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[Illustration: THOMAS JEFFERSON.

_From Portrait by Gilbert Stuart._]

[Illustration: MONTICELLO:--THE WESTERN FRONT.]




  THE DOMESTIC LIFE
  OF
  THOMAS JEFFERSON.

  COMPILED FROM
  FAMILY LETTERS AND REMINISCENCES,
  BY HIS GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER,
  SARAH N. RANDOLPH.

  [Illustration: Jefferson's seal]

  NEW YORK:
  HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
  FRANKLIN SQUARE.
  1871.




  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by

  HARPER & BROTHERS,

  In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.




PREFACE.


I do not in this volume write of Jefferson either as of the great
man or as of the statesman. My object is only to give a faithful
picture of him as he was in private life--to show that he was, as
I have been taught to think of him by those who knew and loved him
best, a beautiful domestic character. With this view I have collected
the reminiscences of him which have been written by his daughter and
grandchildren. From his correspondence, published and unpublished,
I have culled his family letters, and here reproduce them as being
the most faithful witnesses of the warmth of his affections, the
elevation of his character, and the scrupulous fidelity with which he
discharged the duties of every relation in life.

I am well aware that the tale of Jefferson's life, both public and
private, has been well told by the most faithful of biographers in
"Randall's Life of Jefferson," and that much of what is contained in
these pages will be found in that admirable work, which, from the
author's zealous devotion to truth, and his indefatigable industry
in collecting his materials, must ever stand chief among the most
valuable contributions to American history. I propose, however, to
give a sketch of Jefferson's private life in a briefer form than it
can be found in either the thirteen volumes of the two editions of
his published correspondence, or in the three stout octavo volumes of
his Life by Randall. To give a bird's-eye view of his whole career,
and to preserve unbroken the thread of this narrative, I quote freely
from his Memoir, and from such of his letters as cast any light upon
the subject, filling up the blanks with my own pen.

Jefferson's executor having a few months ago recovered from the
United States Government his family letters and private papers, which
had been exempted from the sale of his public manuscripts, I am
enabled to give in these pages many interesting letters never before
published.

No man's private character has been more foully assailed than
Jefferson's, and none so wantonly exposed to the public gaze, nor
more fully vindicated. I shall be more than rewarded for my labors
should I succeed in imparting to my readers a tithe of that esteem
and veneration which I have been taught to feel for him by the person
with whom he was most intimate during life--the grandson who, as a
boy, played upon his knee, and, as a man, was, as he himself spoke of
him, "the staff" of his old age.

The portrait of Jefferson is from a painting by Gilbert Stuart, in
the possession of his family, and by them considered as the best
likeness of him. The portrait of his daughter, Martha Jefferson
Randolph, is from a painting by Sully. The view of Monticello
represents the home of Jefferson as it existed during his lifetime,
and not as it now is--a ruin.

                                                 THE AUTHOR.
  JUNE, 1871.




CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER I.

  Jefferson's Birthplace.--Sketch of his early Life.--Character
  of his Parents.--His Grandfather, Isham Randolph.--Peter
  Jefferson's Friendship for William Randolph.--Randolph dies,
  and leaves his young Son to the Guardianship of Jefferson.--
  His faithful Discharge of the Trust.--Thomas Jefferson's
  earliest Recollections.--His Father's Hospitality.--First
  Acquaintance with Indians.--Life of the early Settlers of
  Virginia: its Ease and Leisure.--Expense of Thomas Jefferson's
  early Education.--Death of his Father.--Perils of his
  Situation.--Letter to his Guardian.--Goes to William and
  Mary College.--Extract from his Memoir.--Sketch of
  Fauquier.--Of Wythe                                          Page 17


  CHAPTER II.

  Intense Application as a Student.--Habits of Study kept up
  during his Vacations.--First Preparations made for Building
  at Monticello.--Letters to his College Friend, John Page.--
  Anecdote of Benjamin Harrison.--Jefferson's Devotion to his
  eldest Sister.--He witnesses the Debate on the Stamp
  Act.--First Meeting with Patrick Henry.--His Opinion of
  him.--His superior Education.--Always a Student.--Wide Range
  of Information.--Anecdote.--Death of his eldest Sister.--His
  Grief.--Buries himself in his Books.--Finishes his Course of
  Law Studies.--Begins to practise.--Collection of Vocabularies
  of Indian Languages.--House at Shadwell burnt.--Loss of his
  Library.--Marriage.--Anecdote of his Courtship.--Wife's
  Beauty.--Bright Prospects.--Friendship for Dabney Carr.--His
  Talents.--His Death.--Jefferson buries him at Monticello.--His
  Epitaph                                                           31


  CHAPTER III.

  Happy Life at Monticello.--Jefferson's fine Horsemanship.--Birth
  of his oldest Child.--Goes to Congress.--Death of his Mother.