Martha "Patsy" Randolph (
''née'' Jefferson; September 27, 1772 – October 10, 1836) was the eldest daughter of
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 ...
, the third president of the United States, and his 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 befor ...
. She was born at
Monticello, near
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen C ...
.
Her mother died when she was 10 years old, when only two out of her five siblings were alive. By 1804, she was the lone surviving sibling. Martha was very close to her father in his old age. She was the only one of his children with his wife Martha to survive past the age of 25. Patsy had a close relationship with her father, who saw that she had a good education. She spoke four languages and was greatly influenced by the education she received in a Paris convent school with daughters of the French elite.
She married
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 ...
, who was a politician at the federal and state levels and was elected as governor of Virginia (1819–1822), which made her the first lady of Virginia. They had twelve children together. When her widowed father was US president, she sometimes lived with him at the White House, serving as his hostess and informal
First Lady
First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...
.
Early life
Martha Jefferson was born on September 27, 1772,
at
Monticello, her father's estate in
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 are ...
(then in
British America
British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas fro ...
) to
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 ...
and
Martha Wayles Skelton.
Her paternal grandparents were
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", cre ...
, a planter and surveyor, and
Jane Randolph.
Her maternal grandparents were
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 ...
(1715–1773) and his first wife, Martha Eppes (1712–1748). Wayles was an attorney,
slave trader, business agent for Bristol-based merchants Farrell & Jones, and prosperous planter.
During her parents' ten years of marriage, they had six children. Randolph was their first born. She was followed by Jane Randolph (1774–1775); a son who lived for only a few weeks in 1777;
Mary "Polly" (1778–1804); Lucy Elizabeth (1780–1781); and another Lucy Elizabeth (1782–1784). Only Martha and Mary survived more than a few years.
The family lived a genteel lifestyle and Randolph was initially schooled at home. Her studies included dance lessons.
When she was seven years of age, her father became the
governor of Virginia
The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022.
Oath of office
On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...
. He was elected on June 1, 1779, and the family first lived in
Williamsburg. The government moved to
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, Californi ...
in 1780 and the family relocated there.
British troops advanced to Richmond in May 1781 and, due to advance warning, the Jeffersons escaped to their country home,
Poplar Forest.
Her mother died on September 6, 1782, four months after the birth of the Jeffersons' last child, at age 33. She later wrote about this period and her father's grief, stating "in those melancholy rambles I was his constant companion, a solitary witness to many a violent burst of grief."
Randolph was 10 years of age when her mother died.
Education
Randolph's father did not believe in public education for girls, but arranged for his daughter to receive a private education.
Between December 1782 and May 1784, she boarded with a family and studied French, dancing, drawing, and music with private tutors, who received prescribed, strict daily schedules and instructions regarding how her education should be conducted by Thomas Jefferson. He was particularly focused on cleanliness and spelling, both of which were important to create the image of a proper lady with moral behavior and diction.
In the meantime, her father worked in Philadelphia and awaited Congressional orders to go to France.
Her younger sisters, Mary and Lucy Elizabeth, remained in Virginia with family members as Randolph and her father traveled to Boston with
James Hemings. They set sail for Paris on the ship ''Ceres'' on July 5, 1784, and arrived in France on August 6, 1784.
Randolph lived in Paris with her father from age 12 to 17 while he served as
U.S. Minister to France. Jefferson enrolled her at the
Pentemont Abbey, an exclusive convent school, after receiving assurances that Protestant students were exempt from religious instruction. At this boarding school Randolph learned arithmetic, geography, world history, and Latin, as well as music and drawing.
Randolph was deeply influenced by the four years at the convent school. Her peers were the French elite who provide a model of "female intelligence, capacity, and energy" and experienced the "rich pageantry of Roman Catholic liturgies". It gave her the ability to conduct witty, intelligent conversation and how she viewed how she would manage the education of her children. Over the course of her studies, Randolph learned to speak four languages.
In October 1784, her youngest sister, Lucy, died of
whooping cough. Mary traveled with
Sally Hemings to Paris and joined her sister at the convent school in July 1787.
Randolph and her sister Mary contracted
typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...
during the winter of 1788 and lived with their father until they regained their health. They returned to the convent in spring of 1789.
After Randolph expressed a desire to
convert
Conversion or convert may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman''
* "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series
* "The Conversion" ...
to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and said she was considering religious orders, Jefferson quickly withdrew her and her younger sister Polly from the school. Randolph enjoyed a social life that included balls and concerts during the summer.
At her father's residence in Paris, she talked with world leaders.
In September 1789, after the beginning of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
, Thomas Jefferson, his daughters, and James and Sally Hemings sailed for home.
Marriage and family
On February 23, 1790, she married
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 ...
, a planter, at Monticello, a descendant of
Pocahontas. He was her third cousin.
Soon after their marriage, her father, Thomas Jefferson, deeded eight slaves from Monticello as a wedding gift, including Molly Hemings, the eldest daughter of
Mary Hemings.
The couple first lived at Randolph's estate,
Varina, in Henrico County and Martha had twelve children.
She had more children than any daughter of a President. In contrast to her parents and sister, each of whom had most of their children die in childhood, eleven of the Randolphs' children survived to adulthood:
*Ann Cary Randolph (1791–1826), who married Charles Lewis Bankhead (1788–1833).
*
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 ...
(1792–1875), who married Jane Hollins Nicholas (1798–1871) daughter of
Wilson Cary Nicholas.
*Ellen Wayles Randolph (1794–1795), died young during a trip that Randolph and her husband took July 1795 to October 1795 to improve his health.
*Ellen Wayles Randolph (1796–1876), who was named after deceased sister, and was married to Joseph Coolidge (1798–1879)
*
Cornelia Jefferson Randolph
Cornelia Jefferson Randolph (July 26, 1799 – ) was a granddaughter of United States President Thomas Jefferson. She also was the daughter of Acting First Lady Martha Jefferson Randolph and Governor of Virginia Thomas Mann Randolph Jr.
Life
Corn ...
(1799–1871). In the 1830s, she established a school at Edge Hill, then her brother's estate, where she taught painting, sculpture, and drawing. She translated and published, ''The Parlor Gardener: A Treatise on the House Culture of Ornamental Plants. Translated from the French and Adapted to American Use''. Cornelia never married.
*Virginia Jefferson Randolph (1801–1881), who married
Nicholas Trist (1800–1874).
*Mary Jefferson Randolph (1803–1876). She lived at Edge Hill and helped her sister-in-law, Jane, supervise the household of her brother Thomas Jefferson Randolph. She and her sister Cornelia also visited the houses of their siblings during times of sickness. She never married.
*James Madison Randolph (1806–1834) was born at the President's House, now called the White House, on January 17, 1806.
*Benjamin Franklin Randolph (1808–1871), who married Sarah Champe "Sally" Carter (1808–1896).
*Meriwether Lewis Randolph (1810–1837), who married Elizabeth A. Martin (1815–1871). After his death, Martin married
Andrew Jackson Donelson, a nephew of President
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
.
*
Septimia Anne Randolph (1814–1887), who married Dr. David Scott Meikleham (1804–1849).
*
George Wythe Randolph (1818–1867), who briefly in 1862 was Secretary of War of the
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
, and who married Mary Elizabeth Adams Pope (1830–1871).
Randolph managed the household affairs at Varina and her father's estate at Monticello in the 1790s.
Her husband, the son of Thomas Jefferson's friend Thomas Mann Randolph Sr., was in many ways a good candidate as her husband, but his family was subject to scandal. Some of the Randolphs were accused but later acquitted of killing a child believed to have been fathered by Richard Randolph.
Randolph was a
witness
In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...
in the case of
Commonwealth v. Richard Randolph on April 22, 1793. In addition, her father-in-law created a scandal when he married a teenager.
Thomas Jefferson sold the couple land for the Edge Hill plantation so that they could be nearer to him at Monticello in Albemarle County. They built a house and resided there beginning in January 1800. Randolph managed the affairs at both Varina and Monticello.
Randolph educated her children at home.
Randolph and her children lived primarily at Monticello after Thomas Jefferson's retirement
in 1809.
While her husband was the
governor of Virginia
The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022.
Oath of office
On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...
from 1819 to 1822, she continued to live at Monticello. This was done partly to save money.
She managed the household activities at the plantation. She had her own room at Monticello where she was generally on her own. Her husband visited Monticello at times.
Concerned about the family's finances and loss of income if her husband served in the military during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...
, Randolph convinced President
James Monroe to give him a more lucrative, temporary tax collectorship post.
With three of her children—Mary, Cornelia, and Thomas—she edited the first collection of Jefferson's writings for publication. She worked at spreading untrue claims that denied his paternity of the Hemings children and that would put her father in the best light.
Randolph devoted much of her life to her father's declining years. She had separated from her husband, who was said to suffer from
alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...
and mental instability. Jefferson describes her as the "cherished companion of his youth and the nurse of his old age". Shortly before his death, he said that the "last pang of life was parting with her."
White House hostess
Randolph made several visits to the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
(then known as the President's House) when her father was president. During her visits from November 1802 to January 1803 (with her sister and two of her children) and 1805–1806 (with her entire family), she served as his hostess and informal
first lady
First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...
by organizing Jefferson's social schedule and welcoming guests at receptions held by her father. Author
Catherine Allgor
Catherine Allgor is an American historian specializing in early American history.
About
Works
Books
* Allgor, C. (2000). ''Parlor Politics: In which the ladies of Washington help build a city and a government.'' University of Virginia Press. ...
notes that she was her father's confidante and well respected in Washington. Known for her intelligence and role in the social ladder, "whenever she was in the capital, Mrs. Randolph became the head of whatever occasion she attended. No matter what the social skirmish, no one disputed her right of precedence."
During that period, from 1803 to 1807, her husband served in the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.
In the 1982
Siena College Research Institute asking historians to assess American first ladies, Randolph and several other "acting" first ladies were included. The first ladies survey, which has been conducted periodically since, ranks first ladies according to a cumulative score on the independent criteria of their background, value to the country, intelligence, courage, accomplishments, integrity, leadership, being their own women, public image, and value to the president. In the 1982 survey, out of 42 first ladies and "acting" first ladies, Randolph was assessed as the 18th most highly regarded among historians. Acting first ladies such as Randolph have been excluded from subsequent iterations of this survey.
Randolph's sister, Mary "Polly", was also a hostess at times, until she died in 1804 during childbirth.
Politically attuned
Dolley Madison often performed hostess duties for Jefferson. Her husband,
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...
, was then the Secretary of State and she lived in Washington, D.C.
Randolph's eighth child, James Madison Randolph, was born at the President's house on January 17, 1806.
Randolph has a calming presence and helped divert attention from the rumors of Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings. A visitor said that she provided "the best refutation of all the calumnies that have been heaped upon him."
Opinions about slavery
When Randolph lived in Paris, she learned that there were countries where enslaving people was not legal and said to her father, "I wish with all my soul that the poor Negroes were all freed".
She also said, in keeping with the sentiments of her father, that she "detested" the unjust treatment of blacks, and the way that it fostered cruelty in whites.
She attempted to keep enslaved people with their families when she could, and freed some slaves, but she kept many that she was forced to sell by creditors to settle outstanding debts.
For instance, in 1827, after her father's death, she sold 130 slaves. As a result, families were separated. The remaining enslaved people were her most valuable assets, and she hired them out when she could for income. She sold two more slaves in 1833.
She also punished enslaved people who did not do what she wanted, sometimes physically. In 1833 Randolph's daughter Cornelia described an instance where she held a woman down while her mother whipped her, inflicting the flagellation "pretty severely."
Her son Thomas unsuccessfully lobbied for a plan for Virginia to abolish slavery gradually and colonize slaves in Africa in 1831, a proposal that Randolph supported. She also considered moving to a free state. Although she gave several enslaved people their freedom in her wills, she relied on their efforts throughout her life.
Later years and death
Randolph dealt with the strain of financial concerns over the debts of her husband, her father-in-law Thomas Mann Randolph Sr., and her father upon their deaths. They became indebted due to declining land values, risky investments, failed crops and needy relatives.
In 1826, her son Thomas purchased the Edge Hill estate.
Thomas Jefferson died of uremia on July 4, 1826. He was 83 years old.
After his death, she inherited Monticello from her father in 1826, as well as his many debts. Her eldest son Thomas Randolph acted as executor of the estate. Except for five slaves freed in her father's will, and "giving her time" (informal emancipation) to
Sally Hemings, they sold the remainder of the 130 slaves at Monticello to try to settle the debts.
After Jefferson's death, Randolph lived with Thomas, her eldest son, at Tufton.
She stayed at the home of her daughter Ellen and son-in-law Joseph Coolidge in Boston from October 1826 to May 1828. She had her two youngest children with her.
She then went to her husband in June 1828 and was at his bedside when he died on the 20th of that month.
By this point, she was "living on the edge of poverty".
Wanting to ensure successful careers for her family, which included her sons-in-law, she looked to
Margaret Bayard Smith
Margaret Bayard Smith (20 February 1778 – 7 June 1844) was an American author and political commentator in the early Republic of the United States, a time when women generally lived within strict gender roles. Her writings and relationship ...
, who helped family members procure positions that led to successful careers in Washington. After her husband's death, she lived with her son at
Edgehill estate until November 29 and then in Washington, D.C. and Boston with other married children.
To generate income, she hired out her remaining slaves. She also had a modest income from bank stock donated in tribute of Jefferson by the states of Louisiana and South Carolina.
The state legislatures each donated $10,000 to her for her support.
She had a little income from her father's estate.
Randolph put Monticello on the market two weeks following her father's death in July 1826. She attempted to sell it through a lottery, but was unable to sell it until 1831 to a James S.
or James T. Barclay in 1831. After having been on the market for five years, the plantation sold for $7,000, 1/10th of its $71,000 value.
A school was established at Edge Hill by her unmarried daughters, Mary and Cornelia, and Patsy, who taught music there at times. Randolph also traveled to the homes of her married children in her later years.
While in Boston, Randolph wrote her final will on January 24, 1836, and returned to the Edge Hill estate in July 1836.
She died there on October 10, 1836, at the age of 64.
The last surviving child of Thomas and Martha Jefferson, she was buried at the
Monticello family graveyard.
In popular culture
Martha Jefferson Randolph is the subject of the historical novel ''America's First Daughter'' by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, published in March 2016. The novel draws heavily upon Jefferson's letters.
In the 1995 film ''
Jefferson in Paris'', Martha Jefferson was portrayed by actress
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (; born ) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Paltrow gained notice for her early work in films ...
. Paltrow's real-life mother,
Blythe Danner
Blythe Katherine Danner (born February 3, 1943) is an American actress. Accolades she has received include two Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Izzy Huffstodt on '' Huff'' (2004–2006), and ...
, had portrayed Martha Jefferson's mother,
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 befor ...
, in ''
1776''.
In the 2000 4-hour CBS miniseries ''Sally Hemings An American Scandal'' written by Tina Andrews, Martha Jefferson was portrayed by actress
Mare Winningham.
References
Notes
References
Further reading
* Billy L. Wayson, " 'Considerably different for her sex': A Plan of Reading for Martha Jefferson," ''The Libraries, Leadership, and Legacy of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson,'' Robert C. Baron and Conrad Edick Wright, eds. (Fulcrum Publishing and Massachusetts Historical Society, 2010)
External links
Martha Jefferson Randolphat
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
's ''
First Ladies: Influence & Image''
''Who Is a First Lady'' Smithsonian Institution
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Bolling family of Virginia
Burials at Monticello
Children of presidents of the United States
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