WYTHE GEORGE Autograph Letter Signed to Daniel Parke Custis

Sale 2674 - Lot 77

Price Realized: $ 8,125

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000

SIGNER WYTHE, GEORGE. Autograph Letter Signed, to Daniel Parke Custis, reporting that he and [Custis's attorney James] Power both advise that Custis should continue the suit only in the Court of Chancery. 1 page, folio; moderate brittling overall, partly mounted to larger board, few scattered holes with loss of a few words of text, faint scattered dampstaining, few mostly closed separations at folds repaired verso with tissue, addressed in holograph on verso. Sold as is. Williamsburg, 10 April 1754

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In full: "I e[xpected] Mr Power had written to you by Mr. [D]andridge to inform you that a motion would be made that you should try the matter in dispute between you and Moody either in the chancery or common law suit, and not go on with both for the same things. I told Mr Power when the Suits were brought I was apprehensive such a Motion would be made, and I suppose the court will grant it. And as Mr Power and I both think t[he matter] will be better heard in the chan[cery su]it we shall dismiss the others. The chancery suit cannot be tried this court [session?]."
Daniel Parke Custis (1711–1757) was a wealthy VA planter and husband to Martha Dandridge. Custis's suit was initiated against Ann Moody, who was gifted some valuables by Custis's father, allegedly because he did not want them to pass into the hands of Custis's wife. After his father's death in 1749, Custis brought the suit to recover the property. When Custis himself died, Dandridge inherited his wealth and married George Washington in 1759.