THE FARMER'S WIFE Martha Dandridge's first husband was a man much older than herself and her second was almost a year younger.

Before she embarked upon her second matrimonial venture she had been the mother of four children, and having lost two of these, her husband, her father and mother, she had known, though only twenty-seven, most of the vital experiences that life can give.

Perhaps it was well, for thereby she was better fitted to be the mate of a man sober and sedate in disposition and created by Nature to bear heavy burdens of responsibility.
In view of the important places her husband filled, it is astonishing how little we really know of her.

Washington occasionally refers to her in his letters and diaries, but usually in an impersonal way that gives us little insight into her character or activities.

She purposely destroyed almost all the correspondence that passed between her and her husband and very little else remains that she wrote.