Martha Parke Custis (1756 – June 19, 1773) was a stepdaughter of George Washington who died from an epileptic seizure at the age of 17, fifteen years before he was elected as the first president of the United States.

[12][13] He recorded purchases of a tortoiseshell comb, gold earrings, a silk coat, black-and-white satin pumps, a pet parrot, and a spinet for her, as well as payment for music lessons.

[5] Rather than keeping her seizures secret, the Washingtons were open about them, which was unusual at the time, and tried to help Patsy live the same kind of life as other girls her age, entertaining friends at Mount Vernon or visiting Williamsburg.

[12] Other doctors who treated her included Hugh Mercer of Fredricksburg, George Steptoe of Westmoreland County, John de Sequeyra, William Pasteur, and Arthur Lee.

[7] Over time, she was also given ether, powders, "nervous drops", "a large juleep", Peruvian bark or cinchona, plasters of unknown composition, factitious cinnabar, and other decoctions.

[5] Despite the increase in the number of seizures, the Washingtons encouraged Patsy to keep up her routine activities as much as possible, including playing music and singing for guests at Mount Vernon.

According to George Washington, at a family gathering at Mount Vernon on June 19, Patsy "rose from Dinner about four o'clock in better health and spirits than she appeared to have been for some time.

Patsy was having a quiet conversation with her brother's fiancée, Eleanor Calvert, after dinner when she went to her room to retrieve a letter from Jacky, who was attending college in New York.

Eleanor heard a noise coming from Patsy's room to find her in the midst of a seizure – which Washington described as "one of her usual Fits"[2] – after which she was moved into her bed.

[12][2] In a letter to her brother Jacky, George Washington wrote, "yesterday removed the Sweet Innocent Girl into a more happy and peaceful abode than any she has met with in the afflicted Path she hitherto has trod.

A coffin was built overnight by a carpenter from Alexandria; a funeral service was read at Mount Vernon by Reverend Lee Massey, rector of Truro Parish; and Custis was buried "in an old brick vault close to the river".