The house was so small that three of his secretaries had to lodge in one room; and Custis in his Recollections tells how one of them, who fancied he could write poetry, would sometimes disturb the others by walking the floor in his nightgown trying the rhythm of his lines by rehearsing them with loud emphasis.

John Randolph's will set free nearly four hundred in 1833; Monroe Edwards of Louisiana manumitted 160 by deed in 1840;[10] and George W.P. Custis of Virginia liberated his two or three hundred at his death in 1857.

After the last college failure a private tutor was once more engaged, but a very few weeks served to give Washington "a thorough conviction that it was in vain to keep Washington Custis to any literary pursuits, either in a public Seminary or at home," and, as the next best thing, he procured him a cornetcy in the provisional army.

How minute this account was is indicated by an entry in his cash memorandum book for August 21, 1772: "Charge Miss Custis with a hair Pin mended by C. Turner" one shilling.