George Washington Parke Custis

George Washington Parke Custis was born on April 30, 1781, at Mount Airy, located in what is now Rosaryville State Park in Prince George's County, Maryland. His parents were John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert Custis. Custis's father, John, served in the American Revolutionary War alongside General George Washington and died shortly after the Siege of Yorktown in 1781. Custis was the grandson of Martha Washington, wife of George Washington, making him a step-grandson to the first U.S. president. His mother was Eleanor Calvert Custis.

Following the death of his father, Custis and his sister, Eleanor (commonly known as Nelly), were taken in by Martha Washington and George Washington. They grew up at Mount Vernon. Custis had two older sisters, Elizabeth and Martha, who remained with their mother, Eleanor Calvert, after her second marriage to Dr. David Stuart in 1783.

Custis received his early education at various institutions, including Philadelphia Academy (a preparatory school for the University of Pennsylvania), the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), and St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. However, he did not graduate from any of these institutions. George Washington expressed dissatisfaction with Custis's attitude and behavior during his education.

At the age of 21, in 1802, Custis inherited a substantial estate from his father, including land, slaves, and a plantation in the area that would become Arlington, Virginia. His inheritance also included a large fortune and property from Martha Washington upon her death that same year. Custis initially resided on the inherited land, including a structure he called "Mount Washington," but soon began construction of Arlington House, a Greek Revival mansion intended as a memorial to George Washington.

In designing Arlington House, Custis hired architect George Hadfield. The construction began in 1803 and was interrupted by the War of 1812, finally completing in 1818. The mansion was built on a hill overlooking the Potomac River, Washington, D.C., and the Georgetown-Alexandria Turnpike. Custis’s intent was for Arlington House to serve as a monument to George Washington, and relics from Mount Vernon were displayed there.

In his personal life, Custis married Mary Lee Fitzhugh on July 7, 1804. They had four children, though only one daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, survived to adulthood. Mary Anna married Robert E. Lee on June 30, 1831. The couple inherited Arlington House and its surrounding plantation but lost the property during the Civil War when it was confiscated by the federal government, due to the Lees' Confederate allegiance. The property was later returned to the Lees' heirs following legal proceedings.

George Washington Custis served briefly in the military during the War of 1812 but did not see combat. He was also an author, writing "Recollections and Private Memoirs of George Washington," published posthumously in 1860. Additionally, Custis authored historical plays about Virginia and delivered patriotic addresses.

He died on October 10, 1857. Custis was buried in a fenced area on his estate, which later became part of Arlington National Cemetery. His daughter, Mary Anna, inherited Arlington and passed it on to her son, Custis Lee.

Custis’s descendants included Maria Carter Syphax, an illegitimate daughter of an enslaved woman who was later freed, and seven grandchildren. Custis’s grandson, Robert E. Lee, became a prominent Confederate general. The estate of Arlington was eventually purchased by the U.S. government and established as a national military cemetery, with Arlington House now operated as the Robert E. Lee Memorial by the National Park Service.