Early Years and Marriage Custis was born in Northampton County, at the Hungars Creek plantation of his parents, John Custis (ca. 1654–1714), later a member of the governor’s Council, and his first wife, Margaret Michael Custis. A bequest of £100 from his grandfather John Custis (ca. 1629–1696), also a member of the governor’s Council, helped support his education in England, where for almost seven years he studied the intricacies of the tobacco trade with the London consignment merchant Micajah Perry. Indirect evidence in a commonplace book Custis compiled suggests that he also had some formal schooling in England. He returned to Virginia probably about 1699 but certainly by April 25, 1701, when he was named a justice of the peace for Northampton County.