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John Roper | Sep 22 |
Francis Brock | Sep 22 |
Christina Cowan | Sep 22 |
Marion Dalziel | Sep 22 |
James Dalziel | Sep 22 |
Thomas J. Glass | Sep 22 |
Edna Wiggins | Sep 22 |
Sarah Addie Wiggins | Sep 22 |
Alice Wiggins | Sep 22 |
Sarah A. Gardner | Sep 22 |
Martha Lou "Mattie" Wiggins | Sep 22 |
Francis Marion Wiggins | Sep 22 |
Della Mae Wiggins | Sep 22 |
Malinda Hellen "Hellen" Lee | Sep 22 |
William Coleman Weathers | Sep 22 |
Lillian Belle "Lilly" Weathers | Sep 22 |
Arthur Powell | Sep 22 |
Albert Marvin Weathers | Sep 22 |
Luar? Weathers | Sep 22 |
Lonzo Weathers | Sep 22 |
William Redding Weathers | Sep 22 |
Margaret Chauncey | Sep 22 |
William Weston | Sep 22 |
William Weston | Sep 22 |
Cecilia Neville | Sep 22 |
Alice Glendower | Sep 22 |
Clare de Whelan | Sep 22 |
In 1778, Custis made a contract with the Alexanders to buy their land. George Washington warned him of the disagreeable terms of sale; however, he wanted so much to live near Mt. Vernon that he ignored his stepfather’s warnings. The Custis family moved to the estate, which they named Abingdon. Their third daughter, Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis, was born at Abingdon in 1779 and a son, George Washington Parke Custis, was born in 1781 at Mount Airy, Maryland, the Calvert family home. [Editor’s note: See related markers for a link to the historical marker about Mount Airy].
Unfortunately, John Parke Custis did not live to see George Washington become the first President of the United States. Custis died of “camp fever” after the British army surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia in 1781. Washington adopted the two youngest Custis children, Nelly and George, who moved from Abingdon to live with their grandparents at Mount Vernon.
In 1783, Custis’ widow, Eleanor, married Dr. David Stuart, whom Washington appointed to help plan the nation’s new capital city while the family continued to live at Abingdon. After John Parke Custis’ death, Abingdon was returned to the Alexanders in 1792.