To Elizabeth Wayles Eppes, 3? October 1782
A newly widowed Jefferson grapples with grief.
Childhood and Family
Ideas of family are expanded and considered in this section. Some documents reveal Jefferson’s affection for his children and grandchildren and active interest in their education. Others show parents soliciting Jefferson’s intervention in appointments for their children, enslaved individuals trying to maintain connections in the face of separation from kin, and parental loss in the wake of the death of a child.
From Martha Jefferson Carr, 15 April 1784
Jefferson’s sister reports about her travels, education plans for Peter Carr, reports on Jefferson’s daughters, and announces she has become a grandmother.
From Elizabeth Wayles Eppes, 13 October 1784
Jefferson’s sister-in-law relays the tragic news to Jefferson in Paris of the death of his daughter Lucy.
From Robert Pleasants, 1 June 1796
A Virginia Quaker encloses an essay promoting education for Black children.
From Anne Cary Randolph, [before 24 February 1803]
Jefferson's 12 year old granddaughter accepts his invitation to become a correspondent, requests he send a French dictionary, and updates him on the schooling of her siblings.
To Anne Cary Randolph, 26 February 1803
Jefferson responds to his granddaughter's request for a French dictionary and his grandson's wish for a book of geography.
From Thomas Mann Randolph, 30 May 1803
Jefferson’s son-in-law reports that one of the enslaved teenage workers at the Monticello nailery has struck another with a hammer.
To Thomas Mann Randolph, 8 June 1803
Jefferson asks that an enslaved teenage worker responsible for an attack at the nailery at Monticello be sold to a slave buyer from Georgia, thereby making “an example of him in terrorem to others.”
From Abigail Adams, 20 May 1804
Abigail Adams, sharing the pain of parental loss of a child, breaks a long silence with Jefferson to offer condolences on the death of his daughter Mary Jefferson Eppes.
To John Wayles Eppes, 4 June 1804
Jefferson writes to his son-in-law about his intentions to honor his grandchildren’s land inheritance at Pantops, encloses a letter received from Abigail Adams, and asserts that his only disagreement with John Adams was over the “midnight appointments.”