Elizabeth Dandridge was born on May 25, 1749, in New Kent County, Virginia, the daughter of William Dandridge and Unity West Dandridge. She belonged to the extensive Dandridge family of the Virginia Tidewater and was related to Martha Dandridge Custis Washington. Her upbringing took place within a gentry network in which marriages, plantations, Anglican parishes, and kinship obligations structured social life. Elizabeth likely received private household education rather than attending a formal academy. A daughter of her position learned reading, writing, religion, needlework, music, household accounts, food and textile management, and the supervision of children and servants. Surviving genealogical records do not identify a complete curriculum or particular tutors. The family’s comfort depended upon agriculture and enslaved labor. Elizabeth grew up learning the complex responsibilities of maintaining a plantation household while also observing the inequalities that sustained it. Extended relatives provided companionship, introductions, and assistance during illness, marriage, and bereavement. She married John Dandridge Henley, a naval officer and relative within the broader family network. His maritime and military duties required absences and placed additional responsibility upon Elizabeth. Their children included Frances Dandridge Henley, who later married Tobias Lear, George Washington’s secretary. Elizabeth’s household therefore remained closely connected to the Washington family circle. Before later genealogical connections gave her a place in Washington history, Elizabeth had been shaped by Tidewater kinship, domestic education, plantation management, marriage, motherhood, and the uncertainty of a seafaring husband’s career. The record preserves little of her personal voice, so invented anecdotes should be avoided. Her life represents the essential but often poorly documented domestic labor through which elite Virginia families maintained their property, raised children, and sustained political and military men during the Revolutionary era.