When Thomas Jefferson came courting, Martha Wayles Skelton was already a widow at the age of 22. They were married on New Year's Day 1772 at the bride's plantation home, "The Forest," near Williamsburg, VA.
Their first child, Martha Washington "Patsy" Jefferson, was born in September 1772, followed by five more children within ten years. Only Patsy and sister Mary "Polly" were to survive infancy.
Mr. Jefferson served Virginia in the House of Delegates and as governor, but he refused an appointment by the Continental Congress in order to stay near his wife. The strain of frequent pregnancies gravely weakened the frail Mrs. Jefferson. On 6 September 1782, Mr. Jefferson noted in his account book, "My dear wife died this day at 11:45 am."
In November 1784, Jefferson agreed to serve as commissioner to France, taking Patsy with him in 1784 and later sending for Polly.
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While attending l’Abbaye Royale de Penthemonte in Paris, Patsy grew tall with red hair and freckles. Although very near-sighted, she was an accomplished dancer, harpsichord player, and horsewoman. Patsy was also very devoted to her father. During one of the many parties she attended, Patsy became reacquainted with her third cousin, Thomas Mann Randolph, a recent graduate of the University of Edinburgh. They were married at Monticello in 1790 and were blessed with the arrival of twelve children. Mr. Randolph would later serve in Congress and as governor of Virginia.
When he became President of the United States in 1801, Thomas Jefferson had been a widower for nineteen years. Occasionally he would call on Dolly Madison for assistance with social affairs, but it was Patsy (now Mrs. Thomas Mann Randolph) who became the lady of the President's house. She organized public receptions and entertained in the French tradition. In 1805, Patsy gave birth to the first child born in the White House, a son named for James Madison.
Patsy, with her family, shared Mr. Jefferson's retirement at Monticello until he died there in 1826. Thomas Mann Randolph died soon thereafter in 1828.
In 1836, Martha Washington "Patsy" Jefferson Randolph was buried with her husband and parents in the Jefferson Family Graveyard at Monticello. |
