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.
