#ann cary Randolph bankhead

[sonofhistory]

Monsters At Monticello P1/2

In all depictions of Monticello, one imagines the picturesque scene of the landscape and the grand Roman inspired architecture. However, what happened within the walls was far less pretty. What one doesn’t imagine of Monticello is abuse that occurred among the years to a few women residing in the home. Besides only the systematic rape of his slave, Sally Hemings, by Jefferson himself, there were two other women who endured abuse at the hands of their husbands in the home. All of which, Jefferson, Master of Monticello, did not a thing about. If Thomas Jefferson, author of the declaration of independence and third president of the United States, was the supposed “Master of Monticello”, why did he not interrupt the abuse of his eldest daughter and his eldest grand-daughter? He stayed passive in the face of all they were experiencing and if he did nothing to stop it, how can he be coined the Master of Monticello?

Throughout the decades, and even into modern day, Thomas Jefferson has still managed to continue the illusion of a paradise Monticello, home at various periods to his two surviving daughters and his many grand-children and great-grandchildren. The home itself was constructed in the late 1760s, officially becoming finished by 1772. Following the death of his wife, Jefferson resolved, after five lengthy years living abroad as a diplomat in France, to have nearly the entirety rebuilt. This was not only a decision made due to the inspiration he received in Europe from neoclassical architecture, but also from the haunting memories of his wife in that home. The erection, after completion, is a three story, brick frame building with thirty-five rooms, two main entrances, an east portico and a west portico and a private entry of which leads to the various gardens [x]. 

Not counting the illegitimate children Sally Hemings gave birth to, Jefferson had six children of his own blood with his first and only wife. During their marriage, they lost four of their children at young ages due to weakness and illness, while his youngest daughter died two years succeeding her death. Both of his surviving daughters, Mary “Polly” Jefferson and Martha “Patsy” Jefferson, lived at Monticello during their youth and at random points during their adulthood. Polly, unfortunately, died in 1804 from complications after her several births. Martha, Jefferson’s eldest and only daughter who lived past his death, resided for a lot of her years at Monticello with her family consisting of her twelve children and her husband Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. She was one of three women to endure abuse in the home of her father.

Married in 1790, Martha and her husband seemingly lived an almost heavenly existence what with their many descendants and her father’s support of her. However, Randolph proved to be increasingly volatile over the years with his growing alcoholism and the sense of despair that came with the alleged abuse he sustained as a child from his father who effectively remarried after the death of his mother, producing a son of the same name and, “erasing his first son [Tom] from his prior marriage” [x]. Due to the alienation from his paternal figure, the feeling of his father-in-law controlling his married life, and the family’s tenuous financial situation, the drinking only swelled over the years. After a humiliating loss of his property, Randolph proved at many points to be incredibly irrational, irresponsible and lashed out at his family especially at his wife and his only son. According to eyewitnesses at the time, the abuse Martha sustained was “violent.” Martha had to distance herself from him for her safety and her adult-children did the same. Angry, Randolph left Martha for several years and she moved to Boston with her children in order to fully separate the distance. They were reunited only before his death two years later.

To say that Thomas Jefferson knew of the abuse of his daughter is an understatement, Martha’s father not only witnessed and heard the commotion; but even after Martha had him leave for greater safety of herself and her children, Jefferson himself continued to maintain and healthy relationship with his son-in-law even a month before his death when his daughter was still separated from his husband. “I have for some time entertained the hope that your affairs being once wound up,” Jefferson authored to Randolph, “Your mind would cease to look back on them, and resume the calm so necessary to your own happiness . . . and especially that you would return again to their society. I hope there remains no reason now to delay this longer, and that you will rejoin our table and fireside as heretofore . . . be assured that to no one will your society be more welcome thanto myself, and that my affectionate [friendship] to you and respect are constant and sincere.” Jefferson was optimistic that his daughter and his son-in-law would be able to repair the damaged relationship between them. 

What one would’ve hoped concerning an abusive husband is her father would’ve wished for the full separation of Martha from her husband. However, this was obviously not the case. Jefferson’s belief was that, despite Randolph’s behavior he was an honest man with the weight of his family to carry him into the future. He wished not to jeopardize the relations of his son-in-law with his family as Jefferson was traditionally a family man. But if he was so much of a family man, wouldn’t in this instance he would’ve preferred to have his daughter maintain her safety within her own household? He not only left her to the abuse of her husband but continued to keep to opinion that it was alright and healthy. We can see that even if it was his daughter, Jefferson did not care. This, can be added as another blot onto ugly Jefferson’s character. 

If then we look at this pattern of which Jefferson appears to view the abuse of his daughter from her husband, perhaps how he views violence towards women in general, we can guess not how he treated the same events when occurring to his eldest granddaughter, Ann. Even in the sanctity and safety of their home, the master of Monticello would do nothing to discontinue the abuse and fear coming from his son-in-law and grandson-in-law. Only this time, in the case of his eldest granddaughter, his attitude of bystanding the physical abuse is one of the actions that resulted in her death. Thomas Jefferson, the supposed master of Monticello, was a bystander in female abuse making him and not another person, the true monster of Monticello. 

(To be continued)

[sonofhistory]

Please tell me info on Patsy Jefferson's children!

Children of Martha Jefferson Randolph and Thomas Mann Randolph Jr.:

Ann Cary Randolph Bankhead (1791–1826)

Ann was born healthy on January 23rd, 1791 at Monticello and resembled her mother greatly. Her grandfather spelled her name as “Anne”. She was named after her paternal aunt of the same name [x]. In 1808 she married Charles Lewis Bankhead who was called an “unworthy person of his name”, the Bankheads were friends of the Jeffersons. She had three sons and one daughter that lived to adult hood. She was close with her younger sister Virginia. Of his “Anne” Jefferson said:

“I think her apt, intelligent, good humored & of soft & affectionate dispositions, & that she will make a pleasant, amiable and respectable woman.“

In 1811 the Bankheads purchased Carlton, an 800 acre farm adjacent to Monticello property. Charles Bankhead was very alcoholic [x], abusive, and was prone to frequent bouts of anger. By 1816 the Bankhead’s farm in for production in corn and tobacco [x] was going to ruin and Thomas Jefferson added land to their’s to increase holdings [x]. Before her death her sister, Cornelia, wrote to their sister Mary:

“you had better come down this morning for you will never see sister Annagain if you do not, there is no hope for her. Virginia ought to be told for she must know the worst soon, and grandpapa.”

Thomas Jefferson was present at her death in an “adjoining apartment” and a man named Robley Dunglison told him she was dead. Jefferson began to cry and “abandoned himself to every evidence of intense grief.” It was following the birth of her daughter that Ann died of complications following the childbirth on February 11th, 1826. She was buried in the family graveyard at Monticello. 

Thomas Jefferson Randolph Jr. (1792–1875)

Thomas was born on September 12th, 1792. His education was at home and in Philadelphia where he was sent at fifteen and was supervised by his grandfather. In 1815 Randolph married Jane Hollins Nicholas (1798–1871) and they moved to nearby Tuftton. They had thirteen children:

Margaret Smith Randolph (1816–1842)

Martha Jefferson Randolph (1817–1857)

Mary Buchanan Randolph (1818–1821)

Careyanne Nicholas Randolph (1820–1857)

Mary Buchanan Randolph (1821–1884)

Eleanor Wayles Randolph (1823–1896)

Maria Jefferson Carr Randolph (1826–1902)

Carolina Ramsey Randolph (1828–1902)

Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Jr. (1829–1872)

Jane Nicholas Randolph (1831–1868)

Wilson Cary Nicholas Randolph (1834–1907)

Meriwether Lewis Randolph (1837–1871)

Sarah Randolph (1839–1892 or 1895)

Thomas was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates and served for four years. Growing up and throughout his life he was close to his grandfather and was appointed executor of his estate after his death in 1826. Because the estate’s debt Thomas ordered the sale of Monticello land and property. In 1829, Thomas published Memoir, Correspondence And Miscellanies: From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson. After Nat Turner’s slave rebellion of 1831, Thomas introduced an emancipation plan in the House but it was defeated. 1850, Randolph was elected to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850. 1857 to 1864, Thomas served as the rector of the University of Virginia. During the Civil War, he held a colonel’s commission in the Confederate Army. Thomas served as the temporary chairman of the 1872 Democratic National Convention. He died at Edgehill following a carriage accident on October 7th, 1875 [x].

Ellen Wayles Randolph (1794–1795)

Died young.

Eleanora “Ellen” Wayles Randolph (1796–1876)

Ellen was born on October 13th, 1796. She was accomplished academically, particularly in languages, and a favorite of her grandfather’s. Ellen often accompanied her grandfather on trips to Poplar Forest. She was considered the “belle of the family” [x] and traveled vastly where she was very popular. On May 27th 1825, in the parlor at Monticello, Ellen married Joseph Coolidge. She had met when Coolidge visited Virginia in 1824. After their marriage, the Coolidges moved to Boston and did not return to Monticello until after Thomas Jefferson’s death. Ellen had six children including twin boys, she handled the family while her husband was away traveling for business. Ellen met him in London in 1838. After they went to Switzerland and spent years in Europe before returning to Boston. Ellen died in April 1876 and was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts [x].

Cornelia Jefferson Randolph (1799–1871)

Cornelia was born at Monticello and as a young girl, often accompanied her grandfather on visits to Poplar Forest. She was especially skilled in architecture and drawing and practiced this skill by creating replicas of construction blueprints for the University of Virginia. When she was just a teenager Cornelia began to help John Hemings (brother of Sally Hemings) learn to read and write by giving him a dictionary [x]. Cornelia never married and lived at Tufton and then Edgehill (homes of her brother). In the 1830s a school was established at Edgehill where Cornelia taught drawing, painting, and sculpture. She later translated and edited The Parlor Gardener: A Treatise on the House Culture of Ornamental Plants from French to English. After the Civil War, Cornelia moved to Alexandria, Virginia and lived with two of her sisters at the home of her niece Martha Jefferson Trist Burke. She died there on February 24th, 1871 and was buried at Monticello in the graveyard.

Virginia Jefferson Randolph (1801–1882)

Virginia “Ginger” (some sources indicate she was coined) Jefferson Randolph was born in 1801 at Monticello. As her siblings did, she spent much of her childhood at Monticello and occasionally accompanied her grandfather on trips to Poplar Forest. Of her grandfather’s talents and interests, Virginia shared a deep enamor for music who bought her a pianoforte. After a youthful romance and long engagement with Nicholas Philip Trist, the two were married at Monticello on September 11th, 1824. They remained there while Nicholas studied law and acted as Jefferson’s private secretary. Her husband helped her older brother to settle Jefferson’s estate after his death. 

In 1828, Nicholas accepted a State Department clerkship in Washington, D.C. and Virginia remained at her brother’s Edgehill home until 1829 her children and her mother rejoined him. In 1834, when Nicholas was appointed consul, the Trists moved to Havana, Cuba where they remained until 1841. Late 1840s, Nicholas was sent to Mexico to negotiate a peace treaty to end war with that country. He was fired by President James K. Polk following these negotiations and they were faced bankruptcy. Virginia began helping at the school runned by her sisters. The Trists moved to Alexandria, Virginia and a her husband’s death in 1874, Virginia lived with one of her three children until her death in April of 1882.

Mary Jefferson Randolph (1803–1876)

Mary, born in 1803, was named after her maternal aunt Maria who died from complications from birth in 1804. She was born at Edgehill on November 2nd, 1803. She occasionally accompanied Thomas Jefferson on trips to Poplar Forest. She never married and continued living at Edgehill where she helped her sister-in-law Jane supervise the household. Mary and her sister Cornelia were close served as nurses during times of outbreaks. After the Civil War, Mary moved to Alexandria, Virginia, to live with two of her sisters. She remained there until her death on March 29th, 1876.

James Madison Randolph (1806–1834)

James Madison Randolph, born in 1806 was born at the President’s House a visit from his mother to his grandfather, Thomas Jefferson, then serving as president in Washington, D.C. James was named after his grandfather’s Secretary of State. James was educated at home, in schools in Albemarle and graduated from the University of Virginia. He was described as being of a “gentle and quiet nature”, James never married and lived alone. He ran one of the smaller family farms until it was sold. He died after a brief illness at Tufton, his older brother’s estate, at the age of 28 in 1834.

Benjamin Franklin Randolph (1808–1871)

Benjamin Franklin Randolph was born in 1808 on July 14th at Edgehill. Frail, he was delicate and educated by his mother and sisters and at a nearby school. He was attending the University of Virginia but the family’s financial difficulties caused him to be forced to drop-out of college. By 1829, he was back at the University studying medicine. He had been elected three times as prize essay writer [x]. The Jefferson Society elected him as a member, and by his professors he was considered best in his class. He graduated on July 18, 1831. After, he moved to Halifax County, then to Richmond before back Albemarle. Benjamin courted Sally Champe Carter, and they were married on November 13th, 1834. He had three children: Isaetta (born March 24, 1836), Lewis (born June 13, 1838), and Robert (born April 15, 1851). They received 642 acres of land lateral to Redlands. On the side of a small mountain  they built named their estate named “Sharon,” later renamed “Round Top.“ 

James was a physician, a farmer and involved himself in local public affairs. He became a magistrate in 1846 and served for eighteen years. He was also a state senator from 1853-1856. James was a strong supporter the Confederacy during the Civil War. Both Lewis and his son-in-law served in the Confederate Army. Early 1867, Benjamin suffered severe illness and never fully recovered. He died not long after on February 18the, 1871 and was buried in the graveyard of Christ Church, Glendower.

Meriwether Lewis Randolph (1810–1837)

Meriwether Lewis, born in 1810, was born at Monticello and named after Meriwether Lewis. He studied law, moral and natural philosophy at the University of Virginia, 1829-1831, but chose to pursue involvement in the western frontier. He worked for a short time as a clerk in the Department of State, as his brother-in-loaw did before being appointed Secretary of Arkansas Territory in February 1835 under President Andrew Jackson. On April 9th, 1835, he married Elizabeth Martin, a grandniece to President Jackson and they had one son, Lewis Jackson Randolph (1836-1840). After his commission ended, he began purchasing land, eventually gaining over ten thousand acres. He died of malaria in Arkansas, on September 24th, 1837, and was buried on his plantation Terre Noir.

Septimia Anne Randolph (1814–1887)

Septimia was born in 1814 and was referred to as "Tim,” or “Pet” by her family. She lived for twelve years of her life at Monticello. Fall of 1826, Tim accompanied her mother and younger brother George Wythe Randolph to Boston. While in Boston, Septimia attended school and studied music at the home of her sister Ellen. She learned to play the piano and the guitar (her favorite was guitar). She returned to Virginia in the fall of 1828, and then moved to Washington, D.C. with her mother to live in the house of her sister Virginia. She attended St. Mary’s convent school and accompanied her mother and sisters Cornelia and Mary back to Edgehill during the summertime. It is noted she may of contracted tuberculosis and traveled south for her health, visiting family and friends in Louisiana, Florida, and Cuba (one of her sisters).

Upon her mother’s death in October of 1836, Septimia used her mother’s bequest of $4,000 to return to Cuba, where she became engaged to a Dr. David Scott Meikleham, a Scottish graduate of Cambridge. They married on August 13th, 1838, at Edgehill and returned to Cuba together. They left Havana in 1844 for a better climate and educational purposes for their children. They visited family in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Scotland (their one year old baby died there). They settled in New York City and her husband practiced medicine until his death from malaria on November 20th, 1849. In order to support herself and four children, Septimia kept a boardinghouse. Her eldest son, William Moreland, bought it from her. She after took her two daughters, Alice Esther and Ellen Wayles, and her son Thomas Mann Randolph to live in Virginia once more. She later lived in Maryland and in Washington she died on September 14th, 1887. 

George Wythe Randolph (1818–1867)

George Wythe Randolph was born in1818-1867) and was coined "Geordie”. He was named after his grandfather’s law teacher and mentor, George Wythe. He had a brief education and served in the United States Navy from 1831-1839. In 1841 he obtained his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1841 and practiced successfully in Albemarle until 1851, when he moved to Richmond. he served there on the Richmond City Council and was an officer of the Virginia Historical Society. April 20th, 1852, Geordie married Mary Elizabeth Adams Pope, a wealthy widow, and lived in a financially nice neighborhood. They had no children together. For a short time he was a state senator for Richmond. 

Geordie was elected to the 1861 Virginia Convention as a secessionist and served with Richmond Howitzers. He eventually rose the rank in the Confederate Army as Brigadier General. He was nominated Confederate secretary of war on March 17th, 1862, but had conflict with Jefferson Davis and had poor health which made him resign on November 15th, 1862. He died of tuberculosis at Edgehill on April 3rd, 1867, and was buried in the Monticello graveyard.