John Parke Custis

Notes:

Eltham
Eltham was situated in New Kent County, Virginia. The property was owned by the Bassett family. Captain William Bassett was reportedly the first of the family to come to Virginia. He died in 1672 and was succeeded by his son, William Bassett, who died in 1673. This second William Bassett was a member of the Virginia Council. There was a third William Bassett, who inherited the place and was a member of the House of Burgesses. The son of the third Bassett, William Burwell, became owner of Eltham and also a Burgess.

The mansion was said to have been built as early at the 1660's. It was constructed of brick. The house was considered by many architects to have been one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in the South.

The illustration of Eltham above was made from a drawing done by a member of the Bassett family. One description of the house reads, "There was a central portion of the house two-and-one-half stories high with dormer windows in the well-designed roof. Through passages on each side one reached the low wings to the house." Another description says, "The house presented an imposing front, one hundred and fifty feet from wing to wing; the entire building, with peaked roof and gable front, rising above them like the keep of a castle. Over the red English bricks of its walls, time and clinging tribes of lichens had thrown a soft tinting of purple and gray, while a stately avenue of Lombardy poplars led away from the mossy stone steps of the entrance, adding grandeur to the picturesqueness of the place. Many times during the siege of York were the leading spirits of the Revolution gathered at Eltham (which was not far from Yorktown) as guests of Colonel Burwell Bassett, who was a brother-in-law of General Washington and of Governor Harrison, having married the sister of Mrs. Washington [Anna Maria Dandridge; they married on May 2, 1757]."

One reason that there is interest in Eltham is that General and Mrs. Washington often visited the Bassets at Eltham, and Burwell Basset was one of the agents who had charge of Washington's business affairs while he was in command of the army during the American Revolution. In one of his letters to Bassett, written from Cambridge, Massachusetts, in February 1776, he says: "I thank you heartily for the attention you have kindly paid to my landed affairs on the Ohio; my interest in which I shall be more than ever careful of, as in the worst event they may serve for an asylum." This letter was owned by Herbert A. Claiborne of Richmond.

Another visitor of note was Andrew Burnaby, who wrote, "May 26, 1760. Having procured three horses, for myself, servant, and baggage, I departed from Williamsburg, and travelled that night to Eltham; twenty-five miles. . . . May 27. I ferried over Pamunky river . . . . " Burnaby wrote Travels Through North America, a popular book which went through three editions in the 1700's.

The Bassetts intermarried with many prominent Virginia families, including the Dandridges, the Lewises, the Claibornes, the Burwells and others. John Parke Custis, son of Martha Washington (and stepson of George Washington), died at Eltham, the home of his uncle. Martha and George adopted his two children. According to George Washington Parke Custis (John Parke Custis' biological son and George and Martha's adopted son), John Parke Custis "sickened while on duty as extra aide to the commander-in-chief in the trenches before Yorktown. Aware that his disease (the camp-fever), would be mortal, the sufferer had yet one last lingering wish to be gratified, and he would die content. It was to behold the surrender of the sword of Cornwallis. He was supported to the ground, and witnessed the admired spectacle, and was then removed to Eltham, a distance of thirty miles from camp."

The house burned in the 1870's, but the massive foundations could still be seen in the early 1900's.

The information in this article was compiled from information in Frances Archer Christian and Susanne Massie, editors, Homes and Gardens in Old Virginia, Garrett and Massie, Incorporated, Richmond, VA, 1931; Robert A. Lancaster, Jr., Historic Virginia Homes and Churches, J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1915; Ella B. Washington, "The Harrisons in History," The Magazine of American History, 1889; Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, By His Adopted Son, George Washingto Parke Custis, with A Memoir of the Author, by His Daughter; and Illustrative and Explanatory Notes, by Benson J. Lossing, Derby & Jackson, New York, 1860.

John married Eleanor Calvert on 3 Feb 1774 in Mount Airy Plantation, Prince Georges, Maryland, USA. Eleanor (daughter of Benedict Swinegate Calvert and Elizabeth Butler Calvert) was born on 3 Feb 1754 in Mount Airy Plantation, Prince Georges, Maryland, USA; died on 28 Sep 1811 in Croom, Prince Georges, Maryland, USA; was buried in Croom, Prince Georges, Maryland, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1840, Alexandria, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1850, Alexandria, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA

Notes:

Born at Mount Airy, Maryland, to John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert Custis. He was the grandson of Martha Washington by her first marriage to Daniel Parke Custis. After his natural father John Parke Custis died in 1781, he and his sister Eleanor were unofficially adopted by General and Mrs. Washington and raised at Mt. Vernon. Known by the childhood nickname Tub, Custis became very attached to his step-grandfather, George Washington. Under Washington’s counsel he pursued studies at St. John's College and Princeton. Upon Washington’s death he devoted himself to literary and agricultural pursuits. In 1799 Custis was commissioned as a colonel in the Army and aide-de-camp to General Charles Pickney. Custis also volunteered in the defense of Washington, D.C. during the the War of 1812. In 1802, he began the construction of Arlington House on land he had inherited from his natural father. He married Mary Lee Fitzhugh in 1804, and they had four children, but only one, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, survived. His income derived from his inherited estates though he was a generally a poor manager and his properties were not very profitable. He devoted most of his time to painting, playwriting, music, oratory, and promoting the improvement of American agriculture. None of his endeavors were marked by great or lasting success. Regarding himself as the heir to the Washington tradition, Custis collected and displayed a large number of Mt. Vernon relics at Arlington House. He began writing a series of 'Recollections of Washington' in the ‘U.S. Gazette’ in 1826, and they were published in book form in 1860. His first play, ‘The Indian Prophecy’, was performed in the Chestnut Street Theater, Philadelphia, in 1830. He also wrote: ‘The Railroad’ and ‘Pocahontas’ in 1830; ‘North Point of Baltimore Defended’ in 1833; and ‘Eighth of January’ in 1834. Custis gave his daughter away at her wedding to Lt. Robert E. Lee, Sr. at Arlington House in 1831. Custis increasingly relied on his son-in-law, to handle his tangled business affairs. Until his death, Custis retained his rooms in the north wing of Arlington House which had also become home to his daughter’s family. He died there after a short illness in October 1857.

George married Mary Lee Fitzhugh on 7 Jul 1804 in Alexandria, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. Mary (daughter of William Debnam Fitzhugh and Mary Anne Bolling Randolph) was born on 22 Apr 1788 in Arlington, Arlington, Virginia, USA; died on 23 Apr 1853 in Arlington, Arlington, Virginia, USA; was buried in Arlington, Arlington, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Married: 30 Jun 1831, Arlington, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA

Mary married Robert Edward Lee on 30 Jun 1831 in Arlington House, Arlington, Virginia, USA. Robert (son of Henry Lee, III and Anne Hill Carter) was born on 19 Jan 1807 in Stratford, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA; died on 12 Oct 1870 in Lexington, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA; was buried in Lexington, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]