Lawrence Lewis was a nephew of George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

 who married Nelly Custis

Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis

Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis , known as Nelly, was the granddaughter of Martha Washington and the step-granddaughter of George Washington.-Childhood:Nelly was the daughter of John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert Custis...

, a granddaughter of Martha Washington

Martha Washington

Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington is considered to be the first First Lady of the United States...

.

He was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia

Fredericksburg, Virginia

Fredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...

 in 1767 to Fielding Lewis

Fielding Lewis

Fielding Lewis was a Colonel during the American Revolutionary War and the brother-in-law of George Washington....

 and Betty Washington Lewis

Betty Washington Lewis

Betty Washington Lewis was the younger sister of George Washington and the only sister to live to adulthood. She was the first daughter of Augustine Washington and Mary Ball Washington. She is considered a "founding mother" of America.She was born Elizabeth Washington in Westmoreland County,...

, the sister of George Washington. He volunteered for service in 1794 to help suppress the Whiskey Rebellion

Whiskey Rebellion

The Whiskey Rebellion, or Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their corn in the form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they strongly resented...

 and served as aide-de-camp to General Daniel Morgan

Daniel Morgan

Daniel Morgan was an American pioneer, soldier, and United States Representative from Virginia. One of the most gifted battlefield tacticians of the American Revolutionary War, he later commanded troops during the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion.-Early years:Most authorities believe that...

, achieving the rank of major

Major

Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

.

Washington, after finishing his tenure as president, called on several of his nephews to assist him at his Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon

The name Mount Vernon is a dedication to the English Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon. It was first applied to Mount Vernon, the Virginia estate of George Washington, the first President of the United States...

 plantation. On August 4, 1797, he wrote to Lewis inviting him to serve as his personal secretary.

While at Mount Vernon, Lewis came to know Eleanor "Nelly" Parke Custis, the granddaughter of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington and Daniel Parke Custis

Daniel Parke Custis

Daniel Parke Custis was a wealthy Virginia planter whose widow, Martha, married George Washington.He was the son of John Custis , a powerful member of Virginia's Governor's Council, and Frances Parke Custis...

. She and her brother, George Washington Parke Custis

George Washington Parke Custis

George Washington Parke Custis , the step-grandson of United States President George Washington, was a nineteenth-century American writer, orator, and agricultural reformer.-Family:...

, had been informally adopted by George and Martha Washington after the 1781 death of their father, John Parke Custis

John Parke Custis

John Parke Custis was a Virginia planter, the son of Martha Washington and stepson of George Washington.-Childhood:...

. At Mount Vernon she acted as the social director, entertaining the many visitors to the former president.

Lewis and Nelly Custis were married at Mount Vernon on February 22, 1799,
and resided there for the first several years of their marriage. Their first child, Frances Parke Lewis, was born there on November 27, 1799.

After George Washington's death on December 14, 1799, Lewis served as the primary executor of his will. As a wedding gift from the Washingtons, the couple had received 2000 acres (8.1 km²) of the Mount Vernon plantation. From 1800 to 1805, Lewis oversaw the construction of the Woodlawn Plantation

Woodlawn Plantation

Woodlawn Plantation is a historic home located in Fairfax County, Virginia, and was originally a part of Mount Vernon, George Washington's historic plantation estate....

, designed by the physician-architect William Thornton

William Thornton

Dr. William Thornton was a British-American physician, inventor, painter and architect who designed the United States Capitol, an authentic polymath...

.

Lewis and his wife lived at Woodlawn until about 1830, when they settled at the new Audley estate in what is now Clarke County, Virginia

Clarke County, Virginia

Clarke County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the population was 14,034. Its county seat is Berryville.-History:Clarke County was established in 1836 by Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron who built a home, Greenway Court, on part of his 5 million acre property,...

. Lewis had purchased the tract of 571 acres (2.3 km²) from George Washington's extensive real estate holdings. He died in 1839 in Arlington, Virginia and was buried in the vault at Mount Vernon, close to the sarcophagi of George and Martha Washington.

The Lewises had eight children, four of whom lived past infancy:

• Frances Parke Lewis (1799-1875) -- married Edward George Washington Butler, nephew of General Richard Butler
  Richard Butler (general)
  Richard Butler was an officer in the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War, who later died fighting American Indians in Ohio.-Early life:...
  
  .
• Martha Betty Lewis (1801-1802)
• Lawrence Fielding Lewis (1802-1802)
• Lorenzo Lewis (1803-1847) -- father of Edward Parke Custis Lewis
  Edward Parke Custis Lewis
  Edward Parke Custis Lewis was a Confederate Army colonel, lawyer, legislator, and diplomat who served as United States Minister to Portugal from 1885 to 1889.-Biography:...
  
  , grandfather of Esther Maria Lewis Chapin
  Esther Maria Lewis Chapin
  Esther Maria "Lili" Lewis Chapin was an American socialite. She was a direct descendant of Betty Washington Lewis, the sister of George Washington. An evening gown she wore in 1888 set a world auction record when sold in 2001.-Biography:Esther Maria Lewis was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1871...
  
  .
• Eleanor Agnes Freire Lewis (1805-1820)
• Fielding Augustine Lewis (1807-1809)
• George Washington Custis Lewis (1810-1811)
• Martha Eleanor Angela Lewis (1813-1878)