Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

LOCATION:

The Williamsburg property known under the names of "Custis Square", "Col. Custis's", or the "Six Chimney Lots" belonged to John Custis (designated as IV) from sometime ca 1713/14 to 1749. It was first called "Custis Square" (or that is the first source reference found) in 1718 (to follow chronologically in the report). Because the court records of James City county were largely destroyed by fire in 1865, an unbroken title to the property-which lay in the James City part of Williamsburg-is not possible unless source manuscripts come to light in the future. The lots are bounded by Francis, Nassau, Ireland and King Streets. See: plat, opposite page.

HISTORY:

JOHN CUSTIS [IV]¹ was the son of John Custis of "Wilsonia" on the eastern shore of Virginia. His grandfather was John Custis of "Arlington" on the eastern shore. John Custis [IV] married Frances Parke in 1705. She was a daughter of Colonel Daniel Parke² of Queen's Creek plantation, York county, and Jane Ludwell Parke formerly of "Green Spring" near Jamestown.

In 1702 Parke who was a wealthy and prominent Virginian, wrote to his daughter, Frances, from England: "If any young Man courts you, that you JOHN CUSTIS OF WILLIAMSBURG
copy from negative, C. W. I., from original portrait 2 think you can love, I will give as good a Fortune as he can have."¹ John Custis who was courting Frances Parke, produced £8000 Sterling as his worth and Parke gave his daughter £4000 Sterling.² So, in 1705 the marriage started off with two wealthy, prominent families being united, ample means and many acres of land in James City, York and New Kent counties.³ The first few years of their married life, they resided on the eastern shore of Virginia at "Arlington."

In 1709 while on a visit to Ludwell at "Green Spring", James City county, Custis engaged in two races and a cricket game with William Byrd who had married the sister of his wife:

Upon the death of Daniel Parke in 1710 while serving as governor of the Leeward Islands, John Custis and his wife, and William Byrd II and his wife inherited the greater part of Parke's Virginia estates. The Queen's Creek plantation near Williamsburg had become the home of Custis and his wife prior to Parke's death according to William Byrd:

Another source which seems to establish Custis as living at Queen's Creek plantation in 1709-1710 are two letters which Governor Parke in Antigua wrote to William Byrd, his son-in-law in Virginia. These letters are quoted as in the suit: "Dunbar vs Custis" (twenty years later). Dates given for the letters were: June 12 and August 17, 1709:

[1824]

"The old Raleigh Tavern, with the bust of that great man elevated on its front, as a sign of its vocation, alternately the scene of the greatest legislative consultations and of collegiate frolics, could not be viewed without emotion; much less could the house (built in 1714, as appears from the inscription on it,) where General Washington received the hand of his bride. It is now almost of in ruins." source: Ward, Robert D., An Account of General La Fayette's Visit to Virginia. Richmond, 1881, p. 15. Quoted in file, "Williamsburg-Descriptions and Travel," Research Dept/. CWI.

...wherein the Governor mentions his being well pleased with him [Byrd] and his said Wife, and would send a Letter of Attorney for him, Colonel Ludwell, or his Son Custis to act for him; and if his Son Custis would live at his House, it was at his Service; and enquired what Colonel Jennings asked for his Plantation; and that he would buy it for him. [Byrd]... and in a subsequent Letter acquaints him, he had sent the Letter of Attorney to him, His Brother Ludwell, and Major Custis, for them Three to take Care of his Estate, and adds, I have given Orders, if Mr Custis thinks fit, that he lives at, and has the Management of, my Estate; and for his Encouragement, he shall have One-fifth Part of the clear Profit to be taken in England...
The said John Custis, on such Invitation, removed from his own Estate, to the Governor's (his said Father-in-Law's) Estate in Virginia; and, when he had been in Possession of it some Time, heard of the barbarous Murder of the Governor, by the People of Antigua... ¹

A third source which seems to establish Custis as living at Queen's Creek was a letter from William Byrd dated February 4, 1711 in which he addresses it to "John Custis on Queen's Creek."²

In June, 1714 because of some differences and quarrels between John Custis and his wife, Frances, a marriage agreement was drawn up to the end that all animosities and unkindness should cease and a more perfect love be sustained.³ The marriage had been a stormy one. Whether this agreement helped is not known for on March 14, 1715 Frances Custis died.⁴

Following the death of Mrs. Custis it is believed that John Custis moved from Queen's Creek into Williamsburg, and there erected a house in the square on Francis street later known as "Custis Square".⁵ 5 (Custis owned other lots in the city which he rented: in 1714 he acquired three lots, 353-355, on Duke of Gloucester Street.¹ In 1718/19 he bought a lot across the street from his block. The lot was known as "M".² In the deed to the three lots Custis was designated as "of the County of York" and on the one lot across from his square, he was cited as "of James City County")

The lots on which Custis built his home were designated "Custis Square" in the deed to Lot M (1718/19 above noted).

Prior to 1717 the brick house on the square had been erected, a "handsome garden" laid out and some progress had been made in the plantings and furnishings:

Williamsburg 1717
[Letter from John Custis to Perry, Lane and Perry, Merchants in London]
Gentlemen
...I desire you will lay out 40 sh 50 sh in good Comicall diverting prints to hang in the passage of my house; lett them bee good of the sort, or send none painting and poetry admit of no medium, some you sent in the last year were well done. (VIZ Mars & Venus, & Neptune and Amphitrite but the Medlys as you Call them were wretched stuff...I have lately got into the vein of gardening, and have made A handsome garden to my house, and desire you will lay out 5 £ for me in handsom [sic] stripd hollys and yew trees, but most hollys, gett some one to Chuse them that has judgmt in such things, choose them w^th handsom bodys and not to [sic] big; and buy them as near the Water side as you Can, land Carraige will bee apt to shake and loosen them to much; lett them bee Carefully put up in pots... ³

The above letter gives one an idea of Custis' taste as to prints for his home and the kind of trees and shrubs desired for his garden or yard.

Through a period of years John Custis corresponded with Robert Cary, merchant of London; Micajah Perry & Company, London merchants; Peter Collinson,¹ English botanist and horticulturist; and others in England concerning seeds and plants exchanged. He had written and social contacts with Mark Catesby,² botanist, who visited Williamsburg in 1712-1719; John Bartram,³ Quaker botanist of Pennsylvania, and he, no doubt, knew John Clayton,⁴ the eminent botanist of Gloucester county, Virginia.

The correspondence between Collinson and Custis has been edited by Dr. E. G. Swem in Brothers of the Spade (1949&1957). Careful reading and study of these letters will give one an insight into the seeds, plants, trees and bulbs exchanged as well as a good idea of the flowers, trees, bulbs, shrubs and vegetables grown by Custis in his pleasure garden and kitchen garden in Williamsburg.⁵

Byrd on his many trips from "Westover" to Williamsburg to attend the Council meetings or for other business, frequently stayed with Custis at his home in the city. In his Diary¹ are accounts of overnight visits or short calls:

In 1721 [month and day not given] Custis wrote —— about some flowers he had ordered from England:

...y^e flowers you sent me were entirely lost, and y^e greens not far from it...I have given Mr. Perry a power of Attorney to settle all accounts with you...³

On April 10, 1723 Custis wrote to his brother [in England] about a furnishing for his house- "a painting" he called it, but it, evidently, was a firescreen. He gives the dimensions of his chimneys:

[April 10, 1723]
Dear Bro^r
...I come now to beg a favor of you w^ch is to entreat you to get me two pieces of as good painting as you can procure it is to put in the summer before my Chimnys to hide the fire place let them bee some good flowers in potts of various kinds and what ever fancy else you think fitt; the big top of each Chimny 9 is the one 4 feet 4 inches high & : 4 feet allmost 4 inches wide the other 4 feet 5: inch wide and 4 feet 3 inch & ¾ high done on canvas this is the exact dimensions of the Chimnys; the workman will know w^t allowance to make; I should not give you this trouble but that I well know you have good judg^mt in painting and I had much rather have none than have daubing M^r Blair bought me some pieces most horrid...I send this early that the painter may have time to do them well and the colors time to dry M^r Perry will pay...¹

Reference to the location of his house in Williamsburg was given in a letter by Custis in January, 1724 to Mr. Perry:

[January 15, 1724]

...I shall go to Law with all the ease in the world the Court being in sight of my door... ²

In 1725 Custis wrote to Robert Cary, the London merchant, concerning flowers, roots and bulbs wanted:

...should bee very glad of some Layer[s] of good flowers, I know they will live if the master takes care of them because I have had them come safe... I have a pretty little garden in w^ch I take more satisfaction than in anything in this world and have a collection of tolerable good flowers and greens from England; but have had great losses in their coming in partly by the carelessness and ignorance of the master of the ships that brought them and sometimes by the ships coming in to [sic] late...any roots that are bulbous will come safe if the ships come in early... ³

In August, 1724 Custis wrote to ——:

[August 12, 1724]

This comes to inform you that on the 12 of August wee had such a violent flood of rain, and prodigious gust of wind that the like I do believe never happened since the universall deluge it has destroy^d most if not all the Tobacco in the colony...the trees in the woods 10 miserably blow up by the roots so that there was no passing in many places on horseback; houses blown down... I myself have as strong and as high a house as any in the Govem^nt stands on high ground; and I do affirm it that I was obliged to put on a pair of whole boots to work from one room to the other to secure [?] my house hold goods on the Lee side of the house... ¹

In 1726 Custis sent Robert Cary an invoice of goods which he wished sent to him. He desired locks, felling axes, yard goods, ribbon and "glass such as are put over mezitints prints to preserve them."² Quoted in full below is a letter which Custis wrote to Mark Catesby, June 1730:

[June, 1730]

Dear Sir
Yr kind and most obliging letter I have recd with your pretty present; there is nothing that you could have thought of could more highly oblige me, I will put them into frames and glasses and keep them in memory of you; and shall always esteem them as a very valuable part of my furniture, you are pleased to compliment me concerning my garden which I assure you notways deserves it, my greens are come to perfection, which is the chief fruit of my assiduous endeavors, wee have had 3 or fo[u]r very hard winters, and hot and dry summers, which demolishd all my flowers, and a great many of my best greens so that I am out of [?] of endeavoring anything but what is hardy and Virginia proof; hertyly acknowledge your kind offer; and if you will please to let me know in anything I can serve you here I shall cheerfully do myself the honor of [?] you; I have given Mrs. Holloway³ some catbirds for you; and send some young dogwoods from the old stump at the French ordinary the tree is dead therefore are cyons that sprung from the old root, I have 2 more in my garden but they are 4 or five feet high; I dought this is in ill time to move them; but our ships never going from hence in a proper sesson must be glad of any, you have much the advantage in sending all manner 11 of trees & flower roots because the ships come there in the winter, but go from hence in the summer, but we can send all manner of seeds and the like safely because they may be kept a w[h]ile; I shall allways be glad to hear of your welfare and assure it A great favor as often as you are pleasd to address me with A few lines.¹

In 1733 Cary had sent Custis some iron locks and an "Iron fender with feet which is fit for nothing."²

Catesby may have sent Custis some of his hand-tinted bird prints-the originals were printed from copper engravings.

In 1734 Collinson suggested to Custis that he plant horse chestnuts in his yard: "Rows of these Trees planted before your Houses next the street att Williamsburgh woud have a fine Effect."³

A letter of Custis's in 1734 to ——discusses his garden further:

[1734]
S^r John Randolph and Cap^t Isham Randolph acquaints me that you are desirous of the mountain Cowslip... I am very proud it is in my power to gratify any curious gentleman in this way; being my self a great admirer of things of that nature; I have a garden inferior to few if any in Virg^a- in wich and in good [?] my whole delight is placed; and have had for severall years ever greens flowers &c. [?] from england...⁴

In 1734 Custis wrote to Mr. Cary:

...I am very much pleas^d w^th the flower pieces ⁵ you sent me; but the man has not done me justice—in not sending the thirteenth print w^th the subscribers names w^ch I find he has sent to other Gentlemen, Col 12 Lee for one, I hope you will order him to sent it to me still, I believe I have got him severall Customers... ¹

In 1735 Custis mentions his dogwoods again to Collinson,² and in 1737/8 he Collinson refers to the pink dogwood in Custis's garden formerly in the garden of Jones³ in Williamsburg.⁴

Also in 1735 Custis ordered from Loyd, London, "six large strong glass bottles to hold 5 or 6 gall: each well wickered."⁵

In 1735 Sir John Randolph referred to himself as "a neighbor of Col. Custis."⁶ The same year Randolph in a codicil to his will devised to his son, Peyton, "a parcel of land I lately purchased of Colonel Custis and his son [Daniel Parke Custis] adjoining to my land at Archer's hope..."⁷ While Randolph was in England on business his neighbor, Custis, wrote him two letters telling him about going over his farm lands, conditions there, and progress being made in some building at Randolph's home.⁸

Two letters of Collinson to Custis in 1736/37 are of interest:

[1736/37 March 21 London]

[Seeds sent from Va. have come up & plants are doing well] ...Pray have you Mr. Millers ¹ Dictionary which containes a General Systeme of Gardening and the Culture of all sorts of plants. It is a Work of the Greatest use and no Lover ought to be without, all Drawn from the Latest Experience. The Author is Gardner to the Physick Garden att Chelsea and Exceeding well Qualified for the Work. It is in folio, about [?]. If you are Inclin'd to by it, pray Lett Mee gett it for you, for there is an appendix & some has it not.
There is besides the Culture of the Kitchen Garden after the Newest Methode. Indeed there is everything you can ask & think ²

Miller's Dictionary (1737 edition) was in the library of Daniel Parke Custis. As he was only heir of his father, this could have been the edition which Collinson offered to send to Custis.³

In 1737 Collinson wrote Custis that Bartram would visit him soon:

[Letter introducing Bartram to Custis] [1737 December 24 London]
Dont be surprised if a down right plain Country Man-perhaps he may be a Quaker too Into the Bargain... the Man He will bring a Credential From Mee...His conversation I dare say you'l find compensate for his appearance He is well Versed in Nature and Can give a good Account of Her Works...He is Imployed by a Sett of Noble Men (by my Recommendation) to Collect seeds & specimens of Rare plants,... Be so kind to 14 give him a Little Entertainm't & Recommend Him to a Friend or Two of yours in the Country,... Pray direct Him to the Umbrella Tree...I have a further Desire in his waeting on you, the Gardens of pensilvania are Well furnish'd with European Rarities possibly He may assist you with some plants that you Want & you may assist Them... His Name is John Bartram... ¹

In a letter to Loyd and Cooper in 1737, Custis states that the "Tarrington Rugs "[sent]" were pretty good..."²

In December 1738 Bartram arrived in Williamsburg:

[December 25, 1737/8]

...I arrived about sunset at Col. Custis who received me very kindly for thy sake. Next day I went to wait on the Governor...I stayed about an hour with him and then went to Coll. Custis's...where I stayed at night. ³

Custis had this comment about Bartram's visit:

[1739]

Yr friend Mr Jno Bartram has made me a visit...
He stayd with me 2 nights and a day... ⁴

Another letter of Bartram's to Custis refers to raising the horse chestnut

"I saw in Col. Custis garden a foot high. The gors will not live over winter..." ⁵

Almost a year later Collinson, in London, acknowledged to Custis the courtesy he had shown Bartram while in Williamsburg: 15

1739/40 January 31
...He [Bartram] was much Delighted with thy Garden which is the best Furnished & next John Claytons of any He Mett With-in all that Journey... ¹

It is of interest to know that Custis had an invoice from Lyde & Cooper, Bristol for items such as "window sashes, a cask of white lead ground in oil and flower boxes.²

In 1741 Custis in a letter to Collinson refers to his holly, yews, cedars and cassena trees suffering from the hard winter.³

"Love Apples" or tomato plants were sent by Collinson in February, 1742/43:

London Feb. 20, 1742/3 [encloses letter to Doctor Mitchell⁴ has shipped various plants and trees to America of which a list is given.]. The Love Apples are Called by the Italians Tamiata are much used by them in soups & Broths... ⁵

During the period 1739-1741 William Byrd paid calls on Custis in Williamsburg.⁶

In 1742 Custis complained over a bed he had ordered:

[A sheet from John Custis's Letter Book, Library of Congress] Oct 16th 1742. ...The bedstead I have got but the sacking bottom was so rotten, being damaged in the ship that I could pick it to pieces. I must thank you for your care DANIEL PARKE CUSTIS
(copy from Harper's Magazine,
Vol. VII, p. 438 (1853) MRS. DANIEL PARKE CUSTIS
(later, Mrs. George Washington)
copy from Old Time Belles and Cavaliers 16 in buying my cozy chair; it is allowed by every body to be the handsomest they ever saw... the medicines are sad trash especially the [illegible] which was yellowish rancid trash...I thank you for your care in buying my bed the curtains are a pretty thing and very fit for Virginia, the curtain rods were too wide and too short I had to have them altered the bedstead was made by a young workman the Mortisses were an inch wider than the tenons which made a fine hole for our chinches. I stuffed in flax to keep them out... ¹

It is interesting to learn from Collinson's letter to Custis of date, February 6, 1742/43 that he gave detailed directions for drying flowers:

London Feby: 1742/43
...
Captain West was Extreamely Obligeing in sending mee the box of seeds. I am much Delighted to heare you have your amaranthoides It is a Real & I may say perpetual Beauty. If the flowers are gather'd in perfection and hung up with their Heads Downwards in a Dry shady Room, they will keep thear Colours for years and will make a pleasant Ornament to Adorn the Windows of your parlor or study all the Winter. I Dry great Quantities for that purpose and putt them in flower potts & China basons & they make a fine show all the Winter... ²

Doubtless Custis took Collinson's suggestion and fried flowers from his garden for use in the house in winter.

In January and April 1743/44 Collinson sent Custis boxes of sundry seeds "for your Kitchen Garden."³

Governor Gooch in December, 1744, by enclosure to the Lords of Trade, listed "the present members of his Majesty's Council in 17 Virginia, with the distances they live from Williamsburg, to which Place they never come but when sent for; the General Courts of Oyer and Terminer excepted... M^r Custis, in Town...¹

Collinson's correspondence with Custis stopped in 1745/46. Further details of the many items can be seen in Brothers of the Spade.

In 1745 Benjamin Hanson, butcher and grazier, advertised in the Virginia Gazette that he was "living next door to Col. Custis's in Williamsburg:

ANY Person, having good Grass Mutton or Beef to dispose of, or, say that they have a Mind to stall, may meet with a very good Market for the same, by applying, in Time, to Benjamin Hanson, Butcher and Grazier, living next door to Col. Custis's in Williamsburg.²

Burwell's cattle [long list] were turned over to Hanson. He received £12 for them. Hanson was around Williamsburg as late as 1764 when he was paid £30.16.10 by Carter Burwell.³ As Hanson was a grazier, his location as "next Door to Col. Custis's" may have been to the west of Custis Square on the lots on which the Lunatic Hospital was built in 1773.⁴ He could not have lived east of Custis, for at that date the Courthouse was standing.⁵

The exact date of the death of John Custis [IV] is not known. His will dated November 14, 1749 was proved at a court held in James City county on April 9, 1750. (However, no record of the will is in the 18 court records as most were destroyed by fire in 1865) There is a copy of the will in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, England, which was proved there on November 19, 1753. Dr. Swem in Brothers of the Spade, p. 16 comments on the will thus:

The will is of unusual importance on account of its bearing upon the career of George Washington, into whose hands fell the settlement of the intestate estates of John's son, Daniel Parke Custis, and grandchildren, John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis. After bequests of £200 to Thomas Lee, £100 to John Blair, £20 annually to Mrs. Anne Moody,¹ a house and lot to John Cavendish,² and the manumission and provision for support of a negroe boy, Jack, who died in 1753, he left the whole of his estate to his son Daniel Parke Custis, and made him the sole executor. He referred specifically to Smith's Island and Motton (Mockhorn) Island as being firmly entailed to him. He directed that he was to be buried at Arlington in Northampton County, and on the tombstone to be erected an inscription was to be placed, which has made him highly conspicuous in the annals of Virginia. This inscription bears the statement that he was "aged 71 years, and yet lived but seven years, which was the space of time he kept a bachelor's house on the Eastern Shore of Virginia." ³

Daniel Parke Custis⁴ became full owner of the Williamsburg property, 19 Queen's Creek plantation and all other lands in New Kent and York counties owned by his father.¹ He inherited as sole heir the library of his father. (Further discussion of the library of Daniel Parke Custis and John Parke Custis will follow chronologically.)

Daniel Parke Custis had married in June, 1749 prior to his father decease. He was living at "White House" in New Kent county. He and his wife, Martha Dandridge Custis, doubtless made visits to Williamsburg and stayed at Custis Square. An Invoice Book (1749-1757) in his handwriting, contains copies of orders to London merchants for goods for his family's use.²

In January, 1751 Daniel Fisher, a tea merchant, (also sold small hardware such as locks, chissels and miscellaneous goods) advertised that these goods were to be sold by him "in WILLIAMSBURG, at the House wherein Mrs. Dixon³ lately lived, near Col. Custis's."⁴ It seems probable that Mrs. Dixon lived across the street from Custis on a lot marked "Dixon" on Tyler's plat of the city.⁵

When Daniel Parke Custis came to town, from "White House" it is possible that he used the two-wheeled chair body and carriage ordered from Cary and Company in London:

Feby P D C X X
Rob^t. Esq^rs & C^o [1753]
Bought of Rob: Holly
A New Neat Handsom two Wheeled Chair Body & Carriage the body Made to Carry one person the body lined w^th Blew Cloth & painted w^th a pleasant Stone Culler & heightened gold Shields Arms & Crest & Carriage painted w^th a pleasant Stone Culler the body made w^th a foot board to the forend & a knee flap w^th large Side flaps welted w^th Morocco Leather to take of [sic] & put on the Carriage made w^th a board at the forend to Carry a box & Iron Axletree & Long Strong Strait Braces & a New Neat handsom harness & Bridle Sadle Bitt & rein——£21.15.- ¹

A reference to the home of Col. Custis was given in the Virginia Gazette for September, 1755:

To be SOLD [September 12, 1755] BEFORE Mr. Finnie's Door, on the 23d Day of October next, Two Lots of Grounds, situate on the Back Street, near Col. Custis's in Williamsburg... ²

In November, 1755 Daniel Parke Custis made an agreement with Joseph Valentine³ to act as overseer of the Custis plantation at Queen's Creek and the Williamsburg property:⁴

[November 4, 1755]

Articles of Agreement made between Daniel Parke Custis of New Kent County and Joseph Valentine of the County of King William, this fourth day of November one thousand Seven hundred and fifty five- The said Joseph Valentine hath agreed to serve the said Daniel Parke Custis as an Overseer the ensuing Year, from the Date hereof, at all his Quarters in York County, to make him the best Crops 21 he can of Corn and Tobacco or any Thing else the said Custis shall think proper to be planted or sowed upon the Plantations aforesaid, the said Joseph Valentine also agrees and doth oblige himself to take all the care he can of all the said Custis' Negroes, both old and young, in Sickness & in Health, that are put under his care... The said Valentine is also to take all the care he can of the said Custis's Mill...¹ and to enter every Weeks gain of the said Mill in a Book kept for that purpose... The said Valentine is also obliged to go as often as his Business will permit him, to the said Custis's House in Williamsburg, and to have as strict an Eye on his Family there as he can,... ²

Custis's order to Valentine "to have as strict an Eye on his Family there [Williamsburg] as he can "is interpreted to mean the servants and slaves at Custis Square.

John Wollaston, artist, painted a portrait of Daniel Parke Custis. It now hangs at Washington and Lee University. Also, at Washington and Lee is the portrait of John Parke and Martha Custis as children. These were painted by Wollaston. After the death of Daniel Parke Custis, his widow paid "John Wollaston for 3 Pictures——£60.4."³

On July 8, 1757 Daniel Parke Custis died in New Kent county. His widow, Martha, and two children, John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis, survived. He left no will. An order for a tombstone was written into his Invoice Book (not in his handwriting). It reads thus:

One handsome tombstone of the best durable marble to cost about £100 with the following inscription and the arms sent in a piece of paper on it to wit: Here [lies or rests] the body of Daniel Parke Custis, Esquire, who was born the 15th day of October, 1711 and 22 departed this life the 8th day of July, 1757. Aged 45 years. ¹

Dr. E. G. Swem believes that Custis was buried at Queen's Creek plantation as his mother and two of his children were interred there—one child about a month prior to his decease.² A manuscript in the Custis Papers: "The Estate of Daniel Parke Custis Esq^r D^r To M^rs Martha Custis for Sundrys paid on Acc^t of the Estate, via FUNERAL EXPENCES...; To Joseph Valentine for Sundries paid by him on Acc^t of y^e Estate allowd by M^rs Custis on passing his acc^t Viz MOURNING... SUNDRIES... Brickwork ab^t the Graveyard and Monument £16.4- at y^r Quarter 9.13——£25.17.-"³ This would seem conclusive evidence that Custis was buried at Queen's Creek which was looked upon as a Quarter after John Custis made his home in Williamsburg and Daniel Parke Custis's home was at "White House," New Kent county. (No evidence has come to light to indicate that Daniel Parke Custis ever lived at Queen's Creek after his father removed to Williamsburg ca 1714.)

Total appraisement of the estate of Daniel Parke Custis was £23.632.⁴

In 1757 Mrs. Custis paid the debts of her husband. Custis owed Dr. McKenzie, Dr. Amson, Barth. Dandridge, John Richmond (tailor), Andrew Marr, James Danforth (blacksmith), Joseph Valentine (overseer), Joseph Pond (brick mason), Thomas Frame (shoemaker), Mrs Carlos (milliner), John 23 Carter (merchant), John Wheatley (carpenter)—all lived in Williamsburg or nearby.¹

A list of rents owed to the estate of Custis in 1757 indicates that Michael McCarty, Peter Scott (cabinetmaker), [John] Warrington (tailor), Thomas Weathers, and John Wheatley (carpenter) were living in Williamsburg upon lots of Custis.²

In "An Account of sundrys taken and used by M^rs Custis out of the Inventories" under "James City...a set fruit peices 5/ a set of flower peices5/ ——;10."³ These, doubtless, were sets of Ferber and Catesby prints, which we know were owned by John Custis.

There is an account of sales of the personal property of Daniel Parke Custis in Williamsburg: "An Account of the Sail of the Estate of Col^o Custis in W^msburg October 25 [1757]."⁴ It amounted to £58.7.7-was drawn off and managed by Joseph Valentine, overseer. Practically all the buyers were Williamsburg people. This list is interpreted to be personal property sold at the Custis house in the city.

Another account of sales is listed under counties and states. They were of Sundrys taken and used by Mrs. Custis out of the inventories."⁵

In July, 1758 "Mrs Custis's Mill Pond" is designated as a boundary on the south of the lands of John Randolph.⁶

On January 6, 1759 Mrs. Martha Custis, widow, married Colonel George Washington. He became the guardian of her children, manager of their properties and 1/3 owner of all the Custis estates. (Upon marriage a woman's husband immediately inherited all of her property.)

In June, 1759 Washington wrote to Capel and Osgood Hanbury, merchants, London, stating that he had married Mrs. Martha Custis and desired them to "address all your Letters which relate to the Affairs of the Deceas'd to Col. Custis to me as by Marriage I am entitled to a third part of that Estate, and invested with the care of the other two thirds by a Decree of our Genl. Court which obtain'd in order to strengthen the power I before had in Consequence of my Wifes Administration."¹

In November, 1759 Washington in Williamsburg paid "James Wilson [for] paintg my Chariot——£ 9.-.-"²

It is thought that a catalogue of the library of Daniel Parke Custis was made shortly after his death. There were ca 332 titles in the collection and ca 460 volumes. Some books were from his father's library and a good many appear later in the library of his son, John Parke Custis. A few were in Washington's library.³

In April, 1760 Washington while in Williamsburg visited all of his properties in and around the city: 24

1760 April 26

...I visited all the Estates and my own Quarters about Williamsburg found these also in pretty good forwardness...
April 27
...Went to Church...¹
April 28
Let my House to Col Moore for B. Dandridge² who is to come into it in the Fall, and pay me 45 £ p^r Annum- In the mean while I am to paint it. ³

On November 5, 1760 Washington wrote to Robert Cary & Company, London merchants,

Williamsburg, Nov. 5, 1760
...
My Friend and Acquaintance Mr. Bartholomew Dandridge having purchased an Entailed Estate in Lands of one Charles Lewis procured an Act of General Assembly for Docking the said Entail but, till such time as the Royal assent is obtained he cannot enter into quiet possession of the Freehold. ⁴

The above reference to Dandridge's prospects about land may be the reason he rented the property in Williamsburg. Apparently, he was not a renter very long. From the autumn of 1760 to 1762 possibly.

By October, 1762 William Byrd III⁵ was renting the Custis property from Washington. Byrd paid rent in October, 1763; October, 1764 and October 1765. In 1765 certain repairs and alterations to the house at Byrd's request were made by Washington: 25

A check into Washington accounts disclosed no item which would indicate the name of the carpenter who made the repairs and alterations to the house.

In 1766 Washington was paid £40 by Colonel Byrd:

This amount was, doubtless, for rent of the house.³

In August, 1769 Joseph Valentine, manager of the Custis property in and around Williamsburg for Washington, advertised in the Virginia Gazette, that the house and lots were for lease:

[August, 1769]

THE HOUSE and LOTS in Williamsburg belonging to Col. George Washington; a lease will be given for six or seven years, and the lots put in good order. For terms apply to 26 Col. Washington, in Fairfax, or to the subscriber, near Williamsburg.
JOSEPH VALENTINE. ¹

The Reverend Michael Smith ² was the next renter of the Custis property:

WILLIAMSBURG, May 1, 1770.
THE subscriber intending to sail for ENGLAND some time in June next, has several NEGROES both field and domestic, whom he will sell cheap for cash or bills of exchange. Apply to him at the house known by the name of Col. Custis's.
MICHAEL SMITH ³

Smith lived at the Custis property for only a short period: judging from the amount of rent paid:

By November, 1770 Smith was in England.⁵

By October, 1770 Joseph Kidd was occupying the Custis property:

WILLIAMSBURG, October 4, 1770
AT the house generally known by the name of CUSTIS'S, Gentlemen may be accommodated with very good LODGING, &^c. upon reasonable terms. There is a very elegant parlour, intended to be appropriated to the use of lodgers. Those whose business will permit them to keep regular hours will be most agreeable. 27 JOSEPH KIDD.¹

[UNK] Good pasturage adjoining the house, well fenced.

Kidd had a varied career in Williamsburg. He was a House & floor cloth painter, paper hanger, lead manufacturer, upholsterer, gilder, plumber and lodging keeper. He was in partnership with Joshua Kendall.²

In June, 1771 Kidd dubbed himself as "upholsterer," "appraiser" and "auctioneer" as well as "lodging keeper:"

[June 21, 1771]

To be SOLD, on the 8th of July, by J. KIDD, Upholsterer, Appraiser, and Auctioneer, at his House known by the Name of Custis's in Williamsburg, SUNDRY HOUSEHOLD and KITCHEN FURNITURE, the Property of a Gentleman who has left off Housekeeping. Credit will be allowed until December for all Sums above twenty Shillings, the Purchasers giving Bond, with approved Security.

[UNK] At the same Place Gentlemen may be accommodated with good LODGINGS, exactly suitable to those who make Choice of Retirement after the Fatigues of Business. I have an excellent CLOVER PASTURE adjoining my House, well secured. Gentlemen may depend on being charged at the most reasonable Rates.³

Kidd, evidently, remained at Custis's from ca October 1770 to January, 1772:

WILLIAMSBURG, January 23, 1772. THE Gentlemen who formerly favoured me with their Company, as Lodgers, are hereby notified of my Removal to the House lately occupied by Mr. George Davenport, below the Capitol, where they may depend on the best Treatment from Their very Humble Servant
JOSEPH KIDD. ⁴

A shipment of nails &c. arrived from England in 1773 for John Parke Custis:

Invoice London 1772 Goods shipd on Acc^t of M^r John Parke Custis & Consigned to M^r Joseph Valentine—York River- J. P. C. The Crowley

20 M 6d Nails	[£] 3. 1.8
10 M 8d Ditto	1.19.2
20 M 10d Nails	4.15.0
10 M 20d Nails	3. 2.-
[weed hoes spades &c.]
	£34. 0.101

Whether these nails were used for repairs or building at the Custis Square house or not is not known. It is possible that some were.

A reference to the Custis house being called "Brick House" follows:

Williamsburgh Jany 1, 1773.
[James Hill, overseer of Custis properties, to George Washington] ...am now much plaged with the [illegible] in Brick House Lotts in Town as I am Doubtfull they want them [?] out of the Rent I have for some time been Uneasy & by makeing a bad Collection & my Endeavorement to get the Business forwarded so as to send them places as Quick as Possible... ²

On April 29, 1773 Peter Hardy,³ coachmaker, advertised that he had opened shop "in the BRICK HOUSE commonly called CUSTIS'S near the HOSPITAL, Williamsburg:"

PETER HARDY
BEGS leave to inform the public that he has opened shop in the BRICK HOUSE commonly called CUSTIS'S, near the HOSPITAL, Williamsburg, where he proposes to repair COACHES, DANDEAUS, CHARIOTS, and all other sorts of CARRIAGES, in the neatest manner; also Painting, Gilding, Japaning, and Carving, done with the greatest elegance. Said HARDY makes and sells all kinds of ELECTRICAL MACHINES, which are allowed by most of the Faculty to be very efficacious in relieving persons afflicted with the rheumatism, or any other pains whatsoever. 29 Those who may apply for the above mentioned machine shall be directed in what manner it is to be used. He humbly hopes that those Gentlemen who are pleased to employ him will pay cash for the repairs on the delivery of the same, as he is determined to work on the most reasonable terms, and will be truly thankful to all those who will entrust him with their commands, let them be ever so trifling; to merit which, the public may rely, shall be his constant care and study. ¹

In August, 1773 Hardy advertised again that he was open for business "at the Brick House belonging to Colonel Custis's Estate, near the Mad House":

WILLIAMSBURG, August 17, 1773.

PETER HARDY, Coach and Chair Maker.
BEGS Leave to inform the Publick he has opened Shop at the Brick House belonging to Colonel Custis's Estate, near the Mad House, where he intends to carry on his Business in its various Branches, in the most elegant and best finished Taste, particular Care being had to the Goodness of the Work as well as the ornamental Part, ^viz. Carving, Guilding, Painting, and Japanning, all which different Branches he flatters himself to be well acquainted with, having endeavoured to obtain them by a long Course of Practice these several Years in Europe, and has the Pleasure to say he has given Satisfaction to all Gentlemen who have been pleased to honour him with their Custom in this Country. Also ELECTRICAL MACHINES of all Sorts, with Directions how to use them.

Having lately provided himself with an extraordinary good Workman in the BRASS FOUNDRY Business (whose Knowledge in that Art he would venture to affirm is equal to any in America, if not superiour) the Publick may be supplied with all Kinds of BRASS WORK upon the most reasonable Terms. For the better Execution of the various Branches of Business he is engaged in, he hopes Gentlemen will pay the Cash on Delivery of their Work, which will be gratefully acknowledged. Let Orders be ever so small, the greatest Attention will be paid to them.

N. B. Two or three Journeymen, well acquainted with the COACH and CHAIR Business, will meet with good Encouragement, on proper Application; and he would take two reputable Lads, as Apprentices.

30

* * * The best Price given for OLD BRASS delivered in Williamsburg.
...

¹

Hardy continued to advertise "at the house where Colonel Custis formerly lived, near the madhouse, in Williamsburg":

WILLIAMSBURG, April 13, 1774.

PETER HARDY thanks the public for their kind encouragement since his establishment in this city, and begs leave to inform them, once more, that he still continues the coach and chaise making business, at the house where Colonel Custis formerly lived, near the madhouse, in Williamsburg, as usual, with all its ornamental branches, particularly carving and gilding, painting, &c. in the neatest and best finished manner; also all kinds of brass work made and repaired in the best manner, having got fixed in a more convenient way, and he hopes to be more punctual in that branch, and likewise more reasonable in the making and mending such work as comes within the limits of what he undertakes.— Said Hardy wants a good workman in the chairmaking business, to whom he will give 4£ 10s. for every chair body he shall make; also a carriage maker, to whom he will give 1£ 2s. for every chair carriage; likewise a good wheel wright, to whom he will give 1 £.5s. for every pair of wheels.— He cannot help taking notice, that some have charged him with being high in his prices, which probably may be occasioned by his working with good materials However, the public may rely on what he is going to advance, that for the future a certain reasonableness in his prices, a due punctuality in the dispatch of his work, and an unfeigned readiness to serve those who shall be kind enough to give him their custom, shall be strictly adhered to.—Said Hardy has a good PASTURACE to let. ²

The phrase, "where Colonel Custis formerly lived" indicates that Col. Daniel Parke Custis had occupied the Custis property at some time.

In the autumn of 1774 Hardy announced in the Virginia Gazette that he moved to Botetourt Town, Gloucester county.¹

DR. JAMES McCLURG
(copy from Kidd's Early Freemasonry in Williamsburg, Virginia.)

M-1073-5
CUSTIS
(George Boll Lee Papers, V.H.S restricted)
John Parke Custis to George Washington May 11, 1778
"M^t Vernon May 11^th 1778
Sir
...
I have long thought seriously of selling my Lands in New Kent where Trowers lives, in Hanover, my Lots in Williamsburg & James Town. I do not I am certain make any thing by keeping these Lands & Lots. the Land is so very mean that but little Profit can be gained by working them; and as Williamsburg is declining fast, and the Houses on My Lots are in a wretched Situation; and are not fit to live in, and it will never be worth my while either to build or repair. My Lots in James Town are useless to me at present and I believe will lessen rather than increase in Value. Under these Circumstances I think it will be most to my Advantage to sell and put the Money into the Funds..." WILLIAMSBURG LOTS
MS '65
31a

Whether there were other renters after Hardy left until John Parke Custis advertised it for sale, is not known,

On October 10, 1778 Washington wrote to John Parke Custis giving his consent to the sale of Custis's property in York county and the lots in Williamsburg and Jamestown:

Fredg. in the State of N. York,
October 10, 1778.

Dear Sir: I have now, at your request, given my full consent to the Sale of the Lands which I hold in right of Dower in a Tract in the County of York, to a Water Grist Mill thereon; To Lotts in the City of Williamsburg, and others in James Town... no one can gainsay the justice of them, it follows that by parting from your Lands you give a certainty for an uncertainty; because, it is not the nominal Price. It is not ten, fifteen, or twenty pounds an Acre, but the relative value of this Sum to Specie, of something of substantial worth that is to constitute a good price...
I have only one piece of advice more to give, and that is to aim rather at the Exchange, than Sale of your Lands; and I think among those Gentn. mentioned in a former Letter, you may find chapmen...²

On November 27, 1778 there appeared a notice by John Parke Custis which advertised the Williamsburg property for sale: To be SOLD for ready money, by public auction, on the premises, on Monday the14^th of December, MY HOUSE and LOTS situated on the back street, and one of the most retired and agreeable situations in Williamsburg. The house is in tolerable good repair, having two good rooms and a passage on the lower flower. The offices are a kitchen and a large stable, with a meathouse, &c. There are about Kitchen Known as "MARTHA WASHINGTON'S KITCHEN" (copy from negative, C. W. I.) 32 four acres enclosed in one lot, and will be sold with the house.
JOHN PARKE CUSTIS.¹

The description of the Williamsburg house is rather vague. One would think that the Custis house was larger than this description. Excavations at the site will determine the size of the original house, probably.²

The above quoted notice by Custis, apparently; is the only one extant. It is believed-though no legal evidence has been found- that the Custis property was bought ca January, 1779 by Dr. James McClurg.³ McClurg after attending William and Mary College from 1761-1763, went to University of Edinburgh until his graduation in 1770. It looks as though he came back to Williamsburg as a practicing physician; it is not too improbable to wonder if he rented the Custis property ca 1774 when it became vacant. Certainly, he was living in the city by 1774 for his name appears among many other Williamsburg people, subscribers to the proposed company of Philip Mazzei's to make wines and oils.⁴ He was active in the Masonic meetings in Williamsburg from August 1773-1793.⁵ 33 In July, 1775 he accompanied Jefferson, a friend from college days, to Philadelphia to the Second Continental Congress. The Virginia Gazette states that Jefferson "was attended by Dr. McClurg."¹ In 1776 "a watch was lost between Mrs. Vobe's and doctor Maclurg's..."² In September, 1776 John Page in a letter to St. George Tucker, from Williamsburg, referred to McClurg's skill in medicine:

September 28, 1776 Williamsburg
...Our Friend McClurg's great Skill with the Blessing of Heaven restored her [his wife] to me, she is now in perfect Health. ³

In 1776 McClurg was recommended by Gen. Charles Lee to John Hancock, president of Congress, as "a very able man, and universally esteem'd, qualified for the Office [Director of the General Hospital].⁴ Appointment was confirmed.

In 1778 James McCaw, McClurg's brother-in-law, wrote his wife then in London:

...Your brother (Dr. James McClurg) has the care of the provisional military hospital of Virginia at Williamsburg,...and old Mrs Cooley whom you may remember at Norfolk is his chief nurse. ⁵

On May 4, 1779 St. George Tucker mentioned in a letter to his wife:"... 34 "...McClurg is gone to be married..."¹ He married Miss Elizabeth Selden of Hampton.²

In January, 1779, just prior to his marriage, Dr. McClurg had Humphrey Harwood, Williamsburg carpenter and brick mason, make certain changes and repairs for him. (This was about a month after John Parke Custis announced in the newspaper that his house and lots "on the back street" would be sold at public auction). The repair work extended into March, July and October, 1779. From the number of bricks ca 4000-, it seems that only repair work was done. From Harwood's itemized statements repairs such as "Bricking up Cellar Door," "Rubing Weater Table," "Setting up A Grate," "working in Cellar window frames," "Repairing plastering, & pinting Chimneys," "White washing 4 Rooms, & 2 Passages," "underpining Stable," "Repairing well," "underpining Dary" &c. were made for McClurg in 1779.³

From the above descriptions of work done, one gathers that the house repaired for Dr. McClurg was, possibly, a four-room house with two passages. There was a stable and a dairy. The house advertised by Custis was described as "in tolerable good repair, having two good rooms and a passage on the lower floor....stable, meathouse and kitchen."

Dr. McClurg-as many others in Williamsburg suffered ravages of the British troops. St. George Tucker in writing to his wife, on July 11, 1781 from Williamsburg, commented on McClurg's losses by British invasion: 35

July 11, 1781

...Our friend Madison and his lady...were turned out of their house to make room for Lord Cornwallis... The case was otherwise with M^r M^cClurg.. He has one small servant left, and but two girls. He feeds and saddles his own horse and is philosopher enough to enjoy the good that springs from the absence of the British without repining at what he lost by them." ¹

Custis's house and lots described in the Virginia Gazette (November 27, 1778) corresponds with the drawing made by the Frenchman in 1782 on his Map of Williamsburg. There is a square marked by dotted lines to the east of the "Maison des foux" (hospital for lunatics). In this dotted area on the Frenchman's Map is pictured a large house about center the square, a small house nearby towards the east, and two buildings to the rear of the lot. The plot covers about four acres.² The situation of the house was "most retired and agreeable" according to John Parke Custis in his notice. The only building now standing is the brick kitchen-now on the grounds of the Eastern State Hospital.³

In 1782 (the earliest date of Williamsburg Land Tax records), James McClurg is taxed as owner of "8 lots valued at £8."⁴

In June, September and December, 1783 Harwood made other repairs for Dr. McClurg. There were charges for "mending plastering up Stairs," "Whitewashing 2 Rooms & a passage," "Twining Arch & tak^g down back," "repairing Cellar wall & lay^g Kitchen harth & back," "building up the 36 brest of Chimney," &c.¹ This repair work may have been necessary from the ravages of the British in 1781.

Personal Property taxes for Williamsburg for 1783 give: "D^r James McClurg 5 slaves, 2 horses and 2 cattle." In 1784 he is charged with "7 slaves 2 horses, 3 cattle and 2 wheels."²

Land Tax records indicate that Dr. McClurg was in possession of 8 lots from 1782-1811. The valuations vary from 8 pounds during 1782-1785; to 12 pounds during 1786-1787; to 15 pounds during 1789-1797; and from $50 to $66.67 during 1798-1811.³

Sometime in 1783 or 1784 Dr. McClurg removed to Richmond. However, early in 1783 he was advertising medicines for sale in Williamsburg:

To be SOLD, [January 18, 1783] AT a reasonable rate, the following articles of MEDICINE, necessary for families in the country. TARTAR emetic, calomel, ipecacauana, rhubarb...
JAMES M'CLURG.
Williamsburg, Dec. 24, 1782.⁴

Just what disposition was made of McClurg's Williamsburg property upon his removal to Richmond, is not known. He continued to own the property until 1811. It is assumed that the property was rented. However, because of the destruction of the James City county court records during the Civil War, titles to property in Williamsburg south of Duke of Gloucester Street are not fully cleared nor are other secondary items bearing on leases &c. available.

Dr. McClurg continued to hold ownership of the 8 lots until 1811 when Samuel Tyler¹ is charged with them in the tax records "via McClurg."²

Tyler was Chancellor of the Williamsburg District vacated by Mann Page in 1803. He bought the house on Francis street now known as the "Allen-Byrd House" in 1803 and used it as his residence until his death in 1812.³ (Tyler's estate held this property until 1830.) The McClurgs lots acquired by Tyler in 1811, were held by his estate until 1823. (To follow chronologically in the report.)

When Tyler bought McClurg's lots, tax records placed the tax valuation as $50.⁴ In 1815 Mrs. Elizabeth Tyler, widow of Judge Tyler, petitioned the General Assembly of Virginia for permission to sell "two houses & lots in the City of Williamsburg containing each about 4 acres... That the houses & lots in the City of W^msburg called the 6 chimnies is in a ruinous & decaying state, the house not being habitable & can not be rented for anything..."⁵ The petition was granted.

It seems odd that the Custis house was never designated by its chimneys until 1815. It had been described as the "Brick House" or "Custis's," Could McClurg or Tyler have added chimneys to provoke this change of description?

In 1818 tax records list "Samuel Tyler's estate [with] 17 lots—$180 1 via Wilson M. Cary, house and lot known by the name of Custices, or the Six Chimneys, & lately conveyed to the heirs of the said Samuel Tyler dec^d."¹ One explanation of this ownership may be that Cary had a deed of trust on the McClurg property and not an outright deed hence, when the property was sold, it appeared as "via McClurg."

Evidently, Tyler's heirs failed to find a purchaser for the property called "6 chimnies" until 1823 when Jesse Cole ² became the owner. Tax records give: "Jesse Cole —— 1 lot ——$500; $200 on account of buildings."³

William T. Galt seems to have bought the property from Cole but did not hold fee simple because in 1841 the Lunatic Asylum purchased "1 lot with building $230; 200 on account of buildings via Dickie Galt via Jesse Cole."⁴ From 1841 to 1959 the property has been owned by the Eastern State Hospital (called Lunatic Asylum at times) as part of Virginia Insane Hospital systems. For further study, consult House History of the Eastern State Hospital, Research Department.

This report would not be complete without the recollections of several old citizens of Williamsburg who were in their teens in the Civil War period. In 1933 their memories of the city around 1844-1865 were recorded. We give below their recollections and impressions of the Custis lots and kitchen.

Mr. John S. Charles, an old citizen of Williamsburg, gave this description of the kitchen known as "Martha Washington Kitchen":

This lot, known as the Six Chimney Lot with a little brick house near the center of it, still standing, and said to have been Martha Washington's kitchen, was surrounded on all sides by holly and cedar trees, which in winter were filled with berries that attracted vast flocks of robins and other birds that furnished rare sport to the pot-hunters of that day. ¹

Mrs. Victoria King Lee gave her recollection of this property as it looked in 1861:

Martha Washington's Kitchen, though weathered and worn by the passing years, looked then as it does now. It was used as a store house for the Asylum garden tools. ²

When Mrs. Vandergrift of Gloucester county, was interviewed concerning the Custis property in Williamsburg as she remembered it in the 1844's, she replied:

There was a house, way off, that Mr. Custis first lived in. It was way off somewhere. It was called Dr. Evelyn's house. Mr. Custis lived there when he first came to Williamsburg. It had the most beautiful marble mantel. He took it out, but I have forgotten what he did with it. I think the house burned down. It was not near anything. It was way off out in the county on a farm. You went to the house by a lane that went by the Wythe House from the Palace Green. ³

In 1907 Dr. Lyon G. Tyler in his book, Williamsburg, the Old Colonial Capital, made the following comment about the six chimney lot:

SIX CHIMNEY LOT.—This lot lies on the south side of Francis street, in the eastern portion of the hospital park, and gets its name from the six chimneys which once stood there, the houses to which they belonged having perished by fire. This lot was formerly owned by Colonel John Custis, who died in 1749, leaving it to his son, Daniel Parke Custis. George Washington married the latter's widow, Martha Dandridge, and adopted her son, John Parke Custis, and when visiting Williamsburg, would stay at the Custis residence. All that remains at present to remind us of its past inhabitants is a brick kitchen and a large yew tree, said to have been planted with Mrs. Washington's hands.

JOHN CUSTIS [IV] of Williamsburg
1678-1749

John Custis [IV] was the son of John Custis of "Wilsonia," eastern shore of Virginia (1653-1714) and Mary Michael Custis. He was the grandson of General John Custis (will, 1695/6) who bequeathed "Arlington" on the eastern shore to his wife for life and then to his grandson, John Custis [IV]. (His father released all possible claim to his son.)

John Custis [IV] was born in 1678. He was educated in England. In 1705 he was courting Frances, the daughter of Daniel Parke of York county and Jane Ludwell Parke, formerly of "Green Spring," James City county. The well known love letter of his addressed to "Fidelia" indicates the ardor of his suit as well as the depth of his affections. Colonel Custis, his father, wrote to Daniel Parke in behalf of his son's desire to marry Frances. Parke who was in London at the time replied: "...if my daughter likes him, I will give her upon her marriage with him, half as much as he can make it appear he is worth." The marriage took place in August, 1705. Prior to that, Parke wrote to his daughter Frances, thus: "...If any young Man courts you, that you think you can love, I will give as good a Fortune as he can have." Lucy, sister of Frances, married William Byrd of "Westover" on the same day that John Custis and Frances were married. (Doubtless they were married at Queen's Creek home as it was the custom in Virginia at this time to be married at home rather than church.)

John Custis produced a real and personal estate valued at £8000 Sterling. Parke according to his promise, settled £4000 Sterling on his daughter upon her marriage. (This amount was largely in plantations in York, James City and New Kent counties.)

In 1709 Parke in writing to his son-in-law, William Byrd, noted that "I have given Orders, if Mr. Custis thinks fit, that he lives at, and has the Management of my Estate; and for his Encouragement, he shall have One-fifth Part of the clear Profit to be taken in England...The said John Custis, on such Invitation, removed, from his own Estate, to the Governor's (his said Father-in-laws) Estate in Virginia; and when he had been in Possession of it some Time, heard of the barbarous Murder of the Governor, by the People of Antigua." (Daniel Parke had been appointed by the Queen to be the Governor of the Leeward Island. He died at Antigua, in 1710.)

Sometime early in 1710 John Custis and his wife, Frances, came to Queen's Creek to make their future home. (Custis had been living on the eastern shore, it is presumed.) Byrd in his Diary (1709-1712) of April 29, 1710 comments: "Mr. Custis and I rode to Mr. Blair's where I ate some roast mutton for dinner. Then we went to Queen's Creek where I was received very kindly...."

Children born to John and Frances Parke Custis were: a son and a daughter, infants, who died early at "Arlington"; and Daniel Parke Custis who was christened at Queen's Creek on October 28, 1710. Byrd relates it in this way: "...About 10 o'clock I went to court where we sat about an hour and then adjourned because several of us were to go to the christening of my sister Custis's child. The Governor and I were godfathers, and Mrs. Ludwell was godmother. I went there in the President's coach and the Governor soon after. About 2 o'clock the ceremony was performed and about 3 we went to dinner...." A fourth child of John and Frances Custis was named Frances Parke. She married a merchant of Virginia and London, by name of William Winch in 1739. She died in 1744.

John and Frances Parke Custis had a stormy married life. In 1714 the situation became so acute that they had a lawyer draw up formal "Articles of Agreement." Soon after that Mrs. Custis died. She was buried at Queen's Creek Plantation with the inscription upon the tomb:

Here lies the Body of Mrs.
Frances Custis, daughter of Daniel Parke, Esq.
who departed this Life March the
14th 1714/5 in the 29th year
of her Age.

Custis was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1705 representing Northampton county; and in 1718 he served in the role as representative of William and Mary College. In 1727 he was appointed to the Council of Virginia. He served there until a short time prior to his death in 1749.

Sometime ca. 1714/15 Custis came into Williamsburg to live. It is believed that he built the brick house on the square later known as "Custis Square" on Francis street. Because the court records of James City county were destroyed by fire during the Civil War, complete title to this property is impossible. However, there are accounts, newspapers, manuscripts &c. which indicate that Custis lived thereon from ca. 1714 until his death in 1749, and that he made an unusual garden on the premises.

Around 1716/17 Custis began to correspond with Micajah Perry of London on the subject of gardening. Later, ca. 1725 he began correspondence with Peter Collinson in England in which he ordered various plants and sent many indigenous to Virginia to Collinson. Custis carried on correspondence with John Bartram, also. In 1738 Bertram came to Williamsburg to visit Custis en route towards the south. A detailed account of these associations with the copies of the correspondence can be found in Brothers of the Spade (1949) by E.G. Swem. Byrd in his Diary of 1717-1721 comments several times about walking in the Custis gardens.

Custis owned and rented several tenements in Williamsburg: one now known as the "Custis-Maupin House"; and another on Francis Street known as "Lot M." (There may have been others as Daniel Parke Custis held some five or six at his death in 1757.)

Custis died in 1749. His death is recorded in Bruton Parish Register on deposit at William and Mary College. His will, dated November 14, 1749 was filed in James City county on April 9, 1750. However, these records were burned. Another copy of the will is on record in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, England, and was proved on November 19, 1753 there. An abstract appears in Waters' Genealogical Gleanings in England (Boston, 1901.) His son, Daniel Parke Custis who had married Martha Dandridge, was his only surviving child and heir after a few bequests were made to Thomas Lee, John Blair, Mrs. Anne Moody, John Cavendish and a negro slave.

Though Custis died in Williamsburg, at his request he was buried at "Arlington" on the eastern shore. He wrote the inscription for his tombstone which follows:

[ARMS]
Beneath this Marble Tomb lies y^e body
of the Honorable John Custis, Esq.,
of the City of Williamsburg and Parish of Bruton
Formerly of Hungars Parish on the Eastern Shore of
Virginia and the County of Northampton the
place of his nativity.
Aged 71 years and yet lived but seven years
Which was the space of time he kept
A Bachelor's House at Arlington
On the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

Portraits of John Custis, Frances Parke Custis, Daniel Parke Custis, Martha Dandridge Custis and John Parke and Martha Custis are at Washington and Lee University. They are thought to be painted by John Wollaston. One of John Custis (1725) by an itinerant painter hangs at "Arlington." the Lee home near Washington City.

DANIEL PARKE CUSTIS
(1710/11-1757)

Daniel Parke Custis was the son of John Custis IV of Williamsburg, Virginia, and Frances Parke, daughter of Daniel Parke of York county. He was born on Oct. 10, 1710/11 and was christened on October 28, at his parents home at Queen's Creek near Williamsburg. Governor Spotswood and William Byrd were godfathers and Mrs. Philip Ludwell was godmother.

He married just prior to his father decease (1749) at the age of thirty eight, Martha Dandridge, daughter of John Dandridge of New Kent county. Four children were born of this marriage: Daniel Parke, born November 1751, died February 1754; Frances Parke, born April, 1753, died 1757; Martha Parke born —, died June, 1773; and John Parke, born at "White House," New Kent county in 1755, died at "Eltham," in November, 1781.

Daniel Parke Custis inherited a vast estate in plantations: "Queen's Creek" is said to have had over 3000 acres; "White House" in New Kent was the residence most of his married life though he and Martha visited the Williamsburg estates at times. There were other holdings such as "Arlington," Mockhorn and Smith's Islands on the eastern shore of Virginia and tenements for rent in Williamsburg. When in residence in Williamsburg, they lived at the six-chimney lot, former home of John Custis IV, on Francis Street.

Daniel Parke Custis inherited in addition to lands a large library from his father. He had, no doubt, many worries and concern over the law suits pending over his father's estate in Virginia and Antigua. Before these suits could be settled, he died intestate on July 8, 1757. Dr. James Carter of Williamsburg attended him in his last illness. He was 45 years old. Charles Crump, carpenter, made the black walnut coffin and brought it to "White House"; and Elizabeth Vaughan, seamstress, made Martha Custis's mourning clothes. Martha, the widow, received ? of all the personal property, and each of the two children, then alive, received ?. The widow had her dower right in ? of all real estate — which according to Dr. Swem, was over 15,000 acres.

It is thought that Daniel Parke Custis was buried at "Queen's Creek" plantation as a child of his was interred there about a month prior to his death, two other children and his mother were buried there. However, no stone remains there nor is there any parish record of the interment in New Kent. The Custis stones at "Queen's Creek" were removed to Bruton Parish Church some years past. Dr. Swem believes that part of these stones represent fragments from the tomb of Daniel Parke Custis. A handsome tombstone of the best durable marble to cost about £100 with the following inscription and the arms ... [were ordered]: "Here [lies] the body of Daniel Parke Custis, Esquire, who was born the 15th day of October 1711 and departed this life the 8th day of July, 1757. Aged 45 years." (See: Brothers of the Spade, pp. 130-131.)

On January 6, 1759 Mrs. Custis married George Washington of Fairfax county. For many years he handled the complex administration of the estate of her former husband, Daniel Parke Custis, as well as the affairs as guardian of her two children, John Parke and Martha Parke Custis.

Portraits of Daniel Parke Custis and Martha Dandridge Custis, John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis are at Washington and Lee. These are painted by Wollaston.

JOHN PARKE CUSTIS
1755-1781

John Parke Custis, son of Daniel Parke Custis and Martha Dandridge Custis, was born in 1755 at "White House" in New Kent county, home of his parents. His father died in 1757. On January 6, 1759 his mother married George Washington. John Parke Custis following his mother's marriage lived at "Mount Vernon" until the age of fifteen when he was sent to Caroline county to the school of Jonathan Boucher. When Boucher removed to Annapolis, the boy transferred there. After about four years, he was sent to New York to attend King's College.

At the age of twenty John Parke Custis married Eleanor Calvert, daughter of Benedict Calvert of "Mount Airy," Maryland. His sister, Martha, died in 1773.

His step-father, George Washington, had served as his guardian from about the time of his mother's marriage when John Mercer, lawyer, who was helping to settle Daniel Parke Custis's estate, transferred it to Washington. Young Custis served in the Revolution as an aide to his step-father. He was at Yorktown during the siege and surrender. He contracted camp fever which proved fatal. He died at "Eltham," New Kent county, where he had been removed from Yorktown, in 1781.

John Parke Custis served in the House of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia from 1778-1781.

John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert Custis had four children. The first two, George Washington Parke Custis and Nelly, were taken into the Washington home following their father's death and reared by the General and his wife, Martha, as their grandchildren.

In 1778, John Parke Custis advertised in the Maryland Gazette that the Queen's Creek property was for sale. He also offered the Williamsburg house and lots for sale that year.

A good many books which were in the large library of Daniel Parke Custis were inherited by the son. Lists of these libraries are in Virginia Magazine History, XVII, pp. 404-412 and Tyler's Quarterly, IX, pp. 97-103. (See: Illustration #7, report)

MARTHA DANDRIDGE CUSTIS WASHINGTON
(1731-1802)

Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, daughter of Colonel John Dandridge and Frances Jones Dandridge, was born on June 2, 1731 in New Kent county, Virginia.

She married in 1749 Daniel Parke Custis (1711-1757), son of Col. John Custis [IV] of Williamsburg. They lived at "White House," New Kent county, and at the six-chimney house in Williamsburg. Children born to the marriage were: Daniel Parke, born November 1751, died February 1754; Frances Parke, born April 1753, died June 1757; Martha Parke born —, died June 1773; and John Parke, born at "White House" in 1755.

Daniel Parke Custis died in 1757; Mrs. Custis married on January 6, 1759 George Washington. She died on May 22, 1802.

For further details, see biography of Daniel Parke Custis, Illustration #3 and house history (body of the report).

DR. JAMES McCLURG
1747-1823

Dr. James McClurg was born in 1747 at Hampton, Virginia, son of Dr. Walter McClurg of the British Navy. He entered William and Mary College in 1756 at which institution he continued until 1763. In 1764 he went to the University of Edinburgh until his graduation in 1770.

Sometime around 1774 McClurg came to Williamsburg, it is believed, and set up practice. In July 1775 he accompanied Jefferson to Philadelphia for the 2^nd Continental Congress. In August, 1776 David Leitch advertised that he had "lost a silver watch between Mrs. Vobe's and doctor Maclurg's." In September, 1776 John Page in writing to St. George Tucker from Williamsburg, said: "Our Friend McClurg's great Skill with the Blessing of Heaven restored her [Page's wife] to me, she is now in perfect health."

He was a member of the Botetourt chapter of Masons of Williamsburg from 1777-1783. In 1777 (August and September) he advertised for old linen proper for making lint and bandages; and black snakeroot — all for public use.

On May 4, 1779 he married Miss Elizabeth Selden of Hampton. A son, died very young; a daughter, Elizabeth married John Wickham, the celebrated lawyer of Richmond.

During the Revolution McClurg served as surgeon-general of the general hospital in Williamsburg. In 1781 he was serving as superintendent and inspector of the hospitals in Virginia. His property was damaged and ransacked by the British. Falsely, he was considered by some as a Tory. In a letter to St. George Tucker, December, 1781, he noted: "... If you have leisure do scribble me something of Politics, which perhaps may give some consequence among these fellows; who I am told took it into their heads to consider me as a tory, because I was not in raptures at being plunder'd of my property, and butcher'd of my health...."

Sometime ca. 1783/4 he moved to Richmond. However, in January, 1783 from Williamsburg he was advertising "At a reasonable rate, the following articles of MEDICINE, necessary for families in the country. TARTAR emetic, calomel, ipecacauana, rhubarb..." David Stuart in a letter to St. George Tucker, Williamsburg, remarked that McClurg practiced "without the trouble of a shop."

McClurg was an original member of the Society of Cincinnati in Virginia.

Dr. McClurg was celebrated for his Essay on the Human Bile (1772). The London edition once in the library of Robert Carter, is now in the library at "Kenmore," Fredericksburg. He wrote other treatises on medical subjects of note. His "Belles of Williamsburg," light verse, has been quoted extensively since he penned it in 1777.

While living in Richmond, Dr. McClurg was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1788; mayor of the city in 1797, 1800 and 1803.

He died on July 9, 1823 and was buried at St. John's Churchyard.

An obituary notice appeared in the Richmond Enquirer of July 11, 1823:

Departed this life on Wednesday evening last, at an advanced period of life, Doctor James McClurg, one of the oldest inhabitants of this city — a gentleman eminently distinguished for his attainments and skill as a physician, and his qualities as a man. His inaugural dissertation at Edinburgh on the nature of the Bile, gave the most splendid indications of his early genius. It is a lasting memorial of profound research, embellished by elegant taste. — His whole professional life has confirmed the promises of his early years.

Inscription which was carved on his tombstone read:

Here lies interred the body of JAMES McCLURG, M.D.
In life admired and honoured for learning, taste and genius, and venerated for virtue; of studious and retired habits, yet of the most easy and polished manners; of the readiest and happiest wit, tempered with modesty and benignity, with a native dignity of character and deportment always sustained without effort, united with unaffected simplicity, and softened with the utmost suavity of temper formed to delight, instruct and adorn society. His conversation and acquaintance were courted by the most distinguished persons of his country and his age. Having studied his profession in the most celebrated schools of Europe, and distinguished himself, even in youth, by the elegance and ability of his writings, he was early placed without pretension on his part by common consent abroad and at home in the highest rank among its professors, which he occupied for half a century. In old age, cheerful and tranquil, his mental faculties unimpaired, the serenity of his temper undisturbed, even his social gayety to the last by the decay and infirmaties of the body; honored, loved, revered; content to live, content to die with equal mind he sunk to rest on the 9th day of July, A.D. 1823. In the 78th year of his age.

In the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, there is a bust of Dr. McClurg. In 1929 at an exhibit by the Society, a portrait of McClurg by John Wesley Jarvis owned by T. Ashby Wickam was exhibited by the society, at Virginia House, Richmond. Copy appears in Blanton's Eighteenth Century Medicine in Virginia, p. 328.

DANIEL PARKE [Jr]

Daniel Parke born in 1669 was the son of Councillor Daniel Parke I and Jane Ludwell. He was probably educated in England but had returned to Virginia by 1692 when he was appointed to the Council. Being a favorite of Governor Andros he became collector and naval officer of lower James river, excheator for the district between York and James rivers and colonel of the militia. He was in the Flanders campagnes and at the battle of Blenheim after which the Duke of Marlborough selected him to bear the news of the great victory to Queen Anne. His fine appearance and handsome bearing commended him to Queen Anne, and being patronised by the Churchills, he was appointed chief governor of the Leeward Islands on April 25, 1706. In 1710 a violent insurrection broke out at Antigua which cost Parke his life.

Rent rolls of Virginia of 1704-5 list Daniel Parke as owning 1800 acres in James City County and 2750 acres in York County.

His two daughters married the same day: Frances married John Custis of Arlington, Northampton county and later of Williamsburg, and Lucy married Colonel William Byrd of Westover. The marriages occurred in 1706.

Daniel Parke had a large plantation near Williamsburg known as "Queen's Creek" property. Following his death, it descended to his daughter Frances Custis and her husband, then to Daniel Parke Custis and afterwards to his son, John Parke Custis. The latter advertised it for sale in 1778.

SAMUEL TYLER
1776-1812

Samuel Tyler, born in James City county, Virginia ca. 1776, nephew of John Tyler, attended William and Mary College about 1793 where he studied law. Elected to the legislature in 1798, he supported the resolutions of 1798-99. In 1801 he qualified as a member of the council and shortly after was sent by James Monroe, the governor, to Washington, to watch the course of the election between Jefferson and Burr. In December, 1803 he became chancellor of the Williamsburg district, an office just vacated by Mann Page. He held this position until his death in 1812.

From 1811 to 1823 Tyler or his heirs owned the Custis Square property.

Tyler married Eliza Johnson, daughter of James Bray Johnson of "Westbury," Charles City county. Children: R. Cocke, Lewis Contesse, Rebecca who married Paul Loyal of Norfolk, Mary married to Thomas S. Dabney, Chloe married Conway Whittle and Adelaide who married Armstrong.

A portrait of Judge Tyler was devised to his daughter, Adelaide Armstrong of Norfolk, by his wife, Eliza Tyler in 1838. There was a miniature, also, of Lewis Contesse Tyler owned by Mrs. Armstrong.

Miss Frances Duffy of Baltimore sent the Research Department, on July 6, 1958 this data: Judge Tyler died in "Williamsburg on March 23, 1912." She has the family Bible in her possession and also the portraits of Judge Tyler, his wife, Eliza Bray Johnson and a miniature of Lewis Contesse Tyler who died in 1822.

The Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover 1709-1712
ed. by Louis B. Wright & Marian Tinling (Richmond:1941)

(1709-1712)

The London Diary of William Byrd of Virginia (1717-1721)
ed. by Louis B. Wright and Marion Tinling (N. Y. 1958)

The Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover
(1739-1741)
ed. by Maude H.Woodfin
tr. and collated by Marion Tinling (Rich: 1942)

BRITISH MUSEUM ADDITIONAL MS
Lib. Ref 36217, H-161-171, Reel B,
M-284 (CWI)

[Suit: Charles Dunbar Appellant versus
Daniel Parke Custis Respondent.
20 years after death of Daniel Parke]

" Charles Dunbar, of the Island of Antigua, Esquire, only surviving acting Executor of Thomas Dunbar Parke, late of the said Island, Esq: deceased.

Daniel Parke Custis, Esquire, Son and Heir, and also sale Executor of the last Will and Testament of John Custis, of Virginia, Esq; deceased THE APPELANTS' CASE

…
THAT by an Act of General Assembly in Virginia, in the tenth year of the late Queen, that John Custis and Frances, his Wife, eldest Daughter of Daniel Parke had alledged ... that they stood seized in Tail in Right of the said Frances, by Devise of the said Daniel Parke in divers mills, Tene, and negroes ... situate in the Counties of York, James City, New Kent and King William, in Virginia ... and all the Plantation, Seat, or Tract of Land, formerly the Land of Brian Smith, in the county of James City, containing by Estimation TWO-hundred Acres,... were vested and settled in the said John Custis, and Frances his wife, and their Heirs

…
THE CASE OF THE RESPONDENT
...DANIEL PARKE being then in England, [March 17, 1702] wrote to his Daughter Frances in Virginia, acquainting her, that he was going a Voluntier under the Duke of Marlborough in Flanders; and then follows,—My Dear, God knows if I may ever see you more; but if I do not, I shall take care to leave you and your Sister in very happy Circumstances, if you have a Mind to marry there, you will be as good a Fortune as any one I know in Virginia can expect: If any young Man courts you, that you think you can love, I will give as good a Fortune as he can have ...

John Custis, of Virginia, Esquire, a Gentleman of very good Estate there, and Father of the Respondent, made his Addresses of Marriage to the said Daughter Frances (as did William Byrd, to the other Daughter,Lucy,) with the Approbation of their Mother, then in Virginia; and in order to procure the Lady's Father's Consent, he was wrote to, and to know what Fortune he would give his Daughter; when the said Daniel Parke returned Two Letters, One to his Daughter, and the Other to Mr. Custis's Father, as follows: [April 21, 1705] After taking Notice that the Queen, for his Services in Flanders, had conferred on him the Government of the Leeward Islands, he mentions he having received Two Letters from Mr. Custis, to desire his Consent to mary his Daughter Frances: That he did not know the Gentleman, or what his Estate was; And after desiring her to stay till she heard from him at his Government, where perhaps there might be some Person of better Fortune than any in Virginia: and whatever Fortune any Gentleman had, that had a Mind to marry her, he would give her One half of what he could make out he was worth.

In the other Letter to Colonel Custis he writes, that his Daughter Frances would be Heiress to all the Land his Father left; and his personal Estate in Virginia was not very small; and he had but Two Daughters:-That he did not know the young Gentleman, nor had an Account of his Estate; However, if his Daughter liked him, he would give her, upon her marriage with him, half as much as he could make appear he was worth:...

...[May 1706]
The said John Custis, relying on the aforesaid Promises of General Parke, Married the said Frances, his eldest Daughter, in Virginia, with the Approbation of her Mother there (and the same Day, the said William Byrd was also married to the other Daughter Lucy); and the said John Custis, at the time of his said Marriage, was seised and possessed of a real and personal Estate, to the Value of 8000 £Sterling, and upwards; and therefore, according to the said General Parke's Promise, apprehended himself well intitled to a Fortune or Estate with his said Wife of half that Value, or 4000 £Sterling. [June 12 & Aug 17 1709] Governor Parke...wrote a Letter from Antigua to his Son-in-Law, the said William Byrd, in Virginia; wherein the Governor Mentions his being well pleased with him and his said Wife, and would send a Letter of Attorney for him, Colonel Ludwell, or his Son Custis to act for him; and if his Son Custis would live at his House, it was at his Service; and enquired what Colonel Jennings asked for his Plantation; and that he would buy it for him...and in a subsequent Letter acquaints him, he had sent the Letter of Attorney to him, his Brother Ludwell, and Major Custis, for them Three to take Care of his Estate, and adds, I have given Orders, if Mr. Custis thinks fit, that he lives at, and had the Management of, my Estate; and for his Encouragement, he shall have One-fifth Part of the clear Profit to be taken in England...

The said John Custis, on such Invitation, removed from his own Estate, to the Governor's (his said Father-in-Law's) Estate in Virginia; and, when he had been in Possession of it some Time, heard of the barbarous Murder of the Governor, by the People of Antiqua:
…"

[Invoice (very illegible)] February, 1726

[John Custis to Cary, London]
... 1 doz of stock locks... 6 p^r locks 100 ells of brown and 200 bags at 7½ p^r Ell; 200 Ells of brown rowls... 1 doz good felling axes; 100 welsh Cotton 150 y^ds of [illegible] Cotten 1 piece of White silk [illegible] 1 piece D^o red 1 piece D^o black 1 piece D^o Lemmon color 1 piece D^o green 1 piece D^o blue; 1 piece of cl black ribband; 1 doz: glasses such as are put over mezitints prints to preserve them 11 inches long and 12 inches wide carefully packe^d 12 y^ds wading for Morning gowns 20 y^d Dutch brown [illegible] 11 y^ds cloth drug: of a color that will not show dirt trimming... 4½ Y^ds broad cloth of 1 t^a C of A good grey color... a pocket book w^th ivory Leaves 3 Y^ds Duffill...

[Endorsed on back]
"Sale of the Estates Goods
in Williamsburg p^r
Jos Valentine

Inventory Drawn of estate of Dan^l Parke Custis."

"Account of Sundrys taken and used by M^rs Custis out of the Inventories:

[no date]
(perhaps 1759)

I JOHN Custis of the City of Williamsburg and county of James City in the Colony of Virginia, being weak in body but of sound mind and memory, so make this my last will and testament in manner and form following Imprimis my will and earnest desire is that my executor hereafter named do lay out and expend as soon as possible after my decease out of my estate the sum of one hundred pounds sterling money of Great Britain to buy a handsome tombstone of the most durable stone that can be purchased for pillars very decent and handsome to lay over my dead body engraved on the tombstone my coat of arms which are three parrots and my will is that the following inscription may be also handsomely engraved on the said stone (vist) Under this marble stone lays the body of the Honorable John Custis Esqr of the City of Williamsburgh and Parish of Bruton formerly of Hungars Parish on the Eastern Shoar of Virginia and county of Northampton the place of his Nativity aged ___ years and yet lived but seven years which was the space of time he kept Batchelors house at Arlington on the Eastern Shoar of Virginia This inscription put on the stone by his own positive orders and I do desire and my will is and I strictly require it that as soon as possible my reel dead body and not a sham coffine be carried to my plantation on the Eastern Shoar of Virginia called Arlington amd there my real body be buried by my grand father the Honorable John Custis Esquire where a large walnut tree formerly grew and is now inclosed with a brick wall which brick wall it is my will and I strictly charge and require it that the said brick wall be always kept in good repair very handsomely by my heir that shall enjoy my estate and if my heir should ingratefully or obstinately refuse or neglect to comply with what relates to my burial in every particular I then barr and cut him off from any part of my estate either real or personal and only give him on shilling sterling and in such case I give my whole estate real and personal to the next heir male of my family named Custis that will religeously and punctually see this my will performed but more especially what related to my burial in general and if by any accident the tombstone and appurtenances should be lost broke or any waies miscarry in coming in from England or any other ways whatsoever in that case my positive will is and I earnestly require it that my heir or executors immediately send to England for such another stone exactly with the same appurtenances of the same price until one shall come safe to hand according to my will and desire I give to my dear friend Thomas Lee Esquire if living at my death two hundred pounds sterling to buy him anything he has a mind to remember me I give to my worthy and esteemed friend John Blair Esquire one hundred pounds sterling I also give to Mrs. Mary Blair the wife of the said John Blair five guineas to buy her a mourning ring Whereas my plantation called Arlington on the Eastern Side of Virginia is entailed by my grand father the Honorable John Custis Esquire on the heirs male of my body lawfully begotten and for as much as my father the late Honorable John Custis Esquire had a patent in his own name for two hundred and fifty acres of the said Arlington Plantation which my said father has given me by his said will in fee simple I do intail the saif two hundred and fifty acres of land so given to me exactly in the same manner as the other three hundred acres contiguous or adjoining to it And my will is that is always descend exactly in the same manner as Smiths Island and Mocoon Island which are firmly intailed on the heirs male of my body lawfully begotten by the will of my grandfather the Honorable John Custis Esquire and whereas by my deed of Manumission recorded in the county Court of York I have freed and set at liberty my negro boy Christened John otherwise called Jack born of the body of my slave Alice Now I do hereby ratify and confirm the said deed of manumission unto the said John otherwise called Jack after the death of the saif John otherwise called Jack I give all the estate by me heretofore given to the said John otherwise called Jack either by deed or otherwise to my son Daniel Park Custis to hold to him my said son from and after the death of the said John otherwise called Jack his heirs executors administrators and assigns forever My will and desire is and I hereby strictly require that as soon as possible after my decease my executor build on the land I bought of James Morris Scituate near the head of Queens Creek in the county of York for the use of the said John otherwise called Jack a handsome strong convenient dwelling house according to the dimensions I shall direct and a plan thereof drawn by my said friend John Blair Esquire and that it be compleatly finished with in side and without and when the house is compleatly furnished with one dozen high Russia leather chairs one dozen low Russia leather chairs a Russia leather couch good and strong three good feather beds beadsteads and furniture and two good black walnut tables I desire that the house fencing and other appurtenances belonging to the said plantation be kept in good repair and so delivered to the said negro John otherwise called Jack when he shall arrive to the age of twenty years I also give him when he shall arrive to that age a good riding horse and two able working horses I give to Mrs. Anne Moody wife of Matthew Moody if she be living at my death twenty pounds sterling for which she hath my bond of five hundred pounds to be paid to her annually during her natural life I also give her the picture of my said negro boy John otherwise called Jack It is my will and I desire that my said negroboy John otherwise called Jack live with my son until he be twenty years of age and that he be handsomely maintained out of the profits of my estate given him I give and devise unto John Cavendish for the many services he has done me the house and lot where he now lives to hold the same rent free during his natural life all the rest residue and remainder of my estate real and personal be it of what nature or kind soever and wher soever lying and being in the shole work I give devise and bequeath unto my son Daniel Parke Custis to hold to him his heirs and assigns for ever And lastly I do hereby constitute and appoint my said son Daniel Parke Custis whole and sole EXECUTOR of this my last will and testament hereby revoking and making void all former wills by me made IN WITNESS whereof I have set my hand and affixed my seal to three sides of these two sheets of paper containing this my will being paged Number 1. 2 & 3 this fourteenth day of November One thousand seven hundred and forty-nine and in the twenty third year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King George the Second.

JOHN CUSTIS (LS)

Signed sealed published and declared by the said John Custis as and for his last will and Testament in the presence of: THOMAS DAWSON—GEORGE GILMER—JOHN BLAIR Jun. at a Court held in James City County April the 9th 1750 This will was proved thereto sworn to by Daniel Parke Custis the Executor therein names and ordered to be recorded and certificate for obtaining a Probat in due form was granted the said executor. Teste: Ben Waller CC Our
Virginia
LEWIS BURWELL Esqr President of His Majestys Council and Commander in Chief of this Colony and Dominion.
To all whome these presents shall come Greeting
Whereas John Custis Esquire late of James City County deceased by his last will and testament did make constitute and ordain Daniel Parke Custis Gent to be executor of the said will and whereas at a court held before his Majesty's Justices for the county aforesaid the ninth of April 1750 the said will was proved and the said executor hath performed what the laws of this colony in that case require.

Therefore (to the intent the said will may be well and truly performed) I do give and grant and committ unto the said Daniel Parke Custis the administration of all the goods chattels rights and credits whatsoever belonging to or concerning the said deceas'd and his testament with full power to him to dispose of all and singular the said goods chattels rights and credits according to the true intent and meaning of the testament aforesaid hereby requiring him to render a true and full account thereof and the same to exhibit into the County Court aforesaid when thereunto lawfully called
Given under my hand & the seal if the Colony at Williamsburgh the ninth day of March 1750 and in the twenty fourth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King George the Second:

Lewis Burwell. P.
(LS)

Fos. 21
HEB
Nov 1753
I certify that this copy has been examined with the official copy of the original Will deposited in this Registry and that it s true copy thereof
A Musgrove
Registrar