Maria Carter Syphax

Maria Carter Syphax (1803–1886), also spelled Mariah, was an African American woman who played a significant role as the matriarch of the Syphax family in the Washington, D.C., area. Her family became known for their civic involvement, civil service, and educational contributions.

Born in 1803, Maria Carter was the daughter of Arianna Carter, an enslaved servant at Mount Vernon, and George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington and Daniel Parke Custis. Her parentage indicates that she was an illegitimate child of Custis, who acknowledged her as his daughter. She was a great-granddaughter of Martha Washington through her marriage to Custis.

Until 1826, Maria Carter worked at Arlington House, the estate built by Custis in Arlington, Virginia. Her relationship with Charles Syphax, an enslaved man who managed Arlington House’s dining room, developed during this period. The two were married in 1826 within the Arlington House mansion, an exception that allowed their marriage to be recognized despite their enslaved status. That same year, George Washington Parke Custis manumitted Maria Syphax and her two children, granting her 17 acres of land on the Arlington estate. Custis later specified in his will that Charles Syphax should also be freed, which occurred in 1857 after his death.

Following Custis’s death, Arlington plantation was inherited by his daughter Mary Anna Randolph Custis and her husband, Robert E. Lee. During the Civil War, the federal government confiscated the Lee estate and the associated Syphax land due to the absence of documented transfer of ownership. The Freedman's Bureau established Freedman's Village on part of the Syphax property, offering refuge to newly freed slaves.

Her son William Syphax, who worked for the U.S. Department of the Interior, used his governmental connections to support his family’s claims to land. In 1866, the U.S. Senate passed the "Bill for the Relief of Maria Syphax," which was signed into law and restored the confiscated Arlington land to the Syphax family.

Maria Syphax had ten children: Elinor B. Syphax Reeves (1823-1910), William Syphax (1825-1891), Charles Syphax (1829-1885), Cornelius Syphax (1831-1885), Colbert Syphax (1834-1896), Austin Syphax (1836-1880), John B. Syphax (1838-1916), Shaulter Syphax (1840-1891), Ennis Syphax (1841-1880), and Maria Syphax Frost (1844-1878).

Her descendants continued to reside in the Washington, D.C., area and participated in civic leadership and public service roles throughout their lives.