Washington, Martha (nee Dandridge; Mrs. Martha Dandridge Custis)

1731 – She was born on the 2nd day of June this year in in Kew Kent County near Williamsburg, Virginia.

1749 – At the age of 18, she married Daniel Parke Custis, a rich bachelor two decades her senior. They lived together at White House Plantation a few miles upriver from Chestnut Grove. She had four children by Custis.

1757 – Her husband died this year, leaving her a rich widow, with independent control over a dower inheritance for her lifetime and trustee control over the inheritance of her minor children.

1759 – She married Colonel George Washington on the 6th of January this year.

1776 – She had a row galley named in honor of her, the USS Lady Washington. It holds the distinction of being the first U.S. military ship to be named in honor of a woman and for a vessel named while the person was still alive.

1802 – She died this year at Mount Vernon.

1831 – Her remains were moved from their original burial site a few hundred feet to a brick tomb that overlooks the Potomac River.

1902 – She was the first American woman to be commemorated by a U.S. postal stamp.