Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/85

 JEFFERSON

JEFFERSON

JEFFERSON, flartha (Wayles) Skelton, wife of President Jetferson, was born at " The Forest " in Charles City county, Va., Oct. 19 (o.s.), 1748; (laughter of John Wayles. She was married in 1765 to Bathurst Skelton, a wiilower with several chililren, who died in 17G7, and she inherited the property of both her husband and father. She was celebrated throughout Virginia for her ex- traordinary beauty and her varied accomplish- ments, being a skilled horsewoman, musician, dancer and housewife. She also had a marked literary taste and was a brilliant conversation- alist. She was married at " The Forest," the home of her father, to Thomas Jefferson, in Jan- uary, 1772, and they had six children, all girls, only three of whom survived their mother. The youngest, Lucy Elizabeth, died in October, 1784. Tlie eldest, Martha, born in 1772, went abroad with her fatlier on his appointment as minister plenipotentiary to Europe, and was placed in a convent at Panthemont, France, where she re- mained until 1789. On Feb. 23, 1789, she was married to her cousin. Thomas Mann Randolph, and she became the mother of eleven children. She made occasional visits to the White House during her father's administration, assisting him in dispensing hospitality as far as her family cares would allow. Her sister Mary, born Aug. 1, 1778, went to France in 1787, was educated in the con- vent with Martha, and was married Oct. 13, 1797. to her cousin, John Wayles Eppes. She died April 17, 1804. Sarah N. Randolph, great-granddaugh- ter of President Jefferson, published an account of his domestic life (1871). Mrs. Jefferson died at '• ^lonticello," near Charlottesville, Va., Sept. 6, 1782. Jefferson wrote the epitaph for his wife's tomb : '"To the memory of flartha Jeffer- son, daughter of John Wayles ; Born October 19th, 1748, O.S., intermarried with Tliomas Jefferson January 1, 1772; Torn from him by Death Sep- tember 6th, 1782 ; This Monument of his Love is inscribed."

JEFFERSON, Thomas, third President of the United States, was born in Shadwell, Albemarle county, Va., April 13, 1743; third son of Peter and Jane (Randolph) Jefferson; grandson of Isham and Jane (Rogers) Randolph, of Gooch- land, Va. His fii"st paternal ancestor in America came from near the mountain of Snowdon, Wales, about 1612, and had three sons : Thomas, who died young ; Field, who settled on the waters of the Roanoke, and left numerous descendants, and Peter, who settled at Shadwell. Peter, the father of Thomas, was a surveyor of Albemarle county, liaving been associated with Professor Joshua Fry. of the College of Williani and Mary, in completing the survey of the boundary line ■between Virginia and Nortli Carolina, begun by Colonel Byrd, and in making the first map of

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Virginia. He died, Aug. 17, 1757. Jane Ran- dolph, the mother of President Jefferson, a native of the parish of Shadwell, London, England, was born in 1720 and died at the home of her son Tiiomas in Monticello, Va., in 1776, leaving six daugl Iters and two sons. Thomas was prepared for college at tiie English school, 1748-52, at the Latin school, 1752-.57, with the Rev. Mr. ^laury, 1757-59, and was graduated at the Col- lege of William and Mary in 1762. At college he received a thorough training in philosophy and mathematics under the instruction of Dr. William Small, of Edinburgh, Scot- land, and on gradu- ating he studied law under the direction of George Wythe, the instructor of John Marshall. About this time he also came under the influence of Francis Farquier, the ablest statesman of the time in Virginia, who lai'gely directed his j'outh- ful mind in statecraft. He was elected surveyor of Albemarle county, as successor to Nicholas Lewis, Oct. 14, 1763, and in 1764 was elected jus- tice of the peace and a vestrj'man of the parish, also assuming the management of his mother's estate. He was admitted to the bar in 1767 and elected a member of the Virginia house of bur- gesses in 1769. Here he made the acquaintance of George Washington, who was also a member of that body, and at Williamsburg during the session Jefferson, who never delivered a speech, listened to the Revolutionary debates on the in- justice of colonial taxation without colonial rep- resentation and the various means proposed for redressing these grievances. Here was born in his brain the spirit that finally produced the Dec- laration of Independence. He was married at "The Forest," Jan. 1, 1772, to Martha (Wayles) Skelton, widow of Bathurst Skelton, and daughter of John Wayles, of Ciiarles City county, Va., and he took his wife to his new home at Monti- cello, presided over by his mother. His house at Shadwell had burned in 1770, which necessitated his removal to Monticello. In 1773, on the death of his wife's father, their estate was greatlj' en- larged, as his wife inherited 50,000 acres of land and 1.35 slaves. Jefferson now divided his time between his law practice, the care of his rapidly increasing acres, planted largely in tobacco, and his dutj' as a member of the house of bur- gesses. In March, 1775, he was present in St.