[4] In 1778, John Parke Custis purchased Abingdon, a 900-acre (3.6 km2) plantation on the west bank of the Potomac River (now the site of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport).

[4] Painted in Philadelphia between 1794 and 1795 by Walter Robertson, the miniature was a watercolor on ivory, set in gold, and depicted Washington in his Continental Army uniform.

[11] Thomas almost immediately auctioned them off to raise cash,[11] an action that may have inspired the stern rebuke against the breaking up of slave families that George Washington delivered in his will.

[4] Martha Peter inherited approximately 35 dower slaves from Mount Vernon following her grandmother's death (from grandfather Daniel Parke Custis's estate).

The couple commissioned Dr. William Thornton,[4] architect of the United States Capitol, to design their mansion which they named Tudor Place.