THE EPPES DAUGHTERS

I am with compliments to your family Dear Madam Your affectionate friend Th: Jefferson

~ Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Ann Eppes Harris

Montecello

the children of Francis Eppes IV

We wrote about our cousin Francis Eppes IV (1C8X), who owned the slave Elizabeth Hemings, in our "The Virginians Part II" post. When Francis IV died in 1734 at age 48, he was quite a wealthy man. He left the home plantation with close to 9,500 additional acreage to his son Francis, Jr. (2C7X). To Son Richard (2C7X) he left approximately 5,000 acres. Son William (2C7X) also received about 5,000 acres.

Francis IV left property to his two daughters, as well. Martha Eppes Wayles (2C7X), about 22 at the time of her fathers's death and her sister Ann (2C7X), about 19, jointly inherited a 2,400 acre estate called Indian Camp located in Goochland, about forty miles northwest from Francis' home plantation at Bermuda Hundred near Hopewell.

(1) Bermuda Hundred (2) Goochland

Ca. 1736, Ann Eppes married Benjamin Harris. It appears that the couple lived on the property inherited from Francis IV, half of which was still owned by Ann's sister Martha. Later, Martha's half of this property would come into the hands of Thomas Jefferson who married Martha's daughter, also named Martha (3C6X).

Martha Eppes Wayles

In our post "The Virginians Part II," we began the story of the Hemings family, slaves first owned by our cousin Francis Eppes IV. These slaves eventually ended up in the household of Thomas Jefferson. When Francis IV died, he bequeathed his slave Elizabeth Hemings, daughter of a Black African slave and a White sea captain, to his daughter Martha. In 1746, Martha married John Wayles, a lawyer and plantation owner who also dabbled in the slave trade. With the marriage, Elizabeth Hemings and all her eventual progeny became the property of Martha's husband John Wayles but with a stipulation.

Ownership of slaves could be complicated. Many wealthy southern families negotiated contracts that allowed wives to maintain control over specific property. Twelve year old Elizabeth was one piece of property that Martha wanted to keep in the Eppes family line.

When Martha married, she didn't have to travel far to her new home. John Wayles' plantation, The Forest, was located close to the present town of Granville, VA.

On the map below, we can see that Francis Eppes IV's plantation at Bermuda Hundred (1) lay close to the original Eppes plantation at Hopewell (3) built by his (and our) great-grandfather, the immigrant Francis Eppes I (9GGF). Across the river, about 5 miles as the crow flies, was John Wayles' plantation near Granville (2)

Martha married in March of 1746. Seven months later, she gave birth to twins, probably born prematurely. The girl was stillborn and the boy died a few hours after birth. Two years later, Martha gave birth to a daughter, another Martha. Only weeks after giving birth, Martha Eppes Wayles died but her child survived.

During her lifetime, our cousin Martha Eppes had developed an appreciation for fine literature. She even wrote her own book, The Adventures of Telemachus. A copy with her signature on the title page is now housed at the Library of Congress.

Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson

Martha Wayles, who was nicknamed Patty, gained a stepmother shortly after her mother's death. John Wayles and his second wife Tabitha had four children before Tabitha died, probably in childbirth in 1756. He married again in 1760 but his third wife died a year later. Patty was 12 when she lost her second stepmother. Wayles never married again. Instead, he took 27 year old slave Elizabeth Hemings as his mistress. In her lifetime, Elizabeth would have twelve children, six of them fathered by John Wayles. Those six were half brothers and sisters to Patty.

In 1766, when Patty was 18, she married Bathurst Skelton. Their son John (4C5X) was born in 1768. A year later, Bathurst died and Patty moved back to her father's house with her son. Sadly, little John died in June of 1771.

Patty married Thomas Jefferson in 1772, seven months after the death of her son. No pictures survive of Patty but she was described by peope who knew her as "small, graceful and pretty." One of her half-sister's husbands, Robert Skipworth, described her as "the greatest fund of good nature. . .that sprightliness and sensibility which promises to ensure you the greatest happiness mortals are capable of enjoying."

Patty's dowry included a number of slaves which turned out to be quite a boon to Jefferson. He, in turn, was able to use his legal skills to help Patty's aunt Anne Eppes with a piece of property she owned. From a letter written by Jefferson to Anne:

Williamsburgh Apr. 26. 1773

Dear Madam

. . .The Long-mountain lands are once more saved, Mr. Swann’s petition being again dismissed with costs. I will send you up an execution for the costs as soon after the court as it can be made out. . .This secures them effectually, and on calling the caveat in June I shall hope to have costs allowed you in that also.—You desired to know when I shall be at Mr. Wayles’s after the court, and promise us the pleasure of seeing you there. . .I expect however to leave this place about the 7th. of May, and Mr. Wayles’s the 11th. Patty will not go up with me till after the June court, when we will infallibly do ourselves the pleasure of calling on you. Mr. Wayles has been very ill for some months past, and still continues so. He mends slowly. His physician has given us hopes that he will continue to do so, tho’ he thinks it will be long before his health will be established. I am with compliments to your family Dear Madam Your affectionate friend

Th: Jefferson

Patty's inheritance

John Wayle's, despite the family's hopes, died a month after Jefferson's letter to Anne. With his death came more property and and the number of slaves Jefferson received from the Wayles estate climbed to 135. While the addition of so many slaves was helpful to Jefferson, he also found himself responsible for the substantial debt John Wayles had left at his death. Beginning with Wayles' debt, Jefferson would find himself frequently in financial difficulties throughout his lifetime.

With Patty's dowry, her inheritance and the slaves he already owned, Jefferson became the second largest slave owner in Abermale County with 187 total. Elizabeth Hemings and her six children with Patty's father were part of the deal and the entire family moved to Monticello.

When her father died, Patty also came into possession of the other half of the Indian Camp land that her mother Martha and her aunt Anne Eppes had inherited from their father, Francis. In 1773, Jefferson joined in signing a petition with Anne to have the land partitioned. With the partition, he was able to sell his half of the land in 1773.

death and will of Anne Eppes Harris

Anne died in 1777 at age 74. Her husband had died 18 years prior but she still owned considerable property. In her will, she left bequests to all of her 8 children. Her will remains among the Jefferson Papers in the National Archive.

First Anne divided up the property she owned:

First I give to my son Joseph (3C6X) and his heirs four hundred acres of the tract of land whereon I live. . .I give to my son Benjamin (3C6X) and his heirs two hundred acres of the same tract to be laid off at the lower end thereof. I give to my son Francis Eppes (3C6X) and his heirs two hundred acres of the same tract to be laid off. . .I give to my son Richard (3C6X) and his heirs two hundred acres of the same tract. . . I give to such of my daughters as shall not have been married at the time of my death two hundred acres of the same tract to include my dwelling house and the outhouses thereto belonging; which two hundred acres with the houses it is my will they should hold jointly and undivided so long as they live single, and when any of them marries or dies her interest to go over to the others or other remaining alive and single, and on the death or marriage of the last of them, I will that the said two hundred acres go to all my sons and their heirs equally to be divided among them.

Then, of course, the negroes had to be doled out:

I confirm to my son Joseph the negro man called Peter which I have delivered to him during my life. I give to my son Edward my negro man Caesar. I give to my son Francis Eppes my negro boy Ludlow. I give to my son Richard my negroe boy Jamey. I confirm to my daughter Mary a negro woman called Jenny and her children whom I had delivered to her during my life. I give to my daughter Anne a negro woman called Rose. I give to my daughter Martha a negro woman called Doll. I give to my daughter Tabitha a negro girl called Nancy. To my son Benjamin and my daughter Sarah I have above given no negroes specifically because they already have some under gifts from their friends, which put them on an equal footing with their brothers and sisters. My horses and the rest of my slaves I give to be equally divided among my children Edward, Benjamin, Francis Eppes, Richard, Mary, Sarah, Anne, Martha, and Tabitha; omitting in this bequest my son Joseph, because independently of this my will he is better provided for than his brothers and sisters.

From her will, it appears that Anne had 10 children.

the death of Martha "Patty" Wayles Jefferson

Thomas and Patty Wayles Jefferson were married for ten years before her untimely death in 1782 at age 34. Patty gave birth to six children but only two lived to adulthood. Three died as infants and one lived to the age of two. Patty died four months after the birth of her last child.

Jefferson was devastated at the death of his wife. Nothing remains of any letters between the two of them and he never wrote about her. Everything that is known about what kind of woman she was comes from her family and friends.

Ellen Randolph Coolidge (5C4X), Patty's granddaughter, never knew her grandmother but had obviously heard about her from her own mother, Martha Jefferson Randolph (4C5X). Ellen had this to say about her grandmother:

My grandmother Jefferson had a vivacity of temper which might sometimes border on tartness, but which, in her intercourse with her husband, was completely subdued by her exceeding affection for him. This little asperity however sometimes shewed itself to her children, & of course more to my mother, her oldest child, than to the others who were much younger. . .It would be doing injustice to my grandmother, having spoken of her small defects, not to say that they were entirely redeemed by her good qualities. . .She was a very attractive person and my grandfather was tenderly attached to her. She commanded his respect by her good sense and domestic virtues, and his admiration & love by her wit, her vivacity, and her most agreeable person and manners. . .Her loss was the bitterest grief my grandfather ever knew, and no second wife was ever called to take her place.

Great-granddaughter Sarah N. Randolph (6C3X) also wrote about her grandmother:

Mrs. Jefferson is said to have been a singularly beautiful woman, and a person of great intelligence and strength of character; and certainly, if the attractions of a woman can be measured by the love borne her by her husband, hers must have been great indeed, for never was a wife loved with more passionate devotion than she was by Jefferson.

Henry Randall in his Life of Thomas Jefferson wrote:

In person, she was a little above medium height, slightly but exquisitely formed. Her complexion was brilliant—her large expressive eyes of the richest shade of hazel—her luxuriant hair of the finest tinge of auburn. She walked, rode, and danced with admirable grace and spirit—sung, and played the spinet and harpsichord (the musical instruments of the Virginia ladies of that day) with uncommon skill. . .She was also well read and intelligent; conversed agreeably; possessed excellent sense and a lively play of fancy; and had a frank, warm-hearted, and somewhat impulsive disposition.

And last, from the Thomas Jefferson's Monticello site:

Before her death in September of 1782, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson copied the following lines from Laurence Sterne's Tristam Shandy:

Time wastes too fast: every letter

I trace tells me with what rapidity

life follows my pen. The days and hours

of it are flying over our heads like

clouds of windy day never to return -

Everything presses on -

One of the few documents in Martha's hand known to survive, this incomplete quotation was completed by Jefferson, transforming the passage into a poignant dialogue between husband and wife:

and every time I kiss thy hand to bid adieu, every absence which follows it, are preludes to that eternal separation which we are shortly to make!

After Patty's death Jefferson wrote, "A single event wiped away all my plans and left me a blank which I had not the spirits to fill up."

Jefferson's friend Edmund Randolph wrote to James Madison after Patty's death:

Mrs. Jefferson has at last shaken off her tormenting pains by yielding to them, and has left our friend inconsolable. I ever thought him to rank domestic happiness in the first class of the chief good; but I scarcely supposed, that his grief would be so violent, as to justify the circulating report, of his swooning away, whenever he sees his children.

Thomas Jefferson would never marry again. He would, however, begin a relationship with his slave Elizabeth Hemings, half sister of his wife who was said to look a great deal like Patty. Six children would be born from that relationship.