Letter, Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis to George Washington Parke Custis, 1849

Containers:

Box 70, Folder 1849.12.03

Creator:

Lewis, Eleanor Parke Custis, 1779-1852 and Custis, George Washington Parke, 1781-1857

Scope and content:

A.L.S. 4 pages. Audley. A short commentary on the weather and season. She then records for her brother a short but graphic description of Houdon's visit to Mt. Vernon and his making GW's Bust. "I wish I could give you all the information you desire in regard to Houdon's visit to Mt. Vernon. I was only six years old at that time, and perhaps have not retained any recollection of Houdon and his visit had I not seen the General as I supposed, dead, and laid out on a large table coverd with a sheet. I was passing the white servants Hall and saw as I thought the corpse of one considered my Father, I went in, and found the General extended on his back on a large table, a sheet over him, except his face, on which Houdon was engaged in putting on plaster to form the cast. Quills were in the nostrills. I was very much alarmed until I was told that it was a bust, a likeness of the General, and would not injure him. This is all I recollect."

Names:

Lewis, Eleanor Parke Custis, 1779-1852
Custis, George Washington Parke, 1781-1857

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