wealthy planter Charles Carter.

George won her heart and they married January 6, 1759. They were 27 in age. Documents report that they were very much in love. Sadly, Martha lost her teenage daughter who died during an epileptic seizure leaving George and Martha was left with one son who was named John, who died during military service in 1781 probably of typhus. George and Martha raised his two children, Eleanor and George. 

Nancy Loane, author of Following the Drum: Women at the Valley Forge Encampment, wrote that Martha was a spiffy dresser, assertive, and definitely a woman of independent means and she was a woman who followed her man. Followed she did. Martha joined her husband George who was leading the fight for freedom in the Revolutionary War. She traveled thousands of miles to be with him, supporting his cause. 

Martha died when she was 70 in 1802. She has been honored in many ways. One honor was that her image was the first image of a woman on the US postage stamp.