Mary Randolph (August 9, 1762 – January 23, 1828) was a Southern American cook and author, known for writing ''
The Virginia House-Wife; Or, Methodical Cook'' (1824), one of the most influential housekeeping and cook books of the 19th century. Many of the recipes used local Virginia ingredients including ''
Tanacetum vulgare virginia'' pudding, pickled
nasturtiums and desserts with the native
gooseberry. She was the first person known to be buried at what would become known as
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
.
Early life
Mary Randolph was born on August 9, 1762, at Ampthill Plantation in
Chesterfield County, Virginia
Chesterfield County is located just south of Richmond in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county's borders are primarily defined by the James River to the north and the Appomattox River to the south. Its county seat is Chesterfield Court H ...
.
Her parents were
Thomas Mann Randolph Sr.
Thomas Mann Randolph Sr. (1741–November 13, 1793) served in the Virginia House of Burgesses, the Revolutionary conventions of 1775 and 1776, and the Virginia state legislature. Married twice, he fathered 15 children. One marriage was to a cousi ...
(1741–1794) and Anne Cary Randolph (1745–1789).
The extended
Randolph family was one of the richest and most political significant families in 18th century Virginia.
Mary's father was orphaned at a young age and raised by Thomas Jefferson's parents who were distant cousins. Her father also served in the Virginia
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been establishe ...
, the Revolutionary conventions of 1775 and 1776, and the Virginia state legislature.
Anne Cary Randolph was the daughter of
Archibald Cary, an important Virginia planter.
Anne's grandmother, Jane Bolling Randolph completed a cookbook manuscript in 1743 which was handed down to her daughter Jane Randolph Walke.
Mary Randolph was the oldest of Thomas and Anne's 13 children.
Her brother
Thomas Mann Randolph Jr.
Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. (October 1, 1768 – June 20, 1828) was an American planter, soldier, and politician from Virginia. He served as a member of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, a representative in the United States Congress, a ...
married
Martha Jefferson
Martha Skelton Jefferson ( ''née'' Wayles; October 30, 1748 – September 6, 1782) was the wife of Thomas Jefferson. She served as First Lady of Virginia during Jefferson's term as governor from 1779 to 1781. She died in 1782, 19 years before ...
(daughter of
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
) and became a Congressman and Governor of Virginia.
One sister,
Virginia Randolph Cary
Virginia Randolph Cary (January 30, 1786 – May 2, 1852) was an American writer. She was the author of ''Letters on Female Character, Addressed to a Young Lady, on the Death of Her Mother'' (1828), an influential advice book.
Early life and famil ...
, was a noted essayist and another, Harriet, married Richard Shippey Hackley who became US Consul and they lived in Cadiz, Spain. She was probably the source of the Spanish recipes in Randolph's cookbook. Her sister,
Ann Cary "Nancy" Randolph, was the wife of
Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris ( ; January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to th ...
and mother of
Gouverneur Morris Jr.
Gouverneur Morris II (February 9, 1813 – August 20, 1888) was an American railroad executive and the son of a founding father of the United States, Gouverneur Morris.
Early life
Gouverneur Morris was born on February 9, 1813, Morrisania, Bronx ...
Ann figured in a scandal involving her brother-in-law and distant cousin, Richard Randolph of Bizarre, in which he was accused of "feloniously murdering a child said to be borne of Nancy
nnRandolph."
Randolph grew up at
Tuckahoe Plantation
Tuckahoe is a Native American word that may refer to:
Plants and fungi
*''Peltandra virginica'', also called tuckahoe; the rhizome was cooked and used as food by Native Americans
*'' Orontium aquaticum'', also called tuckahoe; the seeds and rhi ...
in
Goochland County, Virginia
Goochland County is a county located in the Piedmont of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its southern border is formed by the James River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,727. Its county seat is Goochland.
Goochland County is includ ...
. The Randolphs were known to hire professional tutors to teach their children. Mary would likely have learned reading, writing, and arithmetic in addition to domestic skills.
Marriage
In December 1780, 18-year-old Mary Randolph married her first cousin once removed, David Meade Randolph (1760–1830), a Revolutionary War officer and tobacco planter.
The newlyweds lived at
Presquile, a 750-acre plantation that was part of the Randolph family's extensive property in
Chesterfield County, Virginia
Chesterfield County is located just south of Richmond in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county's borders are primarily defined by the James River to the north and the Appomattox River to the south. Its county seat is Chesterfield Court H ...
.
Over the course of their marriage, Mary and David had eight children, four of whom survived to adulthood.
Around 1795 President
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
appointed David Randolph the U.S. Marshal of Virginia
and by 1798, the family had moved to Richmond, where they built a house called "Moldavia" (a combination of Molly, a nickname for Mary, and David).
Mary Randolph was a celebrated hostess in
Richmond.
David Randolph was a Federalist and an open critic of his second cousin
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
. After Jefferson's election to the presidency, he removed David Randolph from office and the family's fortunes declined.
Boarding house
In 1807, Mary Randolph opened a boarding house in Richmond.
In March 1808, an advertisement appeared in ''The Richmond Virginia Gazette'': "Mrs. RANDOLPH Has established a Boarding House in Cary Street, for the accommodation of Ladies and Gentlemen. She has comfortable chambers, and a stable well supplied for a few Horses."
David was in England during the 1810 census which listed Mary as the head of a Richmond household that included nine slaves.
In May 1815, Harriott Pinckney Horry spent a few days at the Randolph's boardinghouse and described Randolph's refrigerator in her journal.
Inside a 4 by 3 1/2 foot box there was another box four inches smaller. The space between the two was packed with powdered charcoal and the refrigerator was filled with ice daily to cool butter, meat and other foods.
In the 1825 2nd edition of her cookbook, Randolph included sketches for a refrigerator and bath tub. Years later an author claimed (falsely) that Randolph invented the refrigerator and that her design was stolen and patented by a Yankee who stayed in her boardinghouse.
By 1819, the Randolphs had given up their boardinghouse and moved to Washington to live with their son William Beverly Randolph. While in Washington, Mary Randolph completed her cookbook and in 1824 ''The Virginia House-Wife'' was published.
''The Virginia House-Wife''
Randolph's influential housekeeping book ''
The Virginia House-Wife'' was first published in 1824 and it was republished at least nineteen times before the outbreak of the Civil War.
The book was 225 pages long, included nearly 500 recipes,
and resulted from Randolph's "practical experience as keeper of a large establishment, and perhaps in the hope of further augmenting the family income." ''The Virginia House-Wife'' is considered the first regional American cookbook.
''The Virginia House-Wife'' was an overall household guide and in addition to recipes it also explained how to make soap, starch, blacking and cologne.
Later years
![Arlington National Cemetery - NPS marker for grave of Mary Randolph - 2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Arlington_National_Cemetery_-_NPS_marker_for_grave_of_Mary_Randolph_-_2011.jpg)
Randolph spent the last years of her life caring for her son Burwell Starke Randolph, who had been disabled while serving in the Navy.
Randolph was the first person known to be buried at what would become
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
, at the home of her cousin
George Washington Parke Custis
George Washington Parke Custis (April 30, 1781 – October 10, 1857) was an American plantation owner, antiquarian, author, and playwright. His father John Parke Custis was the stepson of George Washington. He and his sister Eleanor grew u ...
, stepson of
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
and father of
Mary Custis, wife of
Robert E. Lee.
Influence
Southern cookbooks similar to ''The Virginia House-Wife'' were published in the years that followed. Two of the most important were ''The Kentucky Housewife'' by
Lettice Bryan (1839) and ''The Carolina Housewife'' by Sarah Rutledge (1847).
In 1982,
James Beard
James Andrews Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 23, 1985) was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, ...
praised Mary as "a far-seeing culinary genius" in
''The'' ''Richmond News Leader''. He was particularly impressed by her use of tomatoes, writing "At a time when few people thought of tomatoes at all, she provided food recipes for tomato ketchup, tomato marmalade and tomato soy."
According to culinary historian Andrew F. Smith, Randolph's wide range of tomato recipes "set the standard for tomato cookery over the next three decades."
In a 2014 essay for ''
National Geographic'', restaurant
Jose Andres
Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods.
*Jose ben Abin
*Jose ben Akabya
*Jose the Galilean ...
cited Mary Randolph as an influence. Andres serves Randolph's gazpacho at his America Eats Tavern and believes that Randolph's "Gazpacho recipe demonstrates just how far back the notion of this country as a cultural melting pot goes."
Honors
![Arlington National Cemetery - Grave of Mary Randolph - 2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Arlington_National_Cemetery_-_Grave_of_Mary_Randolph_-_2011.jpg)
In 2009 Randolph was posthumously honored as one of the
Library of Virginia's "
Virginia Women in History Virginia Women in History was an annual program sponsored by the Library of Virginia that honored Virginia women, living and dead, for their contributions to their community, region, state, and nation. The program began in 2000 under the aegis of th ...
".
In 1999, the state of Virginia erected a historical marker in her honor near the site of her birth in
Chesterfield County.
*
References
External links
*
Mary Randolphat ArlingtonCemetery.net, an unofficial website
2009 Virginia Women in History profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Randolph, Mary
1762 births
1828 deaths
American food writers
American cookbook writers
American people of English descent
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
People from Arlington County, Virginia
People from Chesterfield County, Virginia
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
Writers from Virginia
Women cookbook writers
19th-century American writers
19th-century American women writers
American women non-fiction writers
American people of Powhatan descent