Editing Martha Washington (section)

==Marriage to Daniel Parke Custis (1749–1757)==
In 1749, Dandridge met [[Daniel Parke Custis]], the son of a wealthy planter in Virginia.<ref name="diller"/> They wished to marry, but the father of Dandridge's prospective groom, [[John Custis]], was highly selective of what woman would marry into the family's fortune. She eventually won his approval, and Dandridge married Custis, who was two decades her senior, on May 15, 1750.<ref name="schneider"/>{{Rp|page=2}} After they were married, Custis moved with her husband to his residence at [[White House Plantation]] on the [[Pamunkey River]]. Here they had four children: Daniel, born 1751; Frances, born 1753; John, born 1754; and Martha, born 1756. Daniel died in 1754 and Frances died in 1757.<ref name="gould">{{Cite book |last=Brady |first=Patricia |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780815325857/ |title=American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy |publisher=Garland Publishing |year=1996 |isbn=0-8153-1479-5 |editor-last=Gould |editor-first=Lewis L. |pages=2–15 |chapter=Martha (Dandridge Custis) Washington}}</ref>{{Rp|page=4}} Daniel Parke Custis was one of the wealthiest men in the Virginia colony as well as one of the largest slaveowners, owning nearly 300 slaves.<ref name="slaves">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2015 |title=Martha Washington & Slavery |encyclopedia=George Washington's Mount Vernon: Digital Encyclopedia |publisher=[[Mount Vernon Ladies' Association]] |url=http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/martha-washington/martha-washington-slavery/ |access-date=December 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905135455/http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/martha-washington/martha-washington-slavery/ |archive-date=September 5, 2015}}</ref>

Custis became a widow at the age of 26 when her husband died (possibly from a severe infection of the throat).<ref>{{cite web |last=Brady |first=Patricia |title=Daniel Parke Custis (1711–1757) |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/custis-daniel-parke-1711-1757 |publisher=[[Virginia Humanities#Encyclopedia Virginia|Encyclopedia Virginia]]/[[Dictionary of Virginia Biography]] |access-date=November 13, 2023 |date=December 7, 2020}}</ref> Upon his death, she inherited the large estate that he had previously inherited from his father.<ref name="diller"/> After his death in 1757, she received [[Dower|one third of his estate]] outright, and the remaining two thirds were granted to their two young children. The total inheritance amounted to approximately $33,000 ({{Inflation|index=US|value=33,000|start_year=1757|fmt=eq}}), 17,000 acres of land, and hundreds of slaves.<ref name="schneider"/>{{Rp|page=2}} The legal and financial matters of the inheritance presented a considerable burden on Custis while she was raising her two surviving children and grieving the losses of her husband, two children, and her father.<ref name="gould"/>{{Rp|page=4}} She was also left with the responsibility of managing the farmland and overseeing the well-being of the slaves.<ref name="schneider"/>{{Rp|page=2}} According to her biographer, "she capably ran the five plantations left to her when her first husband died, bargaining with London merchants for the best tobacco prices".<ref name="Schulte">{{Cite news |last=Schulte |first=Brigid |date=February 2, 2009 |title=Fresh Look at Martha Washington: Less First Frump, More Foxy Lady  |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/01/AR2009020102023.html }}</ref>