Editing Martha Washington (section)

==Early life (1731–1748)==
[[File:Martha Dandridge (when Martha Washington was eight years old) 1739.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Dandridge at age eight]]
[[File:Martha Washington LCCN2003666398.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Martha Dandridge Custis in 1757: engraving by [[John Chester Buttre]] after a portrait by [[John Wollaston (painter)|John Wollaston]]]]
[[File:Coat of Arms of William Dandridge.svg|thumb|Coat of Arms of William Dandridge II]]
Martha Dandridge was born on June 2, 1731, on her parents' tobacco plantation,<ref name="watson">{{Cite book |last=Watson |first=Robert P. |url=https://archive.org/details/firstladiesofuni0000wats |title=First Ladies of the United States: A Biographical Dictionary |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-62637-353-2 |pages=9–18 |language=en |doi=10.1515/9781626373532 |s2cid=249333854}}</ref>{{Rp|page=9}} [[Chestnut Grove (plantation)|Chestnut Grove]] Plantation in [[New Kent County, Virginia|New Kent County]] the [[Colony of Virginia]]. She was the oldest daughter of [[Frances Jones (colonist)|Frances Jones]], the granddaughter of an [[Anglican]] rector,<ref name="schneider">{{Cite book |last1=Schneider |first1=Dorothy |url=https://archive.org/details/firstladiesbiogr0000schn_k5c3 |title=First Ladies: A Biographical Dictionary |last2=Schneider |first2=Carl J. |publisher=Facts on File |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4381-0815-5 |edition=3rd |pages=1–10}}</ref>[[John Dandridge|{{Rp|page=2}}]] and [[John Dandridge]], a Virginia planter<ref name="schneider"/>{{Rp|page=2}} and county clerk<ref name="watson"/>{{Rp|page=9}} who emigrated [[English Americans|from England]]. She had three brothers and four sisters: John (1733–1749), William (1734–1776), Bartholomew (1737–1785), Anna Maria "Fanny" Bassett (1739–1777), Frances Dandridge (1744–1757), Elizabeth Aylett Henley (1749–1800), and Mary Dandridge (1756–1763).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cary |first=Wilson Miles |title=The Dandridges of Virginia |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |date=July 1896 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=30–39 |doi=10.2307/1921234 |jstor=1921234 }}</ref> As the oldest of eight, including one sister that was 25 years her junior, Dandridge played a maternal and domestic role beginning early in life.<ref name="watson"/>{{Rp|page=10}} Dandridge may have also had an illegitimate half-sister born into slavery, Ann Dandridge Costin,<ref>{{cite book |last=Wiencek |first=Henry |title=An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America |date=November 12, 2013 |publisher=Macmillan + ORM |isbn=978-1-4668-5659-2 |page=286 |url={{GBurl|9Wr1AAAAQBAJ|p=286}} }}</ref> and an illegitimate white half-brother, Ralph Dandridge.<ref name="Bryan">{{cite book |last=Bryan |first=Helen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aM9jR3aJZKUC&pg=PA26 |title=Martha Washington, First Lady of Liberty |date=2002 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-471-15892-9}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=26–27}} 

Dandridge's father was well connected with the Virginia aristocracy despite his relative lack of wealth, and she was taught to behave as a woman of the upper class.<ref name="diller">{{Cite book |last=Diller |first=Daniel C. |url=https://archive.org/details/presidentsfirstl0000dill/ |title=The Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents: White House Biographies, 1789–2001 |last2=Robertson |first2=Stephen L. |publisher=CQ Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-56802-573-5 |pages=145–146}}</ref> She received a relatively high quality education for the daughter of a planter, though it was still inferior to that of her brothers.<ref name="longo">{{Cite book |last=Longo |first=James McMurtry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVFkQJD7b1wC |title=From Classroom to White House: The Presidents and First Ladies as Students and Teachers |publisher=McFarland |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7864-8846-9 |pages=8–10 |language=en}}</ref> She took to [[equestrianism]], at one point riding her horse up and down the stairs of her uncle's home and escaping chastisement because her father was so impressed by her skill.<ref name="boller">{{Cite book |last=Boller |first=Paul F. |url=https://archive.org/details/presidentialwive0000boll |title=Presidential Wives |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1988 |pages=3–12}}</ref>{{Rp|page=8}}