Like their contemporaries, George and Martha Washington used attractive, durable, and relatively inexpensive Windsor chairs in a variety of spaces. The household inventory taken after George Washington died records 30 placed outside on the Mansion's piazza, with another 10 in a first-floor parlor and 5 more in two upstairs bedrooms. This chair may be one of those owned by the Washingtons. Mrs. Washington's grandson, George Washington Parke Custis, later used it at his home, Arlington House. When Union troops threatened to confiscate it during the Civil War, a neighbor and free African-American, William Syphax, took possession of it. His descendants presented it to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.