LIFE, ADMINISTRATION, AND TIMES

OF

THOMAS JEFFERSON,

SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT AND THIRD PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

March 4, 1801, to March 4, 1809.

THE

CHAPTER I.

THE JEFFERSONS.

HE family of Thomas Jefferson can be no more appropriately introduced to the reader than in the following words taken from Mr. Jefferson's Autobiography

"The tradition in my father's family was, that their ancestors came to this country from Wales, and from near the mountain of Snowdon, the highest in Great Britain. I noted once a case from Wales, in the law reports, where a person of our name was either a plaintiff or defendant, and one of the same name was secretary of the Virginia Company. These are the only instances in which I have met with the name in that country. I have found it in our early records; but the first particular information I have of any ancestor was of my grandfather, who lived at the place in Chesterfield, called Ozborne's, and owned the lands afterwards the glebe of the parish. He had three sons; Thomas who died young, Field who settled on the waters of the Roanoke and left numerous descendants, and Peter, my father, who settled on the lands I still own, called Shadwell, adjoining my present residence. He was born February 29, 1707, and intermarried 1739,

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with Jane Randolph, of the age of nineteen, daughter of Isham Randolph, one of the seven sons of that name and family, settled at Dungeoness, in Goochland County. They trace their pedigree far back in England and Scotland, to which let every one ascribe the faith and merit he chooses.

"My father's education had been quite neglected; but being of a strong mind, sound judgment, and eager after information, he read much and improved himself, insomuch that he was chosen, with Joshua Fry, Professor of Mathematics in William and Mary College, to continue the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina, which had been begun by Colonel Byrd; and was afterwards employed with the same Mr. Fry to make the first map of Virginia which had ever been made; that of Captain Smith being merely a conjectural sketch. They possessed excellent materials for so much of the country as is below the Blue Ridge, little then being known beyond that ridge. He was the third or fourth settler, about the year 1737, of the part of the country in which I live. He died August 17, 1757, leaving my mother, who lived till 1776, with six daughters and two sons, myself the elder. To my younger brother he left his estate on James River, called Snowden, after the supposed birthplace of the family; to myself, the lands on which I was born and live."

Thus it is seen that this family had its origin in Wales, and some of its members were among the first settlers on the James River, in Virginia, where, in Chesterfield County, Peter Jefferson was born. After he grew to manhood he was fortunate enough to receive a patent for a thousand acres of land in the neighborhood of Charlottesville, then in Goochland, afterwards in Albemarle County. To this he added other large tracts, and, after the high-sounding style of the time, and the would-be aristocracy of this day, named his place "Shadwell." But Peter Jefferson's family did not belong to the so-called aristocracy. They were of that middle condition from which, with few exceptions, Virginia's great characters have sprung, as have those of other communities.

Peter Jefferson was born in 1707, and in the common, but exceptionable, sense of the expression, was poorly educated. That is, he was not sent to Europe to acquire a book education, nor did he likely enjoy or care much for the meager facilities offered for acquiring the knowledge and drill of book culture then afforded young men in this country. Yet he engaged with success, as a surveyor, a difficult business which he had mainly taken up unaided.

Two years after locating in his wilderness home, in 1738, he married Jane Randolph, daughter of Isham Randolph; but as to how he came to this piece of good fortune, there seems to be no clue. He had the office of surveyor of his county for some time; assisted in locating the line between Virginia and North Carolina, and afterwards aided in constructing a map of the Colony; was colonel of militia in Albemarle County; was one of the first three Justices of the Peace for that county, then an office of responsibility and honor, as was that of commanding the military affairs of the county; and, for a year or two he was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. All of these positions denoted, in a very decided sense, the high standing of the officer, as at that day only men of real worth and sterling qualities were apppointed or chosen to such places.

In 1745, he left his own estate with his family, to reside on and administer that of William Randolph, on the James River, near Richmond; and, although engaged in this work for several years, he refused compensation beyond his actual expenses. Peter Jefferson, it is said, was a man of large, muscular frame, a kind of Hercules, physically; self-reliant,

independent, plain, unpretentious, and somewhat exclusive in his habits and tastes. Of course, little is known of his religion, more than that he was a member of the Church of England, which in his time was supported by the State. Although he had but little literary culture when he started in life, he was not without taste in that direction, and when his fortune and family grew upon him, he surrounded himself with the means of culture attainable. He read history quite extensively, and in that, as well as some other particulars, became no unsuitable companion for his more aristocratic and learned friends, the Fairfaxes. His strong, free, and vigorous character he exhibited to his children, and attempted to develop in them the manly and independent traits which he admired and which he believed would lead to the best results in life. He married but once, and died August 17, 1757.

The Randolph family appeared in Virginia about the middle of the seventeenth century, in the person of William Randolph, of Warwickshire, England. He became prominent in the affairs of the Colony, and founded one of its most noted families. He married Mary Isham, daughter of Henry Isham, of Virginia, also of English origin. One of his sons, Isham, married Jane Rogers, of London, and his daughter, Jane Randolph, became the wife of Peter Jefferson. Little is known concerning her, as her distinguished son has left few references to her in all his voluminous writings. She probably did not fall far below the standard of the other members of her family, although in her day the term education was hardly applicable to women. Acquaintance with books or mental culture was not then considered as at all essential in fitting a woman to be