Mary Lee "Molly" Fitzhugh Custis (April 22, 1788 – April 23, 1853) was an Episcopal lay leader in Alexandria County (now Arlington County, Virginia, United States). She was the mother of Mary Anna Randolph Custis who was the wife of

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

. Early in the 1820s, Molly Custis helped form a coalition of women who hoped to eradicate slavery.

Early life

The daughter of William Fitzhugh (1741–1809) a member of the Continental Congress, and

Ann Bolling Randolph Fitzhugh William Fitzhugh (August 24, 1741June 6, 1809) was an American planter, legislator and patriot during the American Revolutionary War who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress for Virginia in 1779, as well as many terms in the House o ...

, Molly Custis was most likely born at

Chatham Manor Chatham Manor is a Georgian-style mansion home completed in 1771 by farmer and statesman William Fitzhugh, after about three years of construction, on the Rappahannock River in Stafford County, Virginia, opposite Fredericksburg. It was for mor ...

, in Stafford County, Virginia.

Marriage and Family

On July 7, 1804, she married

George Washington Parke Custis George Washington Parke Custis (April 30, 1781 – October 10, 1857) was an American plantation owner, antiquarian, author, and playwright. His father John Parke Custis was the stepson of George Washington. He and his sister Eleanor grew u ...

, an orator, playwright, writer, and the grandson of

Martha Custis Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...

through her first marriage to

Daniel Parke Custis Daniel Parke Custis (October 15, 1711 – July 8, 1757) was an American planter and politician who was the first husband of Martha Dandridge. After his death, Dandridge married George Washington, who later became the first president of the Unite ...

. Molly Custis thus became

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

's step-granddaughter-in-law. Molly's father William Fitzhugh and George Washington were long-time friends, with Washington mentioning in his diaries the hospitality of Molly's mother

; a visit to William Fitzhugh turned out to be the last time Washington left Mt. Vernon before his death. The Custises lived at Arlington House, an plantation in Alexandria County, Virginia. Of their four daughters, only Mary Anna Randolph Custis, who later married

, survived childhood; Lee's father Henry had famously eulogized President Washington at the 1799 funeral. Molly's brother,

William Henry Fitzhugh William Henry Fitzhugh (March 9, 1792 – May 21, 1830) was Virginia planter and politician who served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, as well as in the Virginia constitutional convention of 1829–1830 and as an officer of the A ...

, supported his niece Anne Lee and her six children by allowing them to stay at his home in

Fairfax County Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...

Ravensworth Ravensworth is a village and civil parish in the Holmedale valley, within the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is approximately north-west of Richmond and from Darlington. The parish has a population of 255, according ...

where she died in 1829. In 1824, when

was 17,

wrote to the Secretary of War,

John C. Calhoun John Caldwell Calhoun (; March 18, 1782March 31, 1850) was an American statesman and political theorist from South Carolina who held many important positions including being the seventh vice president of the United States from 1825 to 1832. He ...

, urging that Robert be given an appointment to the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

at West Point.

Religious influence

Molly Custis was a member of a family network in northern Virginia that helped revive the state's Episcopal Church in the first part of the nineteenth century. She particularly influenced her cousin, Bishop

William Meade William Meade (November 11, 1789March 14, 1862) was an American Episcopal bishop, the third Bishop of Virginia. Early life His father, Colonel Richard Kidder Meade (1746–1805), one of George Washington's aides during the War of Independence, ...

. Molly Custis promoted Sunday schools and supported the work of the American Colonization Society. Molly followed the teachings of the

Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...

, with its emotional surrender to a just but inscrutable God and rejection of transient worldly pleasures.

Death

She died at Arlington on April 23, 1853, a day after her 65th birthday and was buried on the estate. Her husband survived her by four years, at which point Arlington House and the grounds were inherited by their daughter Mary Anna Randolph Custis, Mrs.

References

*^ Death notice and tribute in ''Alexandria Gazette'', May 16, 27, 1853.

External links

Custis and Lee family biographies by the National Park Service
{{DEFAULTSORT:Custis, Mary Lee Fitzhugh 1788 births 1853 deaths People from Arlington County, Virginia People from Stafford County, Virginia Custis family of Virginia Washington family Fitzhugh family of Virginia Bolling family of Virginia 18th-century American Episcopalians 19th-century American Episcopalians 18th-century American women 19th-century American women Burials at Arlington National Cemetery