John Custis (abt. 1733 - 1781)

Born about 1733 in Virginia

Ancestors

Died Sep 1781 at about age 48 in Virginia [uncertain]

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Biography

John Custis is a part of US Black heritage.

John "Jack" Custis was born about 1733. He was the natural son of John Custis IV and Alice, his enslaved woman.

Custis recognized John, who he called Jack, as his natural son. He even had a portrait made of John and that portrait is considered the first documented portrait of a person of African descent as the primary subject. ^[1]

Custis freed Jack in February 1748 and deeded him 250 acres of land on Queen’s Creek in York County and Jack's mother, all of her other children, and four male slaves about ten years old of his own choosing.

Custis posted a bond that required his heirs to provide Jack with £20, fine clothing, and provisions each year until he reached age twenty-one, and in his will instructed Daniel Parke Custis to build John a house furnished with Russian leather chairs, two black walnut tables, and three feather beds.^[2]

John passed away in Sep 1781^[3].

Sources

1. ↑ https://colonialvirginiaportraits.org/portrait/john-custis-ca-1733-1751/
2. ↑ https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/custis-john-1678-1749/
3. ↑ Lynch, James B. The Custis Chronicles, The Virginia Generations, 1997.

• John Custis IV’s Will, Custis Family Papers, Virginia Historical Society