John Parke Custis
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John Parke Custis (27 November 1754-5 November 1781) was a Virginia planter and stepson of George Washington.
He was most likely born at White House, his parents' plantation in New Kent County, Virginia. He was the son of Daniel Parke Custis, a wealthy planter, and Martha Dandridge Custis. After the death of his father in 1757, he inherited almost 18,000 acres of land. In 1759 his mother married George Washington and moved with her children to Mount Vernon. Custis briefly attended King's College (later Columbia University) in 1773.
On 3 February 1774 Custis married Eleanor Calvert, a granddaughter of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore. Their seven children included Eleanor Parke Custis (later Lewis) and George Washington Parke Custis.
Custis sat in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1778 until 1781. He served as a civilian aide-de-camp to Washington during the siege of Yorktown. He contracted camp fever and died in New Kent County not long after Cornwallis's surrender. He was buried in York County, near Williamsburg.
[edit] References
- Frank E. Grizzard Jr. George Washington: A Biographical Companion (2002), pages 67-70.
- John T. Kneebone et al., eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography (Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1998- ), 3:639-640. ISBN 0-88490-206-4
