Elizabeth "Eliza" or “Betsey” Parke Custis Law was the eldest surviving daughter of John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert. She was born was born in Mount Airy, Prince George's County, Maryland, the home of her maternal grandparents on August 21, 1776. After the death of her father in 1781 on the Yorktown Campaign, her two youngest siblings Eleanor “Nelly” Parke and George “Washy” Washington Parke, were sent to live with their grandmother, Martha Washington, and step-grandfather, George Washington, at Mount Vernon. Eliza and another sister, Martha "Patty" Parke, remained with their mother, whose remarriage to Dr. David Stuart, led to the birth of six surviving half-siblings.
Early Life
Before the death of her father, Eliza was raised at Abingdon plantation. Although they did not live with the Washingtons full-time after his passing like their two youngest siblings, Eliza and Patty paid lengthy visits to visit them at Mount Vernon and the executive mansions in New York and Philadelphia. When her step-father purchased an estate in nearby Fairfax, the families continued their close relationship. Martha was very involved in her education and upbringing. Eliza shared a warm relationship with her step-grandfather as well.
Marriage and Divorce
It was probably during a visit to Philadelphia in the late winter of 1795 that Custis met Thomas Law, an Englishman twenty years her senior whose family was prominent in church, legal, and political circles. Law was wealthy through is work with the East India Company and immigrated to the United States with his two sons in 1794. He became a developer in the new Federal City of Philadelphia. The couple was married on March 21, 1796, at her step-father’s home in Fairfax. Although unable to attend, Washington assisted in arranging finances related to her estate remarking, “As I am told, Mr Law say’s she may do as she pleases with her fortune.”1 In the year following their marriage, their only surviving child, Elizabeth Parke Law, was born.
Martha planned to traffic a woman she enslaved, Ona Judge, to her grand-daughter as wedding present when the Washingtons left Philadelphia.2 Fearing returning to Virginia or living under a different enslaver, Ona Judge self-emancipated by running away. Her sister, Delphy, was transferred to Eliza instead. In 1807, Eliza and her husband manumitted Delphy and her two children with her husband, a free person of color close to the Washington and Custis families named William Costin.
After Washington’s death, Eliza and her husband were willed one-twenty third of the land remaining in her step-grandfather’s estate.3 Martha willed her a few household items to her such as a dressing table and a portrait of Washington painted by John Trumbull.4 After Martha’s death in 1802, Eliza and her three Custis siblings divided about 150 people enslaved at Mount Vernon considered Custis property from her first marriage. She sold many of those transferred to her, further separating them from their families and communities formed at Mount Vernon.
While living in Philadelphia, the Laws took an active role entertaining many dignitaries and prominent members of the political class. However, following an extended business trip to England, the couple separated during the summer of 1804. Thomas Law was granted custody of their daughter and agreed to pay his wife $1,500 per year. Their separation was subject to gossip as Law continued a plan to build a hotel outside of the new capital in Washington, D.C.5
Later Life
Eliza Parke Custis Law spent the first year after the separation at Riversdale, the Maryland home of an uncle. By this time, it is recorded she again referred to herself by her matron name, Custis. She then purchased a small country property outside of Alexandria called "Mount Washington," but soon became disenchanted with such an isolated life and put it up for sale in 1808. Over the next few years, she engaged in unsuccessful romances with French diplomats and military officers. Further heartbreak came with the death of her daughter in 1821. Her estrangement from her son-in-law limited contact with her three grandchildren.
In her final years, Eliza travelled between friends and relatives as her health worsened. Like her siblings, she saw herself as a steward of the Washington memorabilia in her care. She often made gifts of objects that belonged to her grandparents, and took care to identify those objects within her custody for the benefit her grandchildren. Six days after her death at the home of a friend in Richmond, her body was interred in the family vault at Mount Vernon.
Revised by Zoie Horecny, Ph.D, 24 April 2025
Notes:
1. “To George Washington from David Stuart, 25 February 1796,” Founders Online, National Archives.
2. “From George Washington to Joseph Whipple, 28 November 1796,” Founders Online, National Archives.
3. “George Washington’s Last Will and Testament, 9 July 1799,” Founders Online, National Archives.
4. Will of Martha Washington, 22 September 1800, The Clerk of Circuit Court of Fairfax County.
5. “Louisa Catherine Adams to John Quincy Adams, 17 April 1804,” Founders Online, National Archives.
Bibliography:
Arnebeck, Bob. Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washington 1790-1800. New York: Madison Books, 1991.
Clark, Allen C. Greenleaf and Law in the Federal City. Washington, D.C.: Press of W. F. Roberts, 1901.
Dunbar, Erica Armstrong. Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge. New York: Atria Books, 2017.
Fraser, Flora. The Washingtons: George and Martha Partners in Friendship and Love. Anchor Books, 2015.
