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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 From his correspondence, published and unpublished,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.--
  Kindness to British Prisoners.--Their Gratitude.--His Devotion to
  Music.--Letter to General de Riedesel.--Is made Governor of
  Virginia.--Tarleton pursues Lafayette.--Reaches Charlottesville.--
  The British at Monticello.--Cornwallis's Destruction of Property
  at Elk Hill.--Jefferson retires at the End of his Second Term as
  Governor.--Mrs. Jefferson's delicate Health.--Jefferson meets with
  an Accident.--Writes his Notes on Virginia.--The Marquis de
  Chastellux visits Monticello.--His Description of it.--Letter of
  Congratulation from Jefferson to Washington.--Mrs. Jefferson's
  Illness and Death.--Her Daughter's Description of the Scene.--
  Jefferson's Grief                                                 48


  CHAPTER IV.

  Visit to Chesterfield County.--Is appointed Plenipotentiary to
  Europe.--Letter to the Marquis de Chastellux.--Goes North with
  his Daughter.--Leaves her in Philadelphia, and goes to
  Congress.--Letters to his Daughter.--Sails for Europe.--His
  Daughter's Description of the Voyage.--His Establishment and
  Life in Paris.--Succeeds Franklin as Minister there.--Anecdotes
  of Franklin.--Extracts from Mrs. Adams's Letters.--Note from
  Jefferson to Mrs. Smith                                           67


  CHAPTER V.

  Jefferson's first Impressions of Europe.--Letter to Mrs.
  Trist.--To Baron De Geismer.--He visits England.--Letter to
  his Daughter.--To his Sister.--Extract from his Journal kept
  when in England.--Letter to John Page.--Presents a Bust of
  Lafayette to chief Functionaries of Paris.--Breaks his
  Wrist.--Letter to Mrs. Trist.--Mr. and Mrs. Cosway.--
  Correspondence with Mrs. Cosway.--Letter to Colonel
  Carrington.--To Mr. Madison.--To Mrs. Bingham.--Her Reply         79


  CHAPTER VI.

  Death of Count de Vergennes.--Jefferson is ordered to Aix by
  his Surgeon.--Death of his youngest Child.--Anxiety to have
  his Daughter Mary with him.--Her Reluctance to leave
  Virginia.--Her Letters to and from her Father.--Jefferson's
  Letters to Mrs. and Mr. Eppes.--To Lafayette.--To the Countess
  de Tesse.--To Lafayette.--Correspondence with his Daughter
  Martha                                                           101


  CHAPTER VII.

  Increased Anxiety about his youngest Daughter.--Her Aunt's
  Letter.--She arrives in England.--Mrs. Adams receives her.--
  Letter to Mrs. Eppes.--To Madame de Corny.--To J. Bannister.--
  To his Sister.--Letter to Mr. Jay.--To Madame de Brehan.--To
  Madame de Corny.--Weariness of Public Life.--Goes to
  Amsterdam.--Letter to Mr. Jay.--To Mr. Izard.--To Mrs. Marks.--
  To Mr. Marks.--To Randolph Jefferson.--To Mrs. Eppes             124


  CHAPTER VIII.

  Jefferson asks for leave of Absence.--Character of the Prince
  of Wales.--Letters to Madame de Brehan.--Fondness for Natural
  History.--Anecdote told by Webster.--Jefferson's Opinion of
  Chemistry.--Letter to Professor Willard.--Martha Jefferson.--She
  wishes to enter a Convent.--Her Father takes her Home.--He is
  impatient to return to Virginia.--Letter to Washington.--To Mrs.
  Eppes.--Receives leave of Absence.--Farewell to France.--
  Jefferson as an Ambassador.--He leaves Paris.--His Daughter's
  Account of the Voyage, and Arrival at Home.--His Reception by
  his Slaves                                                       139


  CHAPTER IX.

  Letters on the French Revolution                                 154


  CHAPTER X.

  Washington nominates Jefferson as Secretary of State.--
  Jefferson's Regret.--Devotion of Southern Statesmen to Country
  Life.--Letter to Washington.--Jefferson accepts the
  Appointment.--Marriage of his Daughter.--He leaves for New
  York.--Last Interview with Franklin.--Letters to Son-in-law.--
  Letters of Adieu to Friends in Paris.--Family Letters.           169


  CHAPTER XI.

  Jefferson goes with the President to Rhode Island.--Visits
  Monticello.--Letter to Mrs. Eppes.--Goes to Philadelphia.--
  Family Letters.--Letter to Washington.--Goes to Monticello.--
  Letters to his Daughter.--His Ana.--Letters to his Daughter.--
  To General Washington.--To Lafayette.--To his Daughter           189


  CHAPTER XII.

  Anonymous Attacks on Jefferson.--Washington's Letter to him.--
  His Reply.--Letter to Edmund Randolph.--Returns to
  Philadelphia.--Washington urges him to remain in his
  Cabinet.--Letters to his Daughter.--To his Son-in-law.--To
  his Brother-in-law.--Sends his Resignation to the President.--
  Fever in Philadelphia.--Weariness of Public Life.--Letters
  to his Daughters.--To Mrs. Church.--To his Daughter.--Visits
  Monticello.--Returns to Philadelphia.--Letter to Madison.--To
  Mrs. Church.--To his Daughters.--Interview with Genet.--Letter
  to Washington.--His Reply.--Jefferson returns to Monticello.--
  State of his Affairs, and Extent of his Possessions.--Letter to
  Washington.--To Mr. Adams.--Washington attempts to get
  Jefferson back in his Cabinet.--Letter to Edmund Randolph,
  declining.--Pleasures of his Life at Monticello.--Letter to
  Madison.--To Giles.--To Rutledge.--To young Lafayette            213


  CHAPTER XIII.

  Description of Monticello and Jefferson by the Duc de la
  Rochefoucauld-Liancourt.--Nominated Vice-President.--Letter
  to Madison.--To Adams.--Preference for the Office of
  Vice-President.--Sets out for Philadelphia.--Reception
  there.--Returns to Monticello.--Letters to his Daughter.--Goes
  to Philadelphia.--Letter to Rutledge.--Family Letters.--To
  Miss Church.--To Mrs. Church                                     235


  CHAPTER XIV.

  Jefferson goes to Philadelphia.--Letters to his Daughters.--
  Returns to Monticello.--Letters to his Daughter.--Goes back
  to Philadelphia.--Family Letters.--Letters to Mrs. and Miss
  Church.--Bonaparte.--Letters to his Daughters.--Is nominated
  as President.--Seat of Government moved to Washington.--Spends
  the Summer at Monticello.--Letters to his Daughter.--Jefferson
  denounced by the New England Pulpit.--Letter to Uriah Gregory.--
  Goes to Washington                                               254


  CHAPTER XV.

  Results of Presidential Election.--Letter to his Daughter.--
  Balloting for President.--Letter to his Daughter.--Is
  inaugurated.--Returns to Monticelllo.--Letters to his
  Daughter.--Goes back to Washington.--Inaugurates the Custom
  of sending a written Message to Congress.--Abolishes Levees.--
  Letter to Story.--To Dickinson.--Letter from Mrs. Cosway.--
  Family Letters.--Makes a short Visit to Monticello.--
  Jefferson's Sixtieth Year                                        271


  CHAPTER XVI.

  Returns to Washington.--Letters to his Daughters.--Meets with
  a Stranger in his daily Ride.--Letters to his Daughter.--To
  his young Grandson.--To his Daughter, Mrs. Randolph.--Last
  Letters to his Daughter, Mrs. Eppes.--Her Illness.--Letter to
  Mr. Eppes.--Goes to Monticello.--Death of Mrs. Eppes.--Account
  of it by a Niece.--Her Reminiscences of Mary Jefferson Eppes.--
  Letter to Page.--To Tyler.--From Mrs. Adams.--Mr. Jefferson's
  Reply.--Midnight Judges.--Letters to his Son-in-law              288


  CHAPTER XVII.

  Renominated as President.--Letter to Mazzei.--Slanders against
  Jefferson.--Sad Visit to Monticello.--Second Inauguration.--
  Receives the Bust of the Emperor of Russia.--Letters to and
  from the Emperor.--To Diodati.--To Dickinson.--To his
  Son-in-law.--Devotion to his Grandchildren.--Letter to
  Monroe.--To his Grandchildren.--His Temper when roused.--Letter
  to Charles Thompson.--To Dr. Logan.--Anxious to avoid a Public
  Reception on his Return home.--Letter to Dupont de Nemours.--
  Inauguration of Madison.--Harmony in Jefferson's Cabinet.--Letter
  to Humboldt.--Farewell Address from the Legislature of
  Virginia.--His Reply.--Reply to an Address of Welcome from
  the Citizens of Albemarle.--Letter to Madison.--Anecdote of
  Jefferson.--Dr. Stuart says he is quarelling with the Almighty   310


  CHAPTER XVIII.

  His final Return home.--Wreck of his Fortunes.--Letter to Mr.
  Eppes.--To his Grand-daughter, Mrs. Bankhead.--To
  Kosciusko.--Description of the Interior of the House at
  Monticello.--Of the View from Monticello.--Jefferson's
  Grandson's Description of his Manners and Appearance.--
  Anecdotes.--His Habits.--Letter to Governor Langdon.--To
  Governor Tyler.--Life at Monticello.--Jefferson's Studies
  and Occupations.--Sketch of Jefferson by a Grand-daughter.--
  Reminiscences of him by another Grand-daughter                   329


  CHAPTER XIX.

  Letter to his Grand-daughter, Mrs. Bankhead.--To Dr. Rush.--
  To Duane.--Anxiety to reopen Correspondence with John Adams.--
  Letter to Benjamin Rush.--Old Letter from Mrs. Adams.--Letter
  from Benjamin Rush.--Letter from John Adams.--The
  Reconciliation.--Character of Washington.--Devotion to
  him.--Letter to Say.--State of Health.--Labors of
  Correspondence.--Cheerfulness of his Disposition.--Baron
  Grimour.--Catherine of Russia.--Ledyard.--Letter to Mrs.
  Trist.--To John Adams.--Gives Charge of his Affairs to his
  Grandson.--Letter to his Grandson, Francis Eppes.--Description
  of Monticello by Lieutenant Hall.--Letter to Mrs. Adams.--Her
  Death.--Beautiful Letter to Mr. Adams.--Letter to Dr. Utley.--
  Correspondence with Mrs. Cosway.--Tidings from Old French
  Friends                                                          349


  CHAPTER XX.

  Letters to John Adams.--Number of Letters written and
  received.--To John Adams.--Breaks his Arm.--Letter to Judge
  Johnson.--To Lafayette.--The University of Virginia.--Anxiety
  to have Southern Young Men educated at the South.--Letters on
  the Subject.--Lafayette's Visit to America.--His Meeting with
  Jefferson.--Daniel Webster's Visit to Monticello, and
  Description of Mr. Jefferson                                     378


  CHAPTER XXI.

  Pecuniary Embarrassments.--Letter from a Grand-daughter.--Dr.
  Dunglison's Memoranda.--Sells his Library.--Depressed
  Condition of the Money Market.--Disastrous Consequences to
  Jefferson.--His Grandson's Devotion and Efforts to relieve
  him.--Mental Sufferings of Mr. Jefferson.--Plan of Lottery to
  sell his Property.--Hesitation of Virginia Legislature to grant
  his Request.--Sad Letter to Madison.--Correspondence with
  Cabell.--Extract from a Letter to his Grandson, to Cabell.--
  Beautiful Letter to his Grandson.--Distress at the Death of his
  Grand-daughter.--Dr. Dunglison's Memoranda.--Meeting in
  Richmond.--In Nelson County.--New York, Philadelphia, and
  Baltimore come to his Relief.--His Gratitude.--Unconscious
  that at his Death Sales of his Property would fail to pay his
  Debts.--Deficit made up by his Grandson.--His Daughter left
  penniless.--Generosity of Louisiana and South Carolina           397


  CHAPTER XXII.

  Letter to Namesake.--To John Adams.--Declining Health.--Dr.
  Dunglison's Memoranda.--Tenderness to his Family.--Accounts
  of his Death by Dr. Dunglison and Colonel Randolph.--Farewell
  to his Daughter.--Directions for a Tombstone.--It is erected
  by his Grandson.--Shameful Desecration of Tombstones at
  Monticello                                                       419




ILLUSTRATIONS.


                                                           PAGE

  THOMAS JEFFERSON (From Portrait by Stuart) }      _In Front._
  MONTICELLO (The Western View)              }
  JEFFERSON'S SEAL                                _Title-Page._
  JEFFERSON'S COAT OF ARMS                          _On Cover._
  JEFFERSON'S MARRIAGE LICENSE-BOND (Fac-simile)             42
  PART OF DRAFT OF DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (Fac-simile)  52
  MARTHA JEFFERSON RANDOLPH (From Portrait by Sully)         65
  JEFFERSON'S HORSE-CHAIR (Still preserved at Monticello)   289
  MONTICELLO (Plan of the First Floor)                      334
  THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA (In 1850)                      386
  JEFFERSON'S GRAVE (Near Monticello)                       432




THE

DOMESTIC LIFE OF JEFFERSON.




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.


On a long, gently sloping hill five miles east of Charlottesville,
Virginia, the traveller, passing along the county road of Albemarle,
has pointed out to him the spot where Thomas Jefferson was born,
April 13th, 1743. A few aged locust-trees are still left to mark the
place, and two or three sycamores stretch out their long majestic
arms over the greensward beneath, once the scene of young Jefferson's
boyish games, but now a silent pasture, where cattle and sheep
browse, undisturbed by the proximity of any dwelling. The trees are
all that are left of an avenue planted by him on his twenty-first
birthday, and, as such, are objects of peculiar interest to those who
love to dwell upon the associations of the past.

The situation is one well suited for a family mansion--offering from
its site a landscape view rarely surpassed. To the south are seen
the picturesque valley and banks of the Rivanna, with an extensive,
peaceful-looking horizon view, lying like a sleeping beauty, in the
east; while long rolling hills, occasionally rising into mountain
ranges until at last they are all lost in the gracefully-sweeping
profile of the Blue Ridge, stretch westward, and the thickly-wooded
Southwest Mountains, with the highly-cultivated fields and valleys
intervening, close the scene on the north, and present landscapes
whose exquisite enchantment must ever charm the beholder.

A brief sketch of Jefferson's family and early life is given in the
following quotation from his Memoir, written by himself:

     _January 6, 1821._--At the age of 77, I begin to make some
     memoranda, and state some recollections of dates and facts
     concerning myself, for my own more ready reference, and for the
     information of my family.

     The tradition in my father's family was, that their ancestor
     came to this country from Wales, and from near the mountain of
     Snowden, the highest in Great Britain. I noted once a case from
     Wales in the law reports, where a person of our name was either
     plaintiff or defendant; and one of the same name was Secretary
     to 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 Osborne'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 29th, 1708, and intermarried
     1739 with Jane Randolph, of the age of 19, daughter of Isham
     Randolph, one of the seven sons of that name and family settled
     at Dungeness, in Goochland. 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 run 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 being then 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 17th, 1757, leaving my mother
     a widow, 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. He placed me at the
     English school at five years of age, and at the Latin at nine,
     where I continued until his death. My teacher, Mr. Douglas, a
     clergyman from Scotland, with the rudiments of the Latin and
     Greek languages, taught me the French; and on the death of
     my father I went to the Rev. Mr. Maury, a correct classical
     scholar, with whom I continued two years.

The talents of great men are frequently said to be derived from the
mother. If they are inheritable, Jefferson was entitled to them on
both the paternal and maternal side. His father was a man of most
extraordinary vigor, both of mind and body. His son never wearied of
dwelling with all the pride of filial devotion and admiration on the
noble traits of his character. To the regular duties of his vocation
as a land-surveyor (which, it will be remembered, was the profession
of Washington also) were added those of county surveyor, colonel of
the militia, and member of the House of Burgesses.

Family tradition has preserved several incidents of the survey of the
boundary-line between Virginia and North Carolina, which prove him to
have been a man of remarkable powers of endurance, untiring energy,
and indomitable courage. The perils and toils of running that line
across the Blue Ridge were almost incredible, and were not surpassed
by those encountered by Colonel Byrd and his party in forcing the
same line through the forests and marshes of the Dismal Swamp in the
year 1728. On this expedition Colonel Jefferson and his companions
had often to defend themselves against the attacks of wild beasts
during the day, and at night found but a broken rest, sleeping--as
they were obliged to do for safety--in trees. At length their supply
of provisions began to run low, and his comrades, overcome by hunger
and exhaustion, fell fainting beside him. Amid all these hardships
and difficulties, Jefferson's courage did not once flag, but living
upon raw flesh, or whatever could be found to sustain life, he
pressed on and persevered until his task was accomplished.

So great was his physical strength, that when standing between two
hogsheads of tobacco lying on their sides, he could raise or "head"
them both up at once. Perhaps it was because he himself rejoiced in
such gigantic strength that it was his frequent remark that "it is
the strong in body who are both the strong and free in mind." This,
too, made him careful to have his young son early instructed in
all the manly sports and exercises of his day; so that while still
a school-boy he was a good rider, a good swimmer, and an ardent
sportsman, spending hours and days wandering in pursuit of game along
the sides of the beautiful Southwest Mountains--thus strengthening
his body and his health, which must otherwise have given way under
the intense application to study to which he soon afterwards devoted
himself.

The Jeffersons were among the earliest immigrants to the colony,
and we find the name in the list of the twenty-two members who
composed the Assembly that met in Jamestown in the year 1619--the
first legislative body that was ever convened in America.[1] Colonel
Jefferson's father-in-law, Isham Randolph, of Dungeness, was a man of
considerable eminence in the colony, whose name associated itself in
his day with all that was good and wise. In the year 1717 he married,
in London, Jane Rogers. Possessing the polished and courteous
manners of a gentleman of the colonial days, with a well-cultivated
intellect, and a heart in which every thing that is noble and true
was instinctive, he charmed and endeared himself to all who were
thrown into his society. He devoted much time to the study of
science; and we find the following mention of him in a quaint letter
from Peter Collinson, of London, to Bartram, the naturalist, then on
the eve of visiting Virginia to study her flora:

     When thee proceeds home, I know no person who will make thee
     more welcome than Isham Randolph. He lives thirty or forty
     miles above the falls of James River, in Goochland, above the
     other settlements. Now, I take his house to be a very suitable
     place to make a settlement at, for to take several days'
     excursions all round, and to return to his house at night....
     One thing I must desire of thee, and do insist that thee must
     oblige me therein: that thou make up that drugget clothes, to
     go to Virginia in, and not appear to disgrace thyself or me;
     for though I should not esteem thee the less to come to me in
     what dress thou wilt, yet these Virginians are a very gentle,
     well-dressed people, and look, perhaps, more at a man's outside
     than his inside. For these and other reasons, pray go very
     clean, neat, and handsomely-dressed to Virginia. Never mind thy
     clothes; I will send thee more another year.

  [1] The Jeffersons first emigrated to Virginia in 1612.

In reply to Bartram's account of the kind welcome which he received
from Isham Randolph, he writes: "As for my friend Isham, who I am
also personally known to, I did not doubt his civility to thee. I
only wish I had been there and shared it with thee." Again, after
Randolph's death, he writes to Bartram that "the good man is gone to
his long home, and, I doubt not, is happy."

Such was Jefferson's maternal grandfather. His mother, from whom he
inherited his cheerful and hopeful temper and disposition, was a
woman of a clear and strong understanding, and, in every respect,
worthy of the love of such a man as Peter Jefferson.

Isham Randolph's nephew, Colonel William Randolph, of Tuckahoe, was
Peter Jefferson's most intimate friend. A pleasing incident preserved
in the family records proves how warm and generous their friendship
was. Two or three days before Jefferson took out a patent for a
thousand acres of land on the Rivanna River, Randolph had taken out
one for twenty-four hundred acres adjoining. Jefferson, not finding a
good site for a house on his land, his friend sold him four hundred
acres of his tract, the price paid for these four hundred acres
being, as the deed still in the possession of the family proves,
"Henry Weatherbourne's biggest bowl of arrack punch."

Colonel Jefferson called his estate "Shadwell," after the parish
in England where his wife was born, while Randolph's was named
"Edgehill," in honor of the field on which the Cavaliers and
Roundheads first crossed swords. By an intermarriage between their
grandchildren, these two estates passed into the possession of
descendants common to them both, in whose hands they have been
preserved down to the present day.

On the four hundred acres thus added by Jefferson to his original
patent, he erected a plain weather-boarded house, to which he took
his young bride immediately after his marriage, and where they
remained until the death of Colonel William Randolph, of Tuckahoe, in
1745.

It was the dying request of Colonel Randolph, that his friend
Peter Jefferson should undertake the management of his estates and
the guardianship of his young son, Thomas Mann Randolph. Being
unable to fulfill this request while living at Shadwell, Colonel
Jefferson removed his family to Tuckahoe, and remained there seven
years, sacredly guarding, like a Knight of the Round Table, the
solemn charge intrusted to him, without any other reward than the
satisfaction of fully keeping the promise made to his dying friend.
That he refused to receive any other compensation for his services
as guardian is not only proved by the frequent assertion of his son
in after years, but by his accounts as executor, which have ever
remained unchallenged.[2]

  [2] In spite of these facts, however, some of Randolph's
  descendants, with more arrogance than gratitude, speak of Colonel
  Jefferson as being a paid agent of their ancestor.

Thomas Jefferson was not more than two years old when his father
moved to Tuckahoe, yet he often declared that his earliest
recollection in life was of being, on that occasion, handed up to a
servant on horseback, by whom he was carried on a pillow for a long
distance. He also remembered that later, when five years old, he
one day became impatient for his school to be out, and, going out,
knelt behind the house, and there repeated the Lord's Prayer, hoping
thereby to hurry up the desired hour.

Colonel Jefferson's house at Shadwell was near the public highway,
and in those days of primitive hospitality was the stopping-place for
all passers-by, and, in the true spirit of Old Virginia hospitality,
was thrown open to every guest. Here, too, the great Indian Chiefs
stopped, on their journeys to and from the colonial capital, and
it was thus that young Jefferson first became acquainted with and
interested in them and their people. More than half a century later
we find him writing to John Adams:

     I know much of the great Ontassete, the warrior and orator of
     the Chero