III-C-1. Schedule C: Account of Martha Washington’s Share of the Estate, c.October 1759
III-C-1
Schedule C: Account of Martha Washington’s Share of the Estate, 1759
[c.October 1759]
| Dr | ||
| George Washington Esqr. | Sterling | Currt Money |
| To Mrs Washington’s Dower in the Negroes appraisd1 | £2986. | |
| To Sundries as by the several Inventories2 | 1232. 6. 2 | |
| To Sundries out of the Goods Imported from G: Britain3 | £491.18.7 3/4 | |
| To ⅓ of £540.14.5 made use of for the Estate before the Divi[sio]n4 | 180. 4. 9 1/2 | |
| £491.18.7 3/4 | £4398.10.11 1/2 | |
| Contra Cr. | ||
| Sterling | Currency | |
| By Mrs Washington’s Dower | £1617.18. | £7618. 7.11 1/2 |
D, ViHi: Custis Papers; D, ViLxW: Washington’s Account Book, both in GW’s hand. The copy in the Custis Papers is the more legible, and there does not appear to be any substantive difference between the two. There is also an earlier draft of this document in John Mercer’s hand, using slightly different categories and slightly different figures (ViHi: Custis Papers). In this account Mrs. Washington is charged with the value of the estate assets already assigned to her and is credited with one-third of net estate assets brought over from the general account (doc. III-B), but no balances were struck and no successor account to this one has been found. For references to the likelihood that GW did keep an account for the dower property, see Editorial Note, 20 April 1759–5 Nov. 1761, n.17. The computed balance shows that the estate owed Martha Washington £1,125.19.4½ sterling and £3,219.17 current money. This balance was presumably eliminated when GW took for her certain bonds at the settlement of the estate in 1761. See doc. IV-C, n.2, for the liquid estate assets assigned to Martha Parke Custis in 1761, the rest going to her mother Martha Washington.
1. See doc. III-A and the credit side of the General Account of the Estate (doc. III-B).
2. See doc. III-A–5. Mercer’s draft breaks down this category in the following way: “To Cattle delivered £100 short of ⟨1/3⟩d—421.13.10” (see doc. III-A, n.10); “To Goods taken & used horses includd £491.18.7¾ & 684.6.2”; “To ⅓ of the Hogs delivered 77.7.2”; “To ⅓ of the Sheep delivered 18.18.8”; and “To goods omitted 20.12.6” (ViHi: Custis Papers).
3. See docs. III-B, n.10, and III-A–8.
4. See doc. III-A–4. In Mercer’s draft this item reads: “To ⅓ of 370.4.3 expended for Plantation Use 123.8.1.”