When Martha died in 1802, all of the objects at Mount Vernon not specifically designated in George and Martha’s wills were sold (their wills dealt with slave property separately). Everything from a famous bust of George Washington ($250) to a tea caddy ($3.25) was recorded in the sales records. The bedpan was likely in the “1 lot sundries” purchased for $29 (and thus probably a pretty large lot of random pieces) by Thomas Peter, husband of Martha’s granddaughter Martha Custis Peter.
George Washington never had any children of his own, but he was quite close with Martha Washington’s four grandchildren (from her first marriage), and Martha Custis Peter was the second-oldest of these. The young Martha had married Thomas Peter in 1795, and the couple eventually built a mansion atop a hill in Georgetown.
The Peters were still in the process of setting up their household when they visited Mount Vernon for the sale of the contents of the house, from valuable furniture to kitchen tools to bedpans. The sale was technically open to the public, but only family members and close friends purchased items. They bought blankets, carpets, mirrors, chairs and dishes, not as famous relics but as useful housewares. The bedpan may have been acquired for the next time Martha gave birth or in case of family illness, or it may have simply been thrown in with the “sundries.” Martha, like her siblings, spoke reverentially of her illustrious grandparents and showed off decorative objects from Mount Vernon, but it is unlikely the bedpan was ever on display.
Martha and Thomas passed down the Mount Vernon objects, bedpan and all, to their daughter, whose name was (not kidding) Britannia Wellington Peter Kennon. Britannia, too, enjoyed sharing stories about the Washingtons and kept careful records of the objects she inherited. She left provisions in her will that her grandchildren would split up all of the “Mount Vernon Heirlooms” evenly and, if possible, keep them in the family. As Adam Erby, associate curator at Mount Vernon, explains, “The Peter family elevated many of Mount Vernon’s utilitarian objects to the status of almost religious relics.”
In the late 19th or early 20th century, the Peters did a thorough inventory of the heirlooms, placing a numbered label on each one to correspond to a list of some 529 pieces. By this time, now an era of indoor plumbing for wealthy families in an age of improved medical treatments, the descendants were confused as to the purpose of this mysterious pewter pan. It is listed in the inventory as “pewter dish (?) with handle.” It seems to have been confused with a kitchen item.