Randolph Jefferson

How are you related to Randolph Jefferson?

Connect to the World Family Tree to find out

Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love

  • Build your family tree online
  • Share photos and videos
  • Smart Matching™ technology
  • Free!

Randolph Jefferson

Birthdate:
Birthplace: Shadwell, Albemarle County, Province of Virginia, Colonial America
Death: August 15, 1815 (59)
Snowden, Buckingham County, Virginia, United States
Immediate Family:

Son of Colonel Peter Jefferson and Jane Jefferson
Husband of Anne Jefferson Jefferson and Mitchie B. Jefferson
Father of John Thomas Jefferson, Sr; Thomas Jefferson; Ann Scott Neville; James Lilburne Jefferson; Isham Randolph Jefferson and 4 others
Brother of Jane Jefferson; Mary Bolling; Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States of America; Elizabeth Jefferson; Martha Carr and 4 others

DAR: Ancestor #: A134114
Family relationships: Twin to Anna
Managed by: Private User
Last Updated:

About Randolph Jefferson

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LXSJ-D3L/randolph-jefferson-1...



A Patriot of the American Revolution for VIRGINIA (Soldier). DAR Ancestor #: A134114

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randolph_Jefferson

Randolph Jefferson (October 1, 1755 – August 7, 1815) was the younger brother of Thomas Jefferson. He was Thomas' only brother to survive infancy, and was a twin to Anna Scott, Thomas' youngest sister. Randolph was 12 years younger than Thomas. He married his first cousin, Anne Lewis, on 30 July 1781 in Albemarle County. They had five sons and a daughter who survived. They resided at Snowden in Buckingham County. Anne died some time after the birth of their last son in 1796-97 and before Randolph's May 1808 will. Randolph remarried after May 1808 and before December 1809 to Mitchie B. Pryor of Buckingham County, and they conceived a son before Randolph died in August 1815.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

DNA study and historial information The DNA study along with historical information, indicates that Randolph is possibly the father of Eston and maybe the others. We do not know. Randolph, named for his maternal Randolph family, was a widower and between wives when shortly after his wife’s death, Sally became pregnant with her first child, Harriet I. It had been almost six years since her arriving at Monticello from Paris, thus, we can see that there was no “long term love affair” between Thomas and Sally. She continued having children until 1808 when Eston was born. Randolph Jefferson would marry his second wife the next year, 1809, and would have a child, John, born about 1810. Three of Sally Hemings’ children, Harriet, Beverly and Eston (the latter two not common names), were given names of the Randolph family who had earlier owned Randolph’s plantation, “Snowden”, and who had received it as his inheritance.

Randolph was invited by Thomas to come to Monticello to visit him and Randolph’s twin sister, who had arrived one day earlier. This was in August 1807, exactly nine months prior to Eston’s birth. Randolph was also present at Monticello on May 27, 1808, exactly six days after Eston’s birth on May 21, 1808. He may have come to see his son, Eston and Thomas even drafted Randolph’s will on that date.


Randolph Jefferson was the younger brother of Thomas Jefferson and a planter.

He was Thomas' only brother to survive infancy. He was a twin to Anna Scott Jefferson, Thomas' youngest sister. Randolph and Anna were 12 years younger than Thomas. He married his first cousin, Anne Lewis, on 30 July 1781 in Albemarle County. They had five sons and a daughter who survived. They resided at Snowden in Buckingham County.

Anne died some time after the birth of their last son in 1796-97, and before Randolph's May 1808 will. Randolph remarried after May 1808 and before December 1809 to Mitchie B. Pryor of Buckingham County. She conceived a son before Randolph died in August 1815.

Born at Shadwell, the Jefferson family plantation in Albemarle County, Virginia, Randolph Jefferson spent his entire life in Virginia. He attended The Grammar School at the College of William and Mary and was tutored in higher subjects by Thomas Gwatkin, who taught Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at the College. Records show he resided at the College of William and Mary from Oct 1771 until Sept 1772. Additionally, he took violin lessons from Frances Alberti, the same instructor as his brother. Prior to that, he attended Ben Snead's English School in Albemarle County, as did his sisters.

Randolph Jefferson served in the Revolution and in the local militia, and he furnished provisions for Virginia troops, pasture for cavalry horses, and Negro laborers at Scotts Ferry to help remove military stores. Along with his brother, Jefferson signed an Oath of Allegiance to the Commonwealth of Virginia on 21 April 1779. He seems to have been an amiable man. A court record states that Randolph did not "possess the skill for the judicious management of his affairs, and that in all the occasions of life a diffidence in his own opinions." It said he was a kind man, but he was easily influenced by others.

Thomas was considerate and affectionate toward Randolph; they addressed each other as "Dear Brother," and exchanged visits and services with each other. Letters document that Thomas lent Randolph the harness for a gig, had his watch repaired, gave him a dog, sent him vegetable seeds, and gave him a spinning jenny.

Captain Jefferson, as Randolph was called, inherited his plantation, Snowden, from their father Peter Jefferson. It was located about twenty miles south of Monticello, in Buckingham County, across from Scott's Ferry. Jefferson earned his title, Captain, while serving for a nearly a decade in the Buckingham County Militia. His life at Snowden was relatively simple compared to life at Monticello; however, he was an affluent planter and dependent on enslaved labor. In early 1816, only two days after Randolph's second wife and widow Mitchie B. Jefferson moved out, the dwelling house at Snowden burned to the ground.

Jefferson's first marriage was to his first cousin, Anne Lewis, on July 30, 1780, however, another account states that they were married in 1781. Ann was the daughter of Colonel Charles Lewis of Buck Island and Mary Randolph, the sister of Jane Randolph Jefferson. Isham Randolph of Dungeness was the grandfather in common of both Randolph Jefferson and Ann Jefferson Lewis. They had five sons of record mentioned sequentially in Randolph's 1808 will, as written by his brother: Thomas; Robert Lewis; Peter Field; Isham Randolph; and James Lilburne. As a child, Thomas was a resident at Monticello for extended periods of schooling in 1799 and 1800, and possibly 1801. Thomas eventually married his first cousin, Mary Randolph Lewis, the daughter of Charles Lilburn Lewis of Monteagle. They also had one daughter, Anne "Nancy" Jefferson, who married Zachariah Nevil.

view all 13

Randolph Jefferson's Timeline

1755
October 1, 1755
Shadwell, Albemarle County, Province of Virginia, Colonial America
1769
January 20, 1769
<Shadwell, , Goochland, Virginia>
1778
1778
Tucker County, West Virginia, United States
1783
1783
< Gochland >, Shadwell, Albemarle County, Virginia, United States
1783
probably, Fluvanna County, VA, United States
1785
1785
<Shadwell, , Goochland, Virginia>
1786
1786
< Gochland >, Shadwell, Albemarle County, Virginia, United States
1789
1789
<Shadwell, , Goochland, Virginia>
1791
1791
<Shadwell, , Goochland, Virginia>