George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were wed in January of 1759. Both were twenty-seven years old, and they had spent a total of fewer than three weeks together.

But to her good fortune, Patsy, who would go by Martha after the birth of little Patsy, was a widow of means, and had her pick of suitors. One of them, we now well know, was George Washington.

The Custis children’s names were absent for good reason: They were not blood-related to George Washington at all. They would appear on a separate family tree only for the Custis family, into ...

George Washington was Martha’s second husband. She married her first husband, Daniel Parke Custis, a prominent Virginia landowner and enslaver, in 1750. They had four children, two of whom ...

On Jan. 6, 1796, George Washington, the sitting president in the temporary capital of Philadelphia, wrote a long letter to his teenage step-granddaughter with relationship advice.

He was the father of Daniel Custis, first husband of Martha Washington who would, of course, go on to later marry George Washington, which is why historians first took interest in Custis.

So dear was the dessert that Washington is said to have spent $200 in 1790 — nearly $5,000 in today’s dollars — to satisfy his insatiable craving for the cool and creamy treat.