Moll

Molly “Moll” was born around 1739.¹ Martha Washington’s first husband, Daniel Parke Custis, was one of the wealthiest plantation and slave owners in Virginia. When he died in 1757, Martha received one-third of his property through dower property laws, including eighty-four enslaved people.² Moll was one of these individuals. In 1759, at nineteen years old, Moll was sent to Mount Vernon, following Martha’s marriage to George Washington. She was listed as a nanny and seamstress for Martha’s children, John “Jacky” Parke Custis and Martha “Patsy” Parke Custis.³ 

When the Washingtons moved into the first President’s House in New York in 1789, Moll went with them, this time as a lady’s maid to Martha and nanny to Martha’s youngest grandchildren, Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis and George Washington “Wash” Parke Custis. It is likely she slept on a thin straw mattress at the foot of either Nelly or Wash’s bed. Moll continued working at the second President’s House in New York and at the President’s House in Philadelphia. She continually appears in accounts for the President’s House kept by Washington’s private secretary, Tobias Lear.⁴ In addition, Moll may have earned a small amount of money from the Washingtons. A household expense account from March 1790 indicates that Moll received four dollars per month.⁵ According to the 1780 Gradual Abolition Law in Pennsylvania, an enslaved person residing in the state became free after six months’ time. Therefore, Washington rotated enslaved people, including Moll, between Mount Vernon and Philadelphia to ensure he did not have to free them. ⁶ 

Moll returned to Mount Vernon at the conclusion of Washington’s presidency in 1797. One account of George Washington’s death in 1799 indicates Moll may have been present: “Caroline, Molly & Charlotte were in the room standing near the door.”⁷ She continued to work for Martha Washington after George Washington’s death. A receipt shows that Martha spent ten dollars for “medicine and attendance on old Negro Molly.” Following Martha Washington’s death in 1802, if Moll was still living she likely was inherited by one of Martha’s grandchildren. Additional information about her life is currently unknown.⁸