First Family

While George Washington is known as a Founding Father, he never had any children of his own. He did, however, play a fatherly role in the lives of his step-grandchildren after his wife’s son died. Historian Cassandra A. Good’s First Family: George Washington’s Heirs and the Making of America tells the story of these Custis children, who became well-known in early America. While the youngest two children, Eleanor “Nelly” and George Washington “Wash” Custis, moved to Mount Vernon and lived with George and Martha Washington after their father’s death, all four Custis children relied on Washington as a father figure throughout their lives. They witnessed his time as general of the Continental Army and then as President, and they worked to maintain his legacy after his death. Each of the Custis children used their connection to their famous relative to their own ends, to gain influence and fame.

First Family reveals many interesting aspects of the world in which George Washington and his family lived. Through the lives of sisters Elizabeth “Eliza”, Martha “Patty”, and Nelly Custis, readers get a sense of what life was like for women in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The relationships that they and their brother Wash enjoyed with both George and Martha Washington illuminates not family dynamics of the time, but also different sides of the first President and First Lady as individuals. The book also delves into the lives of the people enslaved by the family, and how these relationships – and the perpetuation of slavery by the Custis family after Washington’s death – intersected with family relationships and reputation. While the Custis family were very much of their time, the questions raised by First Family about family relationships, fame, and legacy echo today. In the following excerpt, George Washington reacts to the engagement of his step-granddaughter, Elizabeth, then called “Betsey”, to Thomas Law.

Excerpt

Betsey wrote George to share the news of her engagement, emphasizing that she had considered things carefully (likely including his own concerns) and asked for his approval after Thomas wrote seeking his blessing as well. George was not thrilled, but he was not going to interfere with Betsey’s wishes. Writing to Betsey’s stepfather, he admitted that Thomas—“ so far as I have obtained any knowledge of his character”—had a decent reputation, but he was a foreigner. Could he be an agent for the British government or its business interests? Might he move back to England against Betsey’s wishes? Thomas’s own writings give some credence to the idea that he was at least thinking of setting up a trading relationship with the British-government-supported East India Company; he wrote a friend back in England in January 1796 that he intended “to set up an Agency for India at Washington City.” Marrying Betsey was one piece of his larger scheme; in the very sentence prior to this, he said, “I hope to obtain the heart of Miss Custis the President’s grand daughter.” Marrying into the president’s family was a strategic move. There was clearly affection involved in this match, but like all good marriages from Thomas’s upper-crust British background, it was also economically savvy. If Betsey was going to marry Thomas, George argued, they needed a prenuptial agreement that preserved Betsey’s wealth at the very least. To Betsey, his response was essentially this: if you’re sure he’s the man you want to marry, I approve. He chided her for keeping this matter a secret from him; she could at least tell him now when they planned to marry. “You know how much I love you,” he reassured her, and after the preceding words, that assurance must have been welcome. He also wrote Thomas, frankly sharing that the engagement was “a matter of Surprize” and giving his approval. However, he made clear that he expected a prenuptial agreement and that Thomas had better plan to be in America permanently, “for it would be a heart rending circumstance” to take Betsey away from her family. Coming from the president—and a key force in Thomas’s investment plans in DC—surely he could do nothing but consent.