"Never feel remorse for what you have thought about your wife; she has thought much worse things about you." Jean Rostand, Le Mariage, 1927While away on business in England, affluent, prominent Virginian Col. Daniel Parke of Queens Creek Plantation, York County, VA, wrote to his daughter Francis concerning marriage and courtship: “If any young man courts you, that you think you can love, I will give as good a fortune as he can have.” The suitor who won the hand of Francis was Hon. John Custis, Esq.
At the Colonial Williamsburg digital library, it says this about their relationship:
"In June, 1714 because of some differences and quarrels between John Custis and his wife, Frances, a marriage agreement was drawn up to the end that all animosities and unkindness should cease and a more perfect love be sustained. The marriage had been a stormy one. Whether this agreement helped is not known for on March 14, 1715 Frances Custis died."A digital copy of this painting is also online at the Colonial Williamsburg website.
According to "Founding Mothers: Women of America in the Revolutionary Era" by Linda Grant De Pauw, John Custis and his wife Francis Parke fought constantly, except for those times when they refused to speak to each other at all. They even agreed at one point to enter into a formal truce, which stipulated, among other things, that they not call each other “vile names” and should “behave themselves to each other as a good husband & wife ought to do.” Author Linda Grant DePauw says Francis agreed to stop meddling in John’s business affairs, and that John agreed to stop meddling as
John and Francis must have found each other agreeable at least once, as they are the parents of Daniel Park Custis, first husband of Martha Dandridge, who later married George Washington.
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