Martha Jefferson

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Martha Skelton Jefferson (née Wayles; October 30, 1748 – September 6, 1782) was the wife of Thomas Jefferson from 1772 until her death in 1782. She served as First Lady of Virginia during Jefferson's term as governor from 1779 to 1781. She died in 1782, 19 years before he became president.<ref name="Monticello - MWSJ" /><ref name="GBWH - First Ladies" />

Of the six children born to Thomas and Martha, only two survived to adulthood, Martha and Mary. Martha died four months after the birth of her last child.<ref name="Monticello - MWSJ">Template:Cite web</ref> The couple's letters to one another were burned, though by whom is unknown, and Thomas rarely spoke of her, so she remains a somewhat enigmatic figure.<ref name="Schwartz p. 129" /> (Similarly, Jefferson did not speak much of his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson.)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Efn

As a widower, Thomas had a long-standing relationship and children with Martha's half-sister, Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman who was three-quarters white by descent.<ref name=mont>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life and education

Martha Wayles was born on October 30, 1748 (O.S. October 19, 1748), the only surviving child born to Martha Eppes Wayles (1721–1748) and John Wayles (1715–1773),<ref name="Monticello - MWSJ" /> near Colonial Williamsburg<ref name="GBWH - First Ladies" /> in Charles City County, Virginia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Martha's mother, Martha Eppes Wayles, had previously given birth to twins in 1746, but neither survived; the girl was stillborn and the boy died hours after his birth.<ref name="Monticello - JW" /> Martha was nicknamed "Patsy".<ref name="Hyland p. 115">Template:Cite book</ref> Martha's father John was a Lancaster-born emigrant to the Thirteen Colonies who worked as an attorney and prosperous planter and slave trader. In addition, he was an agent for the Farrell and Jones company based in Bristol, undertaking activities such as debt collection on their behalf.<ref name="Kierner p. 17">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Hyland p. 39">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Monticello - JW">Template:Cite web</ref> Martha Eppes Wayles was a daughter of Francis Eppes, a settler of the Bermuda Hundred,<ref name="Monticello - JW" /><ref name="Malone p. 432">Template:Cite book</ref> an early Virginian colony established along the Appomattox River.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> While little is known of Martha Eppes Wayles' life, she had an appreciation for fine literature, such as her favorite novel, Tristram Shandy<ref name="Schwartz p. 129">Template:Cite book</ref> and Les Aventures de Télémaque. (Her rebound version of the book, The Adventures of Telemachus, contains her signature on the title page and resides at the Library of Congress).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Martha Wayles had two stepmothers, neither of whom lived long after their marriages to John Wayles, and through one stepmother she had four half-sisters.<ref name="Monticello - JW" /><ref name="Hendricks p. 19" /> Wayles married Tabitha Cocke,<ref name="Monticello - JW" /><ref name="Hyland p. 237">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Efn of Malvern Hill. They had four children: Sarah, Elizabeth, Tabitha and Anne.<ref name="Monticello - JW" /> Sarah died in infancy.<ref name="Monticello - JW" /> Tabitha and Anne married the Skipwith brothers, Robert and Henry, respectively. Tabitha Skipwith died with her first childbirth. Nancy Skipwith, "Aunty Skipwith" to the Jefferson children and grandchildren, died in 1798.Template:Citation needed Elizabeth married Francis Eppes, Martha's cousin, and had two sons, Richard and John Wayles Eppes, the latter of whom married Thomas Jefferson's second daughter, Mary Jefferson.<ref name="Malone p. 432" /> Wayles' second wife died most likely after the birth of Anne in August 1756 and before he married his third wife in January 1760.<ref name="Monticello - JW" />

On January 26, 1760, Wayles married his third wife, Elizabeth Lomax Skelton (she was the widow of Reuben Skelton, an older brother of Bathurst Skelton, his daughter Martha's first husband). Without producing a child with Wayles, she died on February 10, 1761.<ref name="Monticello - JW" /> John Wayles then took Betty Hemings as a mistress, and gave Martha additional half-siblings.<ref name="Monticello - Wayles/Hemings" />Template:Efn Martha likely received her education—including literature, dance, music, French language and Bible study— from private tutors or women in the family. She became the "Lady of the House" after her second stepmother died when she was 13 years of age and was often a hostess to John Wayles' social events and helped manage his business and household affairs.<ref name="Hendricks p. 19" /> She knew how to make candles, soap, butter and remedies for illnesses.<ref name="Hendricks p. 20">Template:Cite book</ref>

Marriages and children

Martha Wayles first married Bathurst Skelton (born 1744), an attorney, on November 20, 1766, at age 18. Their son, John, was born on November 7, 1767. Skelton died on September 30, 1768. Martha then moved back to The Forest following her husband's death. Three-year-old John died on June 10, 1771.<ref name="Monticello - MWSJ" /><ref name="Hendricks p. 20" />

Thomas Jefferson

File:Thomas Jefferson by Mather Brown.jpg
Mather Brown, Thomas Jefferson, 1786, oil painting, National Portrait Gallery

Thomas Jefferson, likely began courting Martha in December 1770.<ref name="Monticello - MWSJ" /> They shared an interest in horse-back riding, literature, and music.<ref name="Hendricks p. 20" /> As part of Martha's dowry for their January 1, 1772 wedding,<ref name="GBWH - First Ladies" /> Thomas and Martha received property, including the Elk Hill plantation, where Martha had lived with her first husband,<ref name="Kranish p. 38" /> and a great number of slaves, which helped Thomas complete the construction of the Monticello residence and landscaping of the estate's 5,000 acres.<ref name="Hendricks p. 20" /><ref name="Kranish p. 38" />Template:Efn While Monticello was undergoing construction and Thomas was away, Martha often stayed at the Elk Hill plantation.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

They had six children, but only two daughters reached adulthood.<ref name="Monticello - MWSJ" /> An unnamed son, Jane Randolph, and Lucy Elizabeth, who died of whooping cough, died as infants.<ref name="Monticello - MWSJ" /> Only the eldest, Martha "Patsy" Jefferson, survived past the age of 25:<ref name="Hendricks p. 20" />

Slaves and Wayles' estate

Martha and Thomas Jefferson acquired a number of slaves as part of her dowry for her marriage, and later from the estate of John Wayles, which made Thomas the second largest slave owner in Albemarle County. The dowry increased the number of slaves he owned from 52 to 187.<ref name="Kranish p. 38" />

Among the more than 100 enslaved Black and Indigenous people were Betty Hemings, of mixed-race ancestry, and her 10 mixed-race children. The youngest, an infant, was Sally Hemings. The six youngest were three-quarters white in ancestry and half-siblings of Martha Wayles Jefferson, as they were fathered by her father. Betty also had four children born before those of Wayles'. All the Hemings family members gained privileged positions among the slaves at Monticello, where they were trained and worked as domestic servants, chefs, and highly skilled artisans.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sally Hemings, who was fathered by John Wayles, was the half-sister of Martha Wayles Jefferson, and the subject of a scandal about her relationship with Thomas Jefferson.<ref name="Kranish p. 38" />

Martha's father, John Wayles, died at age 58 in 1773. He left substantial property, including slaves, but the estate was encumbered with debt.<ref>Death notice from The Virginia Gazette, June 3, 1773: "On Friday last died, at his house in Charles City, JOHN WAYLES, Esquire, attorney at law."</ref> Upon Wayles' death, Betty Hemings and her six children with John Wayles were moved "without hesitancy" to Monticello to prevent the Hemings from being separated.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The estate was worth £30,000, but was in debt to Farrell and Jones in Bristol for £11,000. Wayles three sons-in-law, including Thomas Jefferson, decided to break up the estate and its debts.<ref name="Meacham p. 70">Template:Cite book</ref> Martha and her husband Thomas Jefferson inherited the Willis Creek and Elk Hill plantations and a total of 135 people, including members of the Hemings family.<ref name="Schwartz pp. 142-143">Template:Cite book</ref> They also inherited £4,000 in debt.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Jefferson and other co-executors of the Wayles estate worked for years to clear the debt<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the overwhelming debt led to Thomas Jefferson's financial ruin.<ref name="Kranish p. 38" />

Contemporaneous descriptions

No contemporaneous portraits of Martha Jefferson survive, but she has been described by family members and Isaac Granger Jefferson as small, graceful, and pretty, and like her daughter, Mary Jefferson Eppes. She was described by Robert Skipwith, her sister's husband, as having possessed "... the greatest fund of good nature ... that sprightliness and sensibility which promises to ensure you the greatest happiness mortals are capable of enjoying."<ref name="Monticello - MWSJ" /> As Thomas was having Monticello built, he obtained a piano forte from England for Martha as a wedding present.<ref name="Kranish p. 38">Template:Cite book</ref> She played the harpsichord piano forte, while Thomas Jefferson played violins. Martha reportedly played the harpsichord "very skillfully and who, is in all respects, a very agreeable sensible and accomplished lady," according to a Hessian officer, Jacob Rubsamen, who visited Monticello in 1780.<ref name="Monticello - MWSJ" />

File:Monticello original front elevation drawing 1771.jpeg
Original front elevation drawing of Monticello, 1771

According to her daughter, Martha Jefferson was highly educated and musical, a constant reader, with a good nature and a vivacious temper that sometimes bordered on tartness. She had great affection for her husband. She was a little over Template:Convert tall, with a lithe figure, auburn hair, and hazel eyes.<ref name="Hendricks p. 19">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="GBWH - First Ladies">Template:Cite web</ref> She was an accomplished needlewoman, some of her embroidery still exists.<ref name="Watson"/><ref name="Hendricks p. 19" /> Martha maintained a collection of notes regarding her household duties and recipes, such as butchering and curing meat and the creation of large batches of soft and hard soap, candles, and beer. During her first year of marriage, she began the practice of brewing beer, producing Template:Convert that year.<ref name="Kukla PT112">Template:Cite book</ref>

First lady of Virginia

Governor's Palace
Governor's Palace, Governor Jefferson's residence in Williamsburg

Martha Jefferson was First Lady of Virginia from 1779 to 1781, during the American Revolution.<ref name="Hendricks pp. 20–21" /> In that capacity, and in response to a request from Martha Washington, Mrs. Jefferson led a drive among the women of Virginia to raise funds and supplies for her state's militia in the Continental Army to the extent that her health permitted.<ref name=Kukla>Kukla, John. Mr. Jefferson's Women, p. 118 (New York: Knopf Books, 2007).</ref> The letter to James Madison's mother, Eleanor Conway Madison, is the only letter written by Martha Jefferson known to now exist.<ref name="Hendricks p. 23">Template:Cite book</ref> She published an appeal in the Virginia Gazette, announcing that collections would be taken in the churches. Nationally, the Ladies Association raised $300,000 to buy linen shirts for Washington's army.<ref name=Kukla /><ref>Hendricks, Nancy. America's First Ladies: A Historical Encyclopedia and Primary Document Collection of the Remarkable Women of the White House, p. 23 (ABC-CLIO, 2015).</ref>

Health problems

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Monticello Family Graveyard, including Thomas Jefferson's gravesite

Managing the Jefferson household became increasingly difficult for Martha Jefferson, who had endured at least one case of smallpox, may have had diabetes, and was weakened by her numerous pregnancies,<ref name="Hendricks pp. 20–21">Template:Cite book</ref> which would ultimately kill her.<ref name="Hyland p. 115" /> She fled Richmond ahead of advancing British forces in early January 1781, and also avoided a raid on Monticello in June of that year,<ref name="GBWH - First Ladies" /> being aware that the British were interested in capturing her or her husband.<ref name="Hendricks pp. 20–21" /> The baby, Lucy Elizabeth I, fell ill during the January evacuation and never recovered, dying in 1781 on April 15.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Thomas limited his political service due to her health.<ref name="GBWH - First Ladies" /> Jefferson was in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress in 1776, where he drafted the Declaration of Independence over a period of two weeks in June 1776. He wished to return to her as soon as possible.<ref name="Hendricks pp. 20–21" /> Thomas served as governor and in the House of Delegates in Virginia. He declined the offer to serve as the commissioner to France made by the Continental Congress while she was alive.<ref name="GBWH - First Ladies" />Template:Efn

Death

The birth of Lucy Elizabeth II, their youngest child, in May 1782 was reportedly the most difficult pregnancy for Mrs. Jefferson, since the infant was over 16 pounds at birth.<ref name="Hendricks pp. 20–21" />Template:Efn Edmund Randolph wrote in the month of her death that Thomas was "inconsolable" about Martha's declining health and pain."<ref name="Monticello - MWSJ" />

Mrs. Jefferson's health worsened and she died on September 6, 1782, four months after the birth of her last child. <ref name="Watson"/>Template:Efn

She was buried at Monticello and her tombstone was inscribed with words written by Thomas, the closing of which read: "Torn from him by death. September 6, 1782. This monument of his love is inscribed".<ref name="Monticello - MWSJ" />

So that her children would not grow up with stepmothers,<ref name="Hendricks pp. 20–21" /> Martha had asked Thomas Jefferson to never marry again, and he never did. Her request has been attributed to her own disagreeable relationships with her stepmothers. At her death, she was 33; he was 39.<ref>Hyland, William G. Jr. Martha Jefferson: An Intimate Life with Thomas Jefferson. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2015; pg. 1</ref>

Legacy

Martha Jefferson was portrayed by Blythe Danner in the 1972 film 1776.

Notes

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References

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