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| | ===Second marriage=== | | ===Second marriage=== |
| − | Martha was a 26-year-old, wealthy widow with two small children when she met George Washington. They married on January 6, 1759 and moved, along with her two small children Jacky and Patsy, to [[Mount Vernon]], the plantation he had inherited from his half-brother's widow, in April of that year. <ref name="history"/> | + | Martha was a 26-year-old, wealthy widow with two small children when she met George Washington in March 1758.<ref>[http://marthawashington.us/exhibits/show/martha-washington--a-life/the-custis-years/page-3 The courtship of Martha Custis and George Washington]</ref> They married on January 6, 1759 and moved, along with Jacky and Patsy, to [[Mount Vernon]], the plantation he inherited from his half-brother's widow, in April of that year.<ref name="history"/> |
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| − | Martha managed the day-to-day operations of Mount Vernon, including overseeing the staff and slaves, harvests and food preparation and storage. <ref name="firstladies"/> | + | Martha was very involved in the day-to-day operations of Mount Vernon, including overseeing the staff and slaves, harvests and food preparation and storage.<ref name="firstladies"/> She and Washington had no children of their own, but he was an affectionate and attentive stepfather to Jacky and Patsy, and he managed the Custis estate carefully for them. |
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| | + | Patsy Custis began having seizures around age 12, which grew steadily worse. Doctors were unable to treat her condition, and she died at 17 after a seizure on June 19, 1773.<ref name="family life">[http://marthawashington.us/exhibits/show/martha-washington--a-life/life-at-mt--vernon-before-the-/family-life Family life]</ref> |
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| | + | Jacky did not excell at school. To prepare him for college, he was sent to a boarding school in 1768, where he met a young lady named Eleanor Calvert. The young couple became engaged, but Washington insisted on college before marriage. Jacky went to Kings College (now Columbia University), but soon returned home to marry the 16-year-old Eleanor on February 3, 1774.<ref name="family life"/> |
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| | + | During their marriage, Jacky and Eleanor split their time between Mount Vernon and Eleanor's family's home, Mount Airy, in [[Maryland]]. They had four children before Jacky's death on November 5, 1781<ref name="family life"/> of "camp fever". Jacky had joined Washington the month before at the siege at Yorktown as a civilian aide.<ref>[http://marthawashington.us/exhibits/show/martha-washington--a-life/the-war-for-independence/patriotic_cause Patriotic cause]</ref> |
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| | + | The two youngest of Jacky and Eleanor's children, Eleanor "Nelly" Parke Custis, six, and George "Wash" or "Tub" Washington Parke Custis, 3, remained at Mount Vernon after their mother's remarriage in 1783. The Washingtons raised their two grandchildren.<ref name="1790s">[http://marthawashington.us/exhibits/show/martha-washington--a-life/the-1790s The 1790s]</ref> When Washington died, he bequeathed 1200 acres to Wash, who built a home named Arlington there. Wash's daughter married General [[Robert E. Lee]], and Arlington eventually became Arlington National Cemetery after the Civil War.<ref>[http://marthawashington.us/exhibits/show/martha-washington--a-life/the-twilight-years/legacies Legacies]</ref> |
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| | ==During the war== | | ==During the war== |