Stuart, David, 1753-1814

David Stuart (August 3, 1753 – October 1814) was a Virginia physician, politician, and correspondent of George Washington. When Washington became President of the United States, he made Stuart one of three commissioners appointed to design a new United States capital city. After studying medicine in Europe he returned to the United States in 1778 and established a medical practice in Alexandria, Virginia, and mostly lived and farmed outside the city in Fairfax County; he used enslaved labor on his farm. He also served as a representative to the Virginia House of Delegates.

In 1783 Stuart married Eleanor Calvert Custis, the widow of Washington's stepson John Parke Custis and a descendant of Cecilius Calvert, Lord Baltimore, who had received the charter for the Maryland colony. Stuart operated the property that Custis wanted his children to inherit when they came of age, and also helped raise John Parke Custis's and Eleanor's children. Daughters Elizabeth Parke Custis Law and Martha Parke Custis Peter lived with the Stuarts, while Eleanor Parke Custis and George Washington Parke Custis spent considerable time with George and Martha Washington. The Stuarts and their family resided at three estates in Fairfax County: Abingdon, Hope Park, and Ossian Hall. Eleanor and David had 16 children of their own before her death.