Thomas Law was a British businessman who was relatively new to life in America when he began courting George and Martha Washington’s granddaughter Eliza Parke Custis. Law, who had lived in India for many years, was the father of three illegitimate children born to an Indian woman. His scandalous reputation made it difficult for him to obtain George and Martha Washington’s blessing to marry their granddaughter, yet he eventually secured it. Law and Eliza separated after fewer than 10 years of marriage and later divorced. Law emancipated many of the enslaved individuals his wife inherited after the death of her grandmother in 1802.
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Thomas Law Character Timeline in Never Caught
The timeline below shows where the character Thomas Law appears in Never Caught. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
...Parke Custis (or Eliza to her friends) is being seriously courted by a much-older suitor. Thomas Law is a British businessman who has lived in America less than two years. Law,...
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...the Executive Mansion becomes full of tension and anxiety. Washington soon receives a letter from Thomas Law himself asking for the president’s blessing. Washington grants his blessing somewhat reluctantly. As Martha...
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...be replaced by her new mistress’s unpredictable rage. Moreover, Ona knows that her new master, Thomas Law, has had three illegitimate children by an Indian woman—and this suggests that he sleeps...
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Epilogue
...had only been married eight years when, in August of 1804, she and her husband Thomas agreed to a legal separation. During some point in the drawn-out, six-year-long separation, Eliza permitted...
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