Who was Martha Washington's first husband?

Martha Washington married Daniel Parke Custis on May 15, 1750. She met her first husband, Daniel Parke Custis, at their local Anglican church. Daniel Parke Custis became interested in marrying Martha Dandridge when he was in his late thirties.

He lived on his own plantation, which was situated four miles downstream from the Dandridge home on the Pamunkey River. Custis’s imperious father had quashed a number of Daniel’s previous efforts to wed. When word of his son’s interest in Martha surfaced, John Custis IV initially opposed any idea of marriage. He insisted that the Dandridges lacked sufficient wealth and status to marry into his family. Therefore, he threatened to disinherit his son.

At 38, Daniel Parke Custis was nearly twenty years older than his new wife, Martha who was 18, and significantly older than the average Virginia man who married for the first time at age 27. Yet by waiting until he found a woman of whom his father approved, Daniel Parke Custis guaranteed his own financial future as well as that of his wife and future heirs.

Martha’s marriage to Daniel Parke Custis, who died on July 8, 1757, lasted just over seven years. In 1759, Martha married George Washington; they were married for nearly 40 years.