George Washington Descendant, Author. He gained historical recognition as the step-grandson of George Washington, the first President of the United States, and had literacy accomplishments. Born at Mount Airy, Maryland, to John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert Custis. He was the grandson of Martha Washington by her first marriage to Daniel Parke Custis. After his natural father, John Parke Custis, died in 1781, he and his sister Eleanor were unofficially adopted by General Washington and were raised at Mt. Vernon. Known by the childhood nickname "Tub," Custis became very attached to his step-grandfather, George Washington. Under Washington's counsel, he pursued studies at St. John's College and Princeton. Upon Washington's death, he devoted himself to literary and agricultural pursuits. In 1799, Custis was commissioned as a colonel in the Army and aide-de-camp to General Charles Pickney. Custis also volunteered in the defense of Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812. In 1802, he began the construction of Arlington House on land he had inherited from his natural father. He married Mary Lee Fitzhugh in 1804, and they had four children, but only one, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, survived. His income derived from his inherited estates, though he was generally a poor manager, and his properties were not very profitable. He owned over 100 slaves according to Slave Schedules. He devoted most of his time to painting, playwriting, music, oratory, and promoting the improvement of American agriculture. None of his endeavors were marked by great or lasting success. Regarding himself as the heir to the Washington tradition, Custis collected and displayed a large number of Mt. Vernon relics at Arlington House. He began writing a series of "Recollections of Washington" in the "U.S. Gazette" in 1826, and they were published in book form in 1860. His first play, "The Indian Prophecy," was performed in the Chestnut Street Theater, Philadelphia, in 1830. He also wrote: "The Railroad" and "Pocahontas" in 1830, "North Point of Baltimore Defended" in 1833, and "Eighth of January" in 1834. Custis gave his daughter, Mary, away at her wedding to Lt. Robert E. Lee, Sr. at Arlington House in 1831. Custis increasingly relied on his son-in-law to handle his tangled business affairs. Until his death, Custis retained his rooms in the north wing of Arlington House, which had also become home to his daughter's family. He died there after a short illness in October 1857. In his will, he left the Arlington Plantation of 1100 acres to his daughter Mary Lee. The Federal government confiscated the Arlington Plantation for non-payment of taxes at the start of the American Civil War when Robert E. Lee joined the Confederate army. Eventually, the property became Arlington National Cemetery.