Martha gave birth to four children
On November 19, 1751, Martha gave birth to a son called Daniel Parke Custis. A daughter, Frances Parke Custis, was born two months later in April 1753. The children's great-grandfather had placed a stringent restriction on inheritance: only children with the name "Parke" as part of their given name would be entitled to a share of the family estate, even though the first names were conventional family names. Despite leading affluent lives in both social and financial terms, neither Frances nor Daniel would survive to be five. Childhood during the colonial era was when people were most susceptible to illness and death. Only around 60% of babies born at this period survived to be 20 years old. Daniel passed away in 1754, perhaps from malaria; Frances passed away in 1757.
John Parke Custis ("Jacky"), born in 1754, and Martha Parke Custis ("Patsy"), born in 1756, were the other two children that Martha had with Daniel Parke Custis and who would later become the focus of her own life. George was given legal custody of her two surviving children Jacky and Pasty. However, Patsy passed away on June 19, 1773, at the age of seventeen following a particularly severe incident. The only child still living of Martha Custis, John Parke Custis, passed away on November 5, 1781, a few weeks before he turned twenty-seven.
George and Martha were never able to have children together, even though George raised Jacky and Patsy as his own. The majority of historians concur that Martha wasn't the problem, despite 18th-century machismo making it usual practice to blame the woman if reproductive problems developed. The likelihood that George was sterile was much higher likely as a result of developing TB as a young child. George sent almost eighteen thousand letters to other people, but never once did he mention that it troubled him that he didn't have any children of his own. Along with Jacky and Patsy, he and Martha shared the responsibility of raising four grandchildren as well as several nieces and nephews.
