Lucy Jefferson Lewis | |
---|---|
Born | Lucy Jefferson October 10, 1752 |
Died | May 26, 1810 (aged 57) |
Known for | Sister of Thomas Jefferson and wife of Charles Lilburn Lewis |
Spouse | |
Children | 10, including Isham Lewis, Lilburne Lewis |
Parent(s) | Peter Jefferson Jane Randolph |
Lucy Lewis, née Jefferson (October 10, 1752 – May 26, 1810) was a younger sister of United States President Thomas Jefferson and the wife of Charles Lilburn Lewis.
Born in Tuckahoe (plantation), she was the eighth of Peter Jefferson and Jane Randolph Jefferson's 10 children. [1] [2] She was nine years younger than her brother Thomas Jefferson. [a] She was born into an elite planter family and would have been educated at home by her mother, together with her sisters. Their father died when they were young.
At age 16, Jefferson married her first cousin, Charles Lilburne Lewis, on September 12, 1769. [4] He was related to Meriwether Lewis, who would help lead the Lewis and Clark Expedition. [5] The couple eventually had eight children: Randolph, Isham, Jane Jefferson, Lilburne, Mary Randolph, Lucy B., Martha, Ann (Nancy), and Elizabeth . [4] [6]
Her brother, Thomas Jefferson, did not seem to be close to Lucy after her marriage. He was not close to the men in the Lewis family and disliked Charles Lewis' sister, Elizabeth Henderson. [7]
Jane and Mary had married before 1806 and established their own households. The remainder of the Lewis family moved to Livingston County, Kentucky, in 1806 or 1808, following their grown sons Randolph and Lilburne and their families. [4] Charles and Lucy Lewis built a plantation called "Rocky Hill" near the present-day town of Smithland. Lucy's older brother Thomas Jefferson took an interest in the education of her sons, and encouraged them in their studies.
Lucy Jefferson Lewis died in 1810. She was buried on the grounds of the Rocky Hill plantation, but the gravesite has been lost. The estate is now in ruins. [8]
In 1812, the year after Lucy and her son Randolph died, the brothers Lilburne and Isham Lewis murdered a slave named George. The men tried to hide the youth's remains, but his skull was revealed by the collapse of a chimney during the second New Madrid earthquake. The brothers were arrested but received bail. [9] Before the trial, Lilburne urged Isham to join him in a suicide pact, but died almost by accident while preparing, and Isham did not go through with it. Held as an accessory in his brother's suicide while it was investigated, Isham escaped from jail and disappeared. The murder of the slave and suicide by Lilburne brought the entire family into disrepute. [9]
Meriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark. Their mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase, establish trade with, and sovereignty over the natives near the Missouri River, and claim the Pacific Northwest and Oregon Country for the United States before European nations. They also collected scientific data and information on indigenous nations. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him Governor of Upper Louisiana in 1806. He died in 1809 of gunshot wounds, in what was either a murder or suicide.
Randolph Jefferson was the younger brother of Thomas Jefferson, the only male sibling to survive infancy. He was a planter and owner of the Snowden plantation that he inherited from his father. He served the local militia for about ten years, making captain of the local militia in 1794. He also served during the Revolutionary War.
Martha "Patsy" Randolph was the eldest daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, and his wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. She was born at Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia.
Robert Bolling was an English-born merchant, planter and politician.
Isham Randolph was an American planter, merchant, public official, and shipmaster. He was the maternal grandfather of United States President Thomas Jefferson.
Peter Jefferson was a planter, cartographer and politician in colonial Virginia best known for being the father of the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. The "Fry-Jefferson Map", created by Peter in collaboration with Joshua Fry in 1757, accurately charted the Allegheny Mountains for the first time and showed the route of "The Great Road from the Yadkin River through Virginia to Philadelphia distant 455 Miles"—what would later come to be known as the Great Wagon Road. Likewise, it indicates the route of the Trading Path from Petersburg to Old Hawfields, North Carolina and beyond.
William Randolph I was an English-born planter, merchant and politician in colonial Virginia who played an important role in the development of the colony. Born in Moreton Morrell, Warwickshire, Randolph moved to the colony of Virginia sometime between 1669 and 1673, and married Mary Isham a few years later. His descendants include many prominent individuals including Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Paschal Beverly Randolph, Robert E. Lee, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Randolph, John Randolph of Roanoke, George W. Randolph, and Edmund Ruffin. Due to his and Mary's many progeny and marital alliances, they have been referred to as "the Adam and Eve of Virginia".
Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. was an American planter, soldier, and politician from Virginia. He served as a member of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, a representative in the United States Congress, and as the 21st governor of Virginia, from 1819 to 1822. He married Martha Jefferson, the oldest daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. They had eleven children who survived childhood. As an adult, Randolph developed alcoholism, and he and his wife separated for some time before his death.
Jane Randolph Jefferson was the wife of Peter Jefferson and the mother of US president Thomas Jefferson. Born in the parish of Shadwell, near London, she was the daughter of Isham Randolph, a ship's captain and a planter. Jefferson was proud of her heritage and brought customs of aristocracy to her family. Jefferson was revered within her family's household and positively influenced her son, Thomas Jefferson.
The Randolph family of Virginia is a prominent political family, whose members contributed to the politics of Colonial Virginia and Virginia after statehood. They are descended from the Randolphs of Morton Morrell, Warwickshire, England. The first Randolph in America was Edward Fitz Randolph, who settled in Massachusetts in 1630. His nephew, William Randolph, later came to Virginia as an orphan in 1669. He made his home at Turkey Island along the James River. Because of their numerous progeny, William Randolph and his wife, Mary Isham Randolph, have been referred to as "the Adam and Eve of Virginia". The Randolph family was the wealthiest and most powerful family in 18th-century Virginia.
William O. Callis was the son of William Harry Callis and Mary Jane Cosby. He was a childhood friend of Presidents James Madison and James Monroe, was with Washington at Yorktown, and was known to Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, and Benedict Arnold.
Thomas Jefferson Randolph of Albemarle County was a Virginia planter, soldier and politician who served multiple terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, as rector of the University of Virginia, and as a colonel in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. The favorite grandson of President Thomas Jefferson, he helped manage Monticello near the end of his grandfather's life and was executor of his estate, and later also served in the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850 and at the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861.
Richard Randolph, also known as Richard Randolph of Curles, was a planter, merchant and politician in colonial Virginia. Richard served as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1727 until his death. Randolph was the fifth son of William Randolph and Mary Isham, as well as the grandfather of John Randolph of Roanoke. He was also recommended for appointment to the Governor's Council of Virginia four times but never received an appointment and through his marriage to Jane Bolling, his children were lineal descendants of Pocahontas.
George Lewis was an African American boy held as a slave; he was murdered in western Kentucky on the night of December 15–16, 1811 by Lilburne and Isham Lewis, grown sons of Dr. Charles Lilburn Lewis and Lucy Jefferson Lewis, and nephews of Thomas Jefferson. The brothers were also related to Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame.
Charles Lilburn Lewis, sometimes referred to as Charles Lilburn Lewis of Monteagle, was one of the founders of Milton, Virginia, as well as one of the signers of Albemarle County, Virginia's Declaration of Independence in 1779. Married to Lucy Jefferson, the sister of President Thomas Jefferson, he was among the elite class of plantation owners until the turn of the 19th century when he and his children lost their fortunes. Two of his daughters were married and stayed in Virginia, while the remainder of his family left for Kentucky. They had a difficult life there, with his wife, son Randolph, daughter-in-law Mary, and Lilburne's wife having died by early 1812. Lewis was left to care for unmarried daughters, grandchildren, and the family's slaves. Sons Isham and Lilburne brutally murdered an enslaved boy named George in December 1811. After it was determined that the men were involved, Lilburne killed himself and Isham escaped jail and died following his service in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.
William Randolph II, also known as William Randolph Jr. or Councillor Randolph, was an American planter and politician. He was the Treasurer of Virginia and the oldest child of William Randolph and Mary Isham.
Thomas Randolph, also known as Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe, was the first European settler at Tuckahoe, a member of the House of Burgesses, and the second child of William Randolph and Mary Isham, daughter of Henry Isham and Katherine Isham (Banks).
Sir John Randolph was an American politician. He was a Speaker of the House of Burgesses, an Attorney General for the Colony of Virginia, and the youngest son of William Randolph and Mary Isham.
George Steptoe Washington was a Virginia planter and militia officer who died at the age of 37 of tuberculosis.
Thomas Mann Randolph Sr. served in the Virginia House of Burgesses, the Revolutionary conventions of 1775 and 1776, and the Virginia state legislature. Married twice, he fathered 15 children. One marriage was to a cousin, Anne Cary, with whom they had 13 children. His second marriage, which resulted in two children, caused a dissention among family members. The youngest son, with the same name as his half-brother, Thomas Mann Randolph, inherited the family plantation, Tuckahoe plantation. Randolph expanded upon the house that began to be built during his parents' short marriage. Orphaned as a young boy, Randolph continued work on Tuckahoe when he came of age. He also purchased Salisbury house, which was used during his lifetime as a hunting lodge.
Jefferson was related to the Lewis family by marriage, and from the time he first heard about Meriwether Lewis' death, he believed that the man had committed suicide as a result of an inherited tendency toward depression and mental disturbance. Subsequent events likely reinforced Jefferson's feelings, for at the time he wrote a sketch of Meriwether, the former president was reeling from the news of a scandalous murder committed by his nephews Lilburne and Isham Lewis.