Dorthea went every morning to get their hair powdered and were gay with the other young ladies of the towns at parties, balls, and other social events that happen to come up. Martha was soon known through the city as the lovely young girl from New Kent. Before too long this news reached old John Custis and he had convinced himself that maybe he had misjudged this girl. The only way to set it right was to go down and meet her himself, and that he did. One afternoon John Custis went to Williamsburg to see for himself what all the fuss was about and he found himself infront of the home of Nat and Dorthea to find a little young girl working in the garden. He stopped and chatted with her for a second and soon she found herself telling him about her gardens and her home back in New Kent. Martha had made such an impression on this bitter old man that when he returned back to his home he sent out word immediately to his son for his permission for the marriage of the two. Martha and Daniel were over joyed at the news and so when Martha was eighteen she was married for the first time to the rich Daniel Custis. She was delightfully happy for the next for years, and she had even won the heart of her father-in-law, who was before the bitter old Custis gentleman. Daniel was in love with his new bride and he loved to see her happy, he pampered her with finery from England. He wanted to give her anything in the world that she wanted. Unfortunately the years were few; Daniel died after a brief illness when Martha was only twenty-six. She was left widowed with two children, Jacky who was three and Patsy who was less than a year old, and without a will she was also left with the running of their plantation; which alone held over seventeen thousand acres. Martha was heartbroken and she swore then that her life was over, but slowly, she was back to her ways of working around the plantation and taking care of things to which she knew she had to do, with the ...
