First First Lady Worth $6 Million, Documents Show

Newly restored historical documents show that George Washington gained more than a companion when he married Martha--she was a wealthy widow worth more than $6 million in today’s currency.

“Of course, this is what Washington’s fortune was really built upon--Martha’s inheritance,” University of Virginia historian W. W. Abbot said. However, Abbot said Washington was already comfortably fixed when he married. He had his own inheritance, including Mount Vernon, and was a shrewd investor in real estate.

The restored documents were retrieved from a vault at Washington & Lee University here, where they have been stored for decades.

In addition to her money, the papers show that Washington also received 17,000 acres of plantation land that Martha Dandridge Custis Washington and her two children inherited from her first husband, Daniel Parke Custis.

The documents--36 pages from one of Washington’s account books graced with his firm script--”may be the most important addition to George Washington’s material in more than a generation,” Abbot was quoted as saying in the Sunday edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.