you were anyone in society, you came to williamsburg. her mother was in williamsburg society. when she came of age where she was being brought into society, she was being brought to the assemblies here. she was at the balls at the royal governors palace. ies.was at the assembly' when it is time to be brought out into polite society, williamsburg was the place to be because her mother knew williamsburg was where her daughter needed to be. martha falls in love with her first husband, daniel. she knows he is a farmer, a plantation owner, but what she does not know is daniel is the son of john, who owned severn properties here in williamsburg, all the northern, most of the eastern shore, and she falls in love with his son, daniel, thinking it is just a man. when daniel says to his father, i want to mary martha, john says her family is not for urgent enough to marry into us. he said no. the damages were well known. her father was a close -- martha was well known for the amicable person audi. people fell in love with her. they go to john on martha's behalf and say, if you could meet

if you were anyone in society, you came to williamsburg. her mother was in williamsburg society. when she came of age where she was being brought into society, she was being brought to the assemblies here. she was at the balls at the royal governor's palace. she was at the assemblies. when it was time to be brought out into polite society, williamsburg was the place to be because her mother knew williamsburg was where her daughter needed to be. martha falls in love with her first husband, daniel custis. she knows he is a farmer, a plantation owner, but what she does not know is daniel is the son of john custis, who owned several properties here in williamsburg, all the northern, most of the eastern shore, and she falls in love with his son, daniel, thinking it is just a man. when daniel says to his father, i want to marry martha, john says her family is not fortunate enough to marry into us. he said no. her family was well known. her father was a clerk. martha was well known for her amicable personality. people fell in love with her. they go to john on martha's behalf and say, if

we're going to learn a little more about martha washington's life in williamsburg next. >> williamsburg is as close to her home town as martha washington would ever get. she was connected with this place from well before she was born. her great grandfather works land jones, was the first recognize for of the parish church from about 1664 to 1688, you can't get morel bedded in the life of this town than that. her grandfather orlando jones we have his house that is reconstructed here on duke of gloucester street and they owned a plantation at queens creek outside of town. then their daughter frances married john dandridge, who was an up and coming planter and they moved to new kent county, which is no more than 30-miles away. and that's where martha was, that's where that that was born at chestnut grove. and her growing up there, williamsburg was then the center of political and social and cultural life in all of virginia, but certainly in this part of virginia. so given the fact that her father was engaged in a lot of political and economic activity, this is the place where she would hav

if you were anyone in society, you came to williamsburg. her mother was in williamsburg society. when she came of age where she was being brought into society, she was being brought to the assemblies and balls here. she was at the balls at the royal governor's palace. she was at the assemblies at places like the raleigh tavern. when it was time to be brought out into polite society, williamsburg was the place to be because her mother knew williamsburg was where her daughter needed to be. martha falls in love with her first husband, daniel custis. she knows he is a farmer, a plantation owner, but what she does not know is daniel is the son of john custis, who owned several properties here in williamsburg, all the northern, -- the northern neck, most of the eastern shore, and she falls in love with his son, daniel, thinking it is just a man from new kent. when daniel says to his father, i want to marry martha, john says her family is not fortunate enough to marry into us. he said no. her family was well known. her father was a clerk. martha was well known for her amiable personalit

we're going to learn a little more about martha washington's life in williamsburg next. >> williamsburg is as close to her home town as martha washington would ever get. she was connected with this place from well before she was born. her great grandfather, roland jones, was the first recognize for of the parish church from about 1664 to 1688, you can't et morel bedded in the life of this town than that. her grandfather orlando jones we have his house that is reconstructed here on duke of gloucester street and they owned a plantation at queens creek outside of town. then their daughter frances married john dandridge, who was an up and coming planter and they moved to new kent county, which is no more than 30 miles away. and that's where martha was, that's where that that was born at chestnut grove. and her growing up there, williamsburg was then the center of political and social and cultural life in all of virginia, but certainly in this part of virginia. so given the fact that her father was engaged in a lot of political and economic activity, this is the place where she would have co

her mother was in a williamsburg society. when she became of age to be prodded to society, she was being brought to the balls and assemblies here. she was at the balls at the royal governor's palace. she was certainly at the assembly's, at places like the ;raleigh tavern. when it is time to be brought out into polite society, williamsburg was the place to be because her mother knew that williamsburg was where her daughter needed to be. martha falls in love with daniel kuster. us. he is a farmer, a plantation owner but she does not know that daniel custus the son of john theus who owns most of property around the area. she falls in love with his son daniel thinking he is a man from new can't. when daniel go to as father and says i want to mary mart dan says she is not fortunate enough to marry into the custus'. martha's father was a clerk of new kent and she had an amiable personality. that is the one notion that people fell in love with their. john blair and john proctor go to john custus on march the's behalf and tell him if

this is short of the beating heart of williamsburgs. all of the political activity, the social activity, they're really living the center of it in this fantastic 18th century house that they were living in as john tyler is resurrecting his political career. they have they moved here when le tisha was running the household. she was running their various plantations. right here she suffered a stroke in 1839. that partly paralyzed her. although she was still able to retain control of the family account, of all the family business while john tyler was getting back involved in politics. it's right here in this space that john tyler learned that he was elected vice president to william henry harrison. it's also here in the spring of 1841 where he was informed that he became 10th president of the united states. it was here that le tisha tyler learned that she became the first lady of the united states. >> when her term was over, julia tyler and the president retired to their plantation along the james river. >> the tylers was born in charles c

and what was interesting about that piece of clothing was when we had it conserved by the people of williamsburg virginia. they found that the tiny but tons on the front of the dress were filled with dried peas. so that's what her dress maker did for her with french fashion also as she grew older and her hair became very very thin, she did have some real human hair curls sewed into her turbins and put that on in the morning with her curls showing and she looked younger she thought. the way the greensboro historical museum came into possession of these wonderful items including beautiful silk shoes and carved ivory calling cases is they received it from some folks who brought a trunk at auction that was sort of a hidden treasure. and i want to know what these ladies know about the finding of that trunk that was hidden behind a wall. and i want to say it was in philadelphia. but i want to know how the person that had that hidden behind the wall got those very important things and had them? >> thanks so much for the details. >> i'll answer quickly because i want to say this is happening in the 1950

this is the beating heart of williamsburg even in the 1830's. all the social activity, they are really living at the center of it in this fantastic 18th- century house. after they moved here, when letitia is running the going to behe is operating out of a house. she is running their various plantations all over the place. 1839.ffered a stroke and she is still able to retain control of the family at counts, of all the family business while john tyler was getting back involved. he went to was elected as vice president. it is here in the spring of 1841 when he was informed that he became 10 president of the united states. letitia tyler learned that she became the first lady of the united states. over,when her term was juliett tyler and the president retired to the plantation a long be james river. atte john tyler was born greenway. he purchased this house at the end of his presidential term. he came down here once before he was able to retire. he brought with him julia gardiner. she said the hand of god in nature have been counted to my sharewood f

our second guest, returning to us from an earlier program, taylor sturmer, a historian for colonial williamsburg. welcome to the conversation. the election.ut anybody who thinks there is hard knuckle politics today, look at the election of 1884 that brought grover cleveland into the white house. pretty rough stuff. what was it like? guest: politics is brutal. we do think about earlier elections in american history in which they are taking swings at each other like jefferson and , but in 1800 election politics in 1880s, with the growth of the newspapers, is personal, visceral, and because of the way political parties developed, they are able to take these swipes at each other that we would find surprising today. in 1884, all of these things are coming out in 1884 election because you have two candidates who could not be more different. you have grover cleveland on the -- he hasho had been very little political experience of this sort. he was mayor of buffalo in 1881, elected governor of new york in two years later, he is the democratic nominee for president. that is all the major political experi