Henry, Thank you for the post, it was very informative. Anita -- Henry Wiencek <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Jane Steele asks about the "dower slaves" at Mount Vernon. Martha Dandridge married the wealthy planter Daniel Parke Custis, who died suddenly at about age 46, leaving Martha with two children, a lot of cash and land, and a couple of hundred slaves. She then married George Washington. Neither George Washington nor Martha Washington ever owned any of the Custis land or slaves, which were entailed to Jacky Custis, the only son of Martha and the late Daniel Parke Custis. Jacky married and his children became the heirs of the Custis land and slaves. One of those heirs, the only male, was George Washington Parke Custis, who grew up at Mount Vernon and with his inheritance built Arlington, named for the old Custis estate in Accomack County, now Arlington National Cemetery. GWP Custis's only child, Mary, married Robert E. Lee. It is sometimes said that Robert E. Lee freed his slaves during the Civil War, but Lee did not own any slaves. The slaves he freed had belonged to his father-in-law, GWP Custis, who died just before the Civil War and had made Lee his executor with the requirement that Lee free the Custis slaves within five years. Many of those people had come from Mount Vernon. Jacky Custis's plantation, Abingdon, is now Reagan National Airport; it has been excavated and the site can be visited. As I said, the Custis slaves belonged neither to George Washington nor to Martha, but to the Custis Estate until Jacky Custis reached majority. For her lifetime Martha received part of the income from the labor of those slaves, and the rest of the income went to Jacky and then to his heirs. GW and Martha could not free those slaves or sell them. Thus, when George Washington tried to free his slaves during his presidency, he had to negotiate with Jacky's heirs because GW's slaves had intermarried with Custis slaves, and GW did not want to break up families by freeing his slaves while leaving their Custis-owned spouses and children in slavery. The Custis heirs refused to free their slaves, thus frustrating Washington's manumission plan. Washington freed his slaves in his will, a document that refers to "evasion" and "pretenses," making it clear that the general did not trust the Custises. A long answer to a short question. If I have made any mistakes I will be pleased to be corrected by the learned members of this list. Henry Wiencek Charlottesville P.S. I am not a "Dr." but a plain "Mr." _____________________________________________________________ Click here to increase your salary by earning an online degree. http://3rdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2211/fc/Ioyw6ijmibpJJIHOJZl9Jz8oGlji31S1B7eEiVaCjP5dJ13dEsQJ4f/