Frances Jones (colonist)

Frances Orlando Jones (06 Aug 1710 – 9 July 1785) was born in New Kent County, Virginia, where she also died.

Frances married John Dandridge on July 22, 1730 in New Kent County, Virginia. Frances was the daughter of Orlando Jones and Martha Macon, prosperous Virginia landowners, and she is more commonly known as the mother of the first First Lady of the United States, Martha Washington.

Frances' father, Orlando Jones, was a Burgess for New Kent County in 1718 in the House of Burgesses, the leading legislative body in Colonial Virginia. Her grandfather, Col. Gideon Macon (father of Martha Macon), was also a member of the House of Burgesses from 1696 to 1702, and was secretary to Sir William Berkeley, governor of Virginia, during his second term in office.

Upon Col. Macon's death in 1702, his widow, Martha Woodward Macon, married Captain Nathaniel West who was also a representative in the House of Burgesses.

Captain Nathaniel West and Martha Woodward Macon West had two children. Their daughter, Unity West, married John Dandridge's brother, William Dandridge. William Dandridge was appointed to the Governor's Council in 1727, the highest political position available to colony residents. All of this would suggest that Frances, her husband, and children would have been quite familiar with colonial politics.

Frances, or Fanny, was born on a plantation near Williamsburg on Queen's Creek within easy distance of the growing capital. Frances had an older brother, Lane Jones, born in 1707, and Frances was born in 1710. Her mother, Martha Macon Jones, died when Frances was only six years old.

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