Martha Washington

❦ Priority Page ❦

Martha Washington was the wife of the first president of the U.S., George Washington. She was well trained as a girl in social graces. She married a wealthy older man when she was in her twenties, who died and left her the equivalent today of over a million dollars in assets, including five tobacco plantations, as well as over three-hundred slaves. A few years later, she married George Washington who helped her successfully to run her estate, along with his property – she was much wealthier than him. They primarily lived in Virginia at Mount Vernon.

When George Washington became a General and commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution, she would travel during lulls in fighting – generally in the Winter – to the American camps to be with her husband and to help care for the troops. Because of her involvement, she became very popular with the other officers and in society. When George Washington became president, she was active in hosting social events on behalf of him, helping him to improve relations with others in the capitol and with foreign visitors.

Because of her role and actions, she set the precedence for the role that the spouses of all presidents would play, and how they would be honored. In 1902, she would be the first woman featured on a U.S. postage stamp (see Adorned Definitives). The second time a stamp was designed with her image is on the previous page, and here on the first stamp on the fourth row.

Note

This series of stamps started with those on the previous page. That page is just about finished. The stamps here are just minor deviations of those: they’re flat printed and these are mostly rotary printed; and these have different perforations. I have a few more to get to complete this page. I’ll get there soon.

Contains 19 spots: own 17 – 17 unused, 0 used.
Album or Web Page Last changed Mar 21, 2025

Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot	own	catalog	subject	description
1.1	✓	575	Benjamin Franklin	1c (mar 1923) definitive, green
1.2	✓	576	Warren Harding	1½c (apr 1925) definitive, yellow brown
1.3	✓	577	George Washington	2c (apr 1925) definitive, carmine
2.1	✓	578	Benjamin Franklin	1c (mar 1923) definitive, green
2.2	✓	579	George Washington	2c (mar 1923) definitive, carmine

Other

2.3	✓	631	Warren Harding	1½c (aug 1926) definitive, yellow brown
2.4		594	Benjamin Franklin	1c (may 1926) definitive, green
2.5		595	George Washington	2c (may 1926) definitive, carmine
3.1	✓	581	Benjamin Franklin	1c (oct 1923) definitive, green
3.2	✓	582	Warren Harding	1½c (mar 1925) definitive, brown
3.3	✓	583	George Washington	2c (apr 1924) definitive, carmine
3.4	✓	584	Abraham Lincoln	3c (aug 1925) definitive, violet
4.1	✓	585	Martha Washington	4c (apr 1925) definitive, yellow brown
4.2	✓	586	Theodore Roosevelt	5c (apr 1925) definitive, blue
4.3	✓	587	James Garfield	6c (apr 1925) definitive, red orange
4.4	✓	588	William McKinley	7c (may 1926) definitive, black
5.1	✓	589	Ulysses Grant	8c (may 1926) definitive, olive
5.2	✓	590	Thomas Jefferson	9c (may 1926) definitive, pink
5.3	✓	591	James Monroe	10c (jun 1925) definitive, orange

Footnotes

Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.