Thomas Jefferson
Martha Washington Jefferson Randolph
She was born on September 27, 1772 and died of apoplexy on October 10, 1836. Martha assumed the feminine head of the household when her mother unexpectedly died. She was nicknamed "Patsy" by her father, enjoying a close bond with the third president.
She was present at the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia and was witness to the most historic moments during the birth of our nation.
She married Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr, at age eighteen and the couple were parents of twelve children. Her son, James Madison Randolph, was the first child born in the White House. Patsy served as hostess for her famous father in the White House.
Her husband Randolph served in Congress and was later elected governor of Virginia from1819-1822. Randolph suffered mental breakdowns, bankruptcies and a resentment of his legendary father-in-law. Upon Jefferson's death in 1826, all Martha inherited was his debt. Tragically her husband's death two years latter left her deeper in poverty. Inheriting a mountain of bills that were insurmountable, she lived in destitution with one or another of her children until her death.
Jane Randolph Jefferson
She was born on April 3, 1774 and died 17 months later, September 1775. The only Jefferson son was born May 28, 1777 and died within days, June 14, 1777. History has lost his name. During these momentous years Jefferson was often away at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. It was during these painful losses that Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence.
Mary "Polly" "Maria" Jefferson Eppes
She was born on August 1, 1778. She died from complications of childbirth at the age of 25 April 17, 1804. She was nicknamed "Polly" by her family. Separations from her famous father for much of her early life caused her to desperatley seek her father's approval.
After her mother's death, she traveled to Paris to join her father and older sister Martha, where she became known as Maria. Accompanying Maria was a Jefferson household slave, the fourteen-year-old Sally Hemings. Some believe Sally later bore several illegitimate children to Jefferson. Polly/Maria married her cousin, John Wayles Eppes, who became a member of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Lucy Elizabeth I
She was born on November 3, 1780, and died a few months later on April 15, 1781. At the time of Lucy's birth, Jefferson was Governor of Virginia.. The five-week-old baby Lucy fell ill and never recovered. Jefferson tenderly kept a private note from his wife and a lock of hair from the first Lucy.
Lucy Elizabeth II
She was born May 8, 1782, and died October 13, 1784. Thomas Jefferson's wife Martha died shortly after the difficult birth of the second Lucy. While in Paris, Jefferson received a letter from Dr. James Currie, stating that two-year-old Lucy had fallen "a martyr to the complicated evils of teething, worms and hooping cough..." The grief-stricken Jefferson chastised himself for not having brought the baby Lucy with him to Paris.
Children of Sally Hemings
Were children born to Sally Hemings fathered by Thomas Jefferson? Nobody can say for sure, but in the late 1990s headlines and a television mini-series trumpeted the fact that DNA evidence confirmed the illegitimate liaison between Hemings and the third President of the United States. Closer inspections of the "evidence" have cast doubts on the conclusiveness of the DNA results, with other theories and explanations being proposed, but the possibility still exists. Tom was born in 1790 in France during Jefferson's time as the U.S. Representatives. Harriet I on October 5, 1795, Beverly in 1798, Harriet II in May of 1801, Madison in January 1805 and Eston in May 1808.
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