Isham Randolph (February 24, 1687 – November 2, 1742) Randolph was a planter, a merchant, a public official, and a

shipmaster A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel.Aragon and Messner, 2001, p.3. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficie ...

. He was the maternal grandfather of

United States 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 State ...

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 ...

Early life

Isham Randolph was born on the Turkey Island plantation in

Henrico County, Virginia Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 334,389 making it the fifth-most populous county in Virginia. Henrico County is incl ...

on February 24, 1687. He was the third son of William Randolph (1650–1711) and Mary Isham ( 1659–1735).Glenn, p. 458. His father was a

colonist A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...

, landowner, planter, and merchant who served as the 26th Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses. Randolph graduated from the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...

Marriage and children

In 1717, Isham Randolph married Jane Rogers in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

at St. Paul's Church in the Shadwell parish (today east London). Jane was from a wealthy

landed gentry The landed gentry, or the ''gentry'', is a largely historical British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. While distinct from, and socially below, the British peerage, th ...

family of England and Scotland. Isham and Jane Randolph moved to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. Together, they had nine children and were familially connected to many other prominent individuals: *

Jane Randolph Jane Randolph (née Roemer; October 30, 1914 – May 4, 2009), was an American film actress. She is best known for her portrayals of Alice Moore in the 1942 horror film '' Cat People'', and its sequel, ''The Curse of the Cat People'' (1944). S ...

(born 1720), who married

Peter Jefferson Peter Jefferson (February 29, 1708 – August 17, 1757) was a planter, cartographer and politician in colonial Virginia best known for being the father of the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. The "Fry-Jefferson Map", creat ...

and had nine children, including

, the third

President of the United States 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 ...

. * Mary Randolph (born October 1725 in

Colonial Williamsburg Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has 7300 employees at this location and ...

), who married Colonel Charles Lewis of Buck Island and had eight children, including

Charles Lilburn Lewis Charles Lilburn Lewis (1747 – 1831 or 1837), sometimes referred to as Charles Lilburn Lewis of Monteagle, was one of the founders of Milton, Virginia, as well as one of the signers of Albemarle County, Virginia's Declaration of Independence ...

, one of the founders of Milton, Virginia. * Isham Randolph (born ~1725), married Sarah Hargreaves in 1749, in Philadelphia. * William Randolph (born ~1727), married Elizabeth Little on 31 July, 1761, in London. * Thomas Randolph (born ~1728), who married Jane Cary, the daughter of

Archibald Cary Col. Archibald Cary (January 24, 1721February 26, 1787)Tyler, ''Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography'', 8. was a Virginia planter, soldier, politician, and major landowner. He was a political figure from the colony of Virginia. Early life Col. Ar ...

, in 1768. * Elizabeth Randolph (born ~1730) * Dorothea Randolph (born ~1732) * Ann Randolph (born ~1735), who had four children in three marriages. She was the mother of James Pleasants Jr., the 22nd Governor of Virginia, via her last marriage to James Pleasants Sr. * Susannah Randolph (born September 25, 1738), who married

Carter Henry Harrison I Carter Henry Harrison I (1736 – 1793), also known as Carter Henry Harrison of Clifton, was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. On April 22, 1776 at the courthouse in Cumberland County, Virginia, "the first explicit instructions in f ...

(the brother of Benjamin Harrison V, the son of

Benjamin Harrison IV Benjamin Harrison IV (1693 – July 12, 1745) was an American Virginia planter, politician, and Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was the son of Benjamin Harrison III and the father of Benjamin Harrison V, who was a signer of the Decla ...

, and the grandson of

Benjamin Harrison III Benjamin Harrison III (1673 – April 10, 1710) was an American politician in the Colony of Virginia. He was an early member of the Harrison family of Virginia, serving as the colony's attorney general, treasurer, and Speaker of the House ...

and Robert "King" Carter) and had six children. She was the great-grandmother of Carter Henry Harrison III, a five-time mayor of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Career and death

Following his father, he was a prominent planter, merchant, public official, and also was a

. In London, Randolph was a well-established merchant and agent for the colony of Virginia. By the birth of his second daughter, Mary, in October 1725, he returned to Colonial Virginia. In 1730, he built Dungeness, with English manor house style architecture on what became a large tobacco plantation, near Goochland, Virginia just west of Fine Creek (near the

Fine Creek Mills Historic District Fine Creek Mills Historic District encompasses a historic mill-centered community in Powhatan County, Virginia, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The Fine Creek Mills Historic District is comp ...

). At the time that he acquired the land for Dungeness, it was frontier land, 40 miles from

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. It became a house of "refinement and elegant hospitality" with a hundred or more servants. Randolph was a prominent member of the Virginia planter class, often referred to as the "planter aristocracy", owning enslaved Africans which grew tobacco on his

plantations A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

. He also participated in the

triangular trade Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset t ...

, in addition to bringing indentured servants and

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

to colonial Virginia. Like his good friend, Colonel William Byrd, Randolph had an interest in science and engaged in amateur science circles while in London. He was noted for his abilities as a naturalist by members of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. Upon the recommendation of naturalist

John Bartram John Bartram (March 23, 1699 – September 22, 1777) was an American botanist, horticulturist, and explorer, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for most of his career. Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus said he was the "greatest na ...

, Randolph was visited by botanist Peter Collinson and led an excursion to gather specimens in colonial Virginia. In 1738, Randolph became the adjutant general of Virginia. The following year, he became a colonel of the militia of Goochland County. He was also a member of 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 established ...

. Randolph died in November 1742 and was buried on Turkey Island. In his will he assigned guardians of his children, including his son-in-law,

(the father of President

Ancestry

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Randolph, Isham 1687 births 1742 deaths American planters Jefferson family People from Henrico County, Virginia