Isaac Jefferson, also likely known as Isaac Granger (1775 – 1846)"Discoveries about the Family of Isaac Jefferson"
''Plantation & Slavery/ African-American Family Histories'', Monticello Website, accessed 28 February 2011 was a valued enslaved

artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...

US President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

who crafted and repaired products as a

tinsmith A tinsmith is a person who makes and repairs things made of tin or other light metals. The profession may sometimes also be known as a tinner, tinker, tinman, or tinplate worker; whitesmith may also refer to this profession, though the same wo ...

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

, and nailer at

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary plantation of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 26. Located just outside Charlottesville, V ...

. Although Thomas Jefferson gave Isaac and his family to his daughter

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

and her husband

John Wayles Eppes John Wayles Eppes (April 1772September 13, 1823) was an American lawyer and politician. He represented Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1803 to 1811 and again from 1813 to 1815. He also served in the U.S. Senate (1817–1819). H ...

in 1797 as a wedding gift, Isaac Jefferson/Granger appeared to gain his freedom by 1822, according to his memoir. In the 1840 census, he was recorded as Isaac Granger, a free man working in

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg (along with the city of Colonial Heights) with Din ...

. Rev. Charles Campbell interviewed him there and published his memoir under the name of Isaac Jefferson in 1847 a year after Isaac's death. Granger/Jefferson describes Thomas Jefferson as a master and his part in the lives of his slaves.

Early life

Born into slavery in 1775, Isaac was the fourth son of Ursula Granger and Great George (a son Archy died in early childhood before Isaac was born). His father rose in the hierarchy from foreman of labor to become

overseer Overseer may refer to: Professions * Supervisor or superintendent; one who keeps watch over and directs the work of others *Plantation overseer, often in the context of forced labor or slavery *Overseer of the poor, an official who administered re ...

of Monticello in 1797, the only slave to reach that position under Thomas Jefferson. He was paid an annual wage of £20. In 1773 Jefferson had purchased Isaac's mother Ursula, and she became a highly trusted domestic servant. She served as a pastry cook and laundress, with duties including meat preservation and the bottling of cider. Isaac's older brothers were George and Bagwell."Isaac Granger Jefferson"
Monticello, accessed 23 March 2012 Isaac spent his childhood on the plantation near his parents. His early tasks included carrying fuel, lighting fires, and opening gates. Because Jefferson took Great George, Ursula and their family with him to Williamsburg and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

when he was elected

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, the boy Isaac witnessed dramatic events during the Revolutionary War. He later recounted vivid memories of 1781, including

Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold ( Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American military officer who served during the Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defect ...

's raid on Richmond and seeing the internment camp for captured slaves at Yorktown.

Service at Monticello

Probably about 1790 at the age of 15, Isaac began his

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

training in the metalworking trades. As president, Jefferson took Isaac as part of his household to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. He arranged to have the youth

apprenticed Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

for several years to a

, a skilled and valued trade. Isaac Jefferson's account is the only source for this aspect of his working life. He learned to make graters, pepper boxes and tin cups, about four dozen a day. After the household's return to Monticello, the president set up a tin shop. Isaac Granger/Jefferson recalled that it did not succeed economically. Training as a

under his older brother Little George, Isaac added to his skills. Sometime after 1794, he became a nailer as well, and was assigned to both nail making and smithing.

Marriage and family

By 1796, Granger had a wife named Iris and a son Joyce. He was working extra hours in the blacksmith shop to make chain traces, for which Jefferson paid him three pence a pair. According to Jefferson's records, Granger was a most productive nailer. In the first three months of that year, he made 507 pounds of nails in 47 days, wasting the least amount of nail rod in the process. He earned the highest daily return for his master: the equivalent of eighty-five cents a day.

Moving from Monticello

In October 1797, Thomas Jefferson gave Isaac, his wife Iris, and their sons Joyce and Squire to his daughter

and

as part of their marriage settlement. This was customary practice in those years by

planters Planters Nut & Chocolate Company is an American snack food company now owned by Hormel Foods. Planters is best known for its processed nuts and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them. Mr. Peanut was created by grade schooler Antonio Gentil ...

who had sufficient slave holdings. He also gave the Eppes the 14-year-old slave Betsy Hemmings, who would serve as their children's nurse and became the matriarch of the slave society at the Eppes plantation, Mont Blanco, in Chesterfield County. When Jefferson's son-in-law

Thomas Mann Randolph 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 ...

needed a blacksmith, he leased Isaac from Eppes. Isaac and his young family moved from Eppes's plantation, Millbrook, in Buckingham County to the Randolph plantation of Edgehill in

Albemarle County Albemarle County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, which is an independent city and enclave entirely surrounded by the county. Albemarle County is part of the Charl ...

in 1798. Their daughter, Maria, was born soon after. Isaac's memoir suggests that he lived at Monticello during Jefferson's retirement years. He and his family may have been chosen to accompany

Martha Jefferson Randolph Martha "Patsy" Randolph ( ''née'' Jefferson; September 27, 1772 – October 10, 1836) was the eldest daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, and his wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. She was born at Monticel ...

and her children there in 1809, when she moved to help her father. In 1799 and 1800, Isaac's parents and brother Little George all died within a few months of each other. While ill, the family members consulted a black conjurer living in Buckingham County. (This showed the persistence of

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

traditions within the slave community.) Shortly after Great George's death, Thomas Jefferson gave Isaac $11, the value of "his moiety of a colt left him by his father." In 1812 an Isaac belonging to Thomas Mann Randolph ran away and was caught and imprisoned in Bath County. It is unknown whether this was Isaac the blacksmith. Randolph had records of owning at least one other Isaac in this period.

Freedom and memoir

How Isaac gained his freedom is unknown. His memoir recounts that he left

about four years before Jefferson's death, or around 1822. He met and talked to the French general, the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revoluti ...

, in Richmond in 1824. Twenty-first century research by the staff at Monticello discovered that Isaac Jefferson may have taken the name Isaac Granger in freedom, or used it before that in the slave community. Someone else may have later mistakenly assigned him the name of Jefferson. The 1840 census of

includes a free black man, Isaac Granger, whose family members and age match what is known of Isaac Jefferson. In the early 1840s, Granger was working as a free man in Petersburg as a blacksmith, when he was interviewed by Charles Campbell, who published the account that year as the memoir of Isaac Jefferson. Granger did not say whether he took the surname Jefferson by choice or whether a white man imposed it, as was the case with his fellow Monticello slave Israel Jefferson. Thememoir was rediscovered and published again in 1951 by the historian Rayford Logan. In the interview, Granger recounted details about the relationship of Thomas Jefferson and the Hemings (or Hemmings) family. He said that "folks said that"

Sally Hemings Sarah "Sally" Hemings ( 1773 – 1835) was an enslaved woman with one-quarter African ancestry owned by president of the United States Thomas Jefferson, one of many he inherited from his father-in-law, John Wayles. Hemings's mother Elizabet ...

and at least some of her siblings "was old Mr. Wayles' children" in reference to Jefferson's father-in-law,

John Wayles John Wayles (January 31, 1715 – May 28, 1773) was a colonial American planter, slave trader and lawyer in colonial Virginia. He is historically best known as the father-in-law of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. ...

. Some scholars think that adds weight to other historic testimony that Sally Hemings and her five full siblings were half-siblings of the president's wife

Martha Wayles Skelton 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 ...

. The memoir describes the integral role which the

Betty Hemings Elizabeth Hemings ( 1735 – 1807) was an enslaved mixed-race woman in colonial Virginia. With her master, planter John Wayles, she had six children, including Sally Hemings. These children were three-quarters white, and, following the condition ...

family played at Monticello as domestic servants, skilled artisans and craftsmen, and staff who ran the president's mansion. The fate of Isaac's wife Iris and their two sons is unknown. In 1840s, at the time of his memoir, Isaac was married to his second wife. Rev. Charles Campbell wrote that Isaac Jefferson died "a few years after these his recollections were taken down. He bore a good character." Campbell may have imposed the name Jefferson to attract more attention to his published memoir. Isaac Jefferson died in 1846. According to a document from August 20, 1846, "Isaac Jefferson having been dead more than three months & no person having applied for administration of his estate, it is ordered that the same be committed to J Branch Sergt. of this town to be by him administered according to law." The Monticello staff have found another reference to the Granger surname in Monticello and related records: in the 1870 census of Albemarle County, an Archy Granger and his family were living at Edgehill Plantation, then owned by

Thomas Jefferson Randolph Thomas Jefferson Randolph (September 12, 1792 – October 7, 1875) of Albemarle County was a Virginia planter, soldier and politician who served multiple terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, as rector of the University of Virginia, an ...

, Thomas Jefferson's grandson. They worked for Randolph's sister Septimia Randolph Meikleham. Thomas J. Randolph had purchased Archy from Monticello after his grandfather Jefferson's death in 1826, when 130 slaves were sold to pay off debts of the estate. Archy Granger matches in age the plantation records of Archy, the son of the slaves Bagwell and Minerva of Monticello. (He was the grandson of Great George and Ursula.) In addition, Randolph family letters document an Archy Granger and his family at their plantation of Edgehill. He appears to have been the nephew of Isaac (Jefferson) Granger, and his use of the Granger name is another indication that it was originally adopted within the family.

References

Sources

*''Jefferson at Monticello: Recollections of a Monticello Slave and a Monticello Overseer.'' Edited by James Adam Bear, Jr., Charlottesville, Virginia, 1967, pg. 4. This book includes recollections of Isaac Jefferson, c. 1847, and Edmund Bacon. *''The family letters of Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826''. Edited by Edwin Morris Betts, and James Adam Bear, Jr.

External links

The Thomas Jefferson PortalMonticello Website Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Isaac 1775 births 1846 deaths 18th-century American slaves Virginia colonial people People of Virginia in the American Revolution People from Monticello