Esther Maria Lewis Chapin collection of Washington family documents

Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis (1779-1852): Eleanor was born on March 31, 1779. She was the youngest granddaughter of Martha Washington and the step-granddaughter of George Washington. After her father John Parke Custis’ death in 1781 and her mother, Eleanor Calvert Custis’ marriage to Dr. David Stuart, Eleanor and her brother George Washington Parke Custis began living with the Washingtons. In 1799, Eleanor married Washington’s nephew, Lawrence Lewis. Of their eight children, only one son and three daughters lived to maturity. Eleanor and Lawrence remained at Mount Vernon until Martha Washington’s death in 1802 and subsequently moved to Woodlawn Plantation upon its completion in 1805. Throughout her life, Nelly regarded herself as the preserver of George Washington’s legacy. She died at Audley Plantation on July 15, 1852 and is buried at Mount Vernon in the family tomb.

Lewis, Lawrence (1767-1839): Nephew of George Washington, born on April 4, 1767, in Fredericksburg, VA to Fielding Lewis and Betty Washington Lewis, the sister of George Washington. In 1797 he became personal secretary to Washington and married Eleanor Custis, a granddaughter of Martha Washington, on February 22, 1799. He was the primary executor of Washington’s will and was given 2,000 acres of land by him on which he built Woodlawn. They moved to Audley Plantation in 1830 on land he had purchased from Washington’s holdings. He died on November 20, 1839 and is buried in the vault at Mount Vernon.

Washington, Bushrod (1762-1869): Bushrod was the son of Hannah Bushrod and John Augustine Washington, the younger brother of George Washington. Upon the death of George Washington, Bushrod inherited the Mount Vernon estate. A graduate of the College of William and Mary, Bushrod served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was joined on the Supreme Court by his long-time friend, John Marshall. Justices Washington and Marshall had met while attending law lectures given by George Wythe at the College of William and Mary. Bushrod and his wife, Julia Ann Blackburn, had no children of their own, but raised three of their nephews. One nephew, John Augustine Washington (1789-1832), would inherit Mount Vernon from Bushrod.