Washington Winter Show 2014

MRS. GOLDSBOROUGH, GUARDIAN OF FAMILY HEIRLOOMS Another early Southern Vice Regent directly linked to George and Martha Washington was Eleanor Agnes Rogers Goldsborough—described as “one of the last representatives of the eighteenth century in dignity of manner and speech.” Born in Maryland in 1822, she was the daughter of Nicholas Lloyd Rogers and his first wife, Eliza Parke Custis Law. Eleanor’s mother was the only child of Elizabeth (Eliza) Parke Custis, the oldest of Martha Washington’s four grandchildren (making Eleanor a great-great granddaughter of Mrs. Washington), and Thomas Law, an executor of George Washington’s will. Eleanor grew up at Druid Hill, the large Rogers estate on the edge of Baltimore. Called “a treasure house of historic heirlooms,” the home was filled with portraits, furniture, and personal belongings from the Washington, Custis, Rogers, and Law families. Mrs. Goldsborough made her first gift to Mount Vernon in 1882 with “a trunk used by Gen. Washington during the war, and marked with his name on a brass plate,” as well as an armchair, a dressing glass, and set of toilet boxes used by Mrs. Washington. Soon after becoming a Vice Regent in 1893, she began presenting other important objects to the fledgling Mount Vernon collection, including George Washington’s copy of The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God Thomas Wilson ; Mrs. Washington’s linen bathing gown; and a handsome mirrored, silver-rimmed plateau, purchased by Gouverneur Morris in Paris, that graced the first president’s dining table in Philadelphia. In 1897 she donated “a card table that has been authenticated as having belonged to General Washington”; it is now the centerpiece of the Mansion’s west parlor. Mrs. Goldsborough also gave Washington-related objects to friends and colleagues. She presented George Washington’s gold pocket watch to Mount Vernon’s longtime superintendent Harrison Howell Dodge, a pair of silver sugar tongs engraved with the Custis family crest to the daughter of President Grover Cleveland, and Martha Washington’s boxwood sewing-and-needlework ruler to fellow Vice Regent Susan Johnson Hudson of Connecticut. Fortunately, all these objects are today part of the Mount Vernon collection, exhibited in the Donald W. Reynolds Museum. This page is sponsored by Karen J. Ivers, DDS, LLC 55 Eleanor Agnes Rogers Goldsborough, the Association’s second Vice Regent for Maryland, was a direct descendant of Martha Washington who grew up surrounded by priceless family heirlooms. Left: This early certificate of deposit details the return of important Washington-owned objects by Mrs. Goldsborough.