Thomas Law published poetry and essays on moral philosophy. He co-founded the first theater in DC, as well as a dancing society and the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, the city’s first learned society and a forerunner to the Smithsonian.
Law was born in Cambridge England, and made his fortune in India, working for the East India Company. He moved to the United States in 1794, along with two of his three illegitimate mixed-race sons, settling first in New York, and then investing heavily in early land speculation in DC, prior to the city’s founding. In 1796, he married Martha Washington’s eldest granddaughter, Elizabeth Parke Custis, although they separated in 1804 and divorced in 1811. Law was one of DC’s wealthiest and most prominent citizens for many years before losing his fortune in failing business enterprises.
The Homes
1252 6th St. SW, Washington, DC (Honeymoon House)
This grand old Federal style house predates the city of Washington, on one of the original city lots George Washington sold to land speculators when the seat of government was in the process of being transferred from Philadelphia. Law and his new bride lived here while awaiting the completion of their own home. A later resident was Congressman Richard Bland Lee; during the Civil War it was the Mt. Vernon Hotel, and subsequently the Mission Hospital, the Hadley Memorial Clinic, and the Tiber Island community center. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Thomas Law
1252 6th St. SW
Located in Waterfront neighborhood, Southwest