#wayl

[starfiretruther]

very random raven take it or leave it

[marimbles]

at the risk of sounding like really entitled….

does anyone else have a fic that is their most popular, but you don’t want it to be, because you don’t think it deserves it, and you have better stuff, and while ofc you are grateful that people like something you wrote, it’s almost annoying that for some reason That one is the most popular. lmao

[publius-library]

Can you tell me everything you know about Martha Jefferson?

I would love to. In my opinion, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson is one of the most tragic figures of the 18th century, and her life shows the many challenges a woman would face in this time period, due to the incredible expectations put on them. I'd like to open by saying that the importance of discussing women in history not only gives us a more full perspective on any and every historical event, but it also gives light to less commonly discussed historical figures that were equally important that we don't know as much about. Martha Jefferson is undoubtably one of those people.

Martha Wayles was born on October 30, 1748 to her wealthy father. Her father was an English immigrant who moved to America and accumulated a decent fortune through slave trading, planting, and his law practice.

Content warning: mention of sexual assault within slavery, skip next paragraph if this may be distressing

Her father is a very interesting figure. In his law practice, he specialized in debt collections, which made him very unpopular among the locals. Additionally, he raped an enslaved woman on his property several times, Elizabeth Hemmings, after the death of his third wife. She would have several children by him, including Sally Hemmings, who would later be raped and have several children by Thomas Jefferson. It is disgusting, but crucial to mention that because of the slave system in America, and the violation of African American women, Martha Jefferson was the half sister of Sally Hemmings.

Martha married Bathurst Skelton when she was 18. They would have one child, John, who died in infancy. Her first husband died six months before Jefferson married Martha, and her first child with Jefferson, Martha aka Patsy, would come nine months after Martha's first child. Her almost constant pregnancy and troubles in maternity would eventually lead to her death.

She married the very eligible bachelor Thomas Jefferson on New Years Day, 1772 at her plantation home, "The Forest". There was a five year age gap between them, as she was 22 going on 23, and he was 28. Jefferson would actually scarcely mention her first husband, and would even report false information that he did not exist, that Martha was a spinster when he married her. The motivations for this are not confirmed.

The young couple arrived at Jefferson's home, Monticello, during a snowstorm, where all the servants were asleep and the house was cold. They toasted their marriage with a leftover bottle of wine, and entered into a period of domestic happiness.

Martha and Thomas had complimentary personalities, balancing out each other's characteristics. They shared an interest in music, as Jefferson played the violin or the cello, and Martha played the piano or the harpsicord. She was said to be very talented.

While there is no known portraits of her, she was described as very beautiful and accomplished. She was slim with hazel eyes and auburn hair. She was the subject of frequent praise from all that knew her.

The Jeffersons had five children in ten years, but only two would survive to adulthood, Martha (Patsy) and Mary (Polly or Mary). Martha was under such strain from her frequent pregnancies that she fell very ill in 1781. The British had invaded Richmond, which forced her away from her husband back to Monticello, but Jefferson often left his political career to stay with her during her sickness. The British would raid Monticello, forcing her to travel in her poor condition yet again.

Her condition continued to worsen, until she died on September 6, 1782, at 11:45 AM at the age of 33. Jefferson would never record his relationship with her, so her life remains mostly a mystery among historians.

Martha Jefferson was far more than the deceased wife of the third president. During her life, she was the mother of several children, who frequently had to grieve their deaths. She was the mistress of a fashionable household, and the wife of an energetic, young politician who was making strides in the cause of liberty and American independence. Her life was riddled with tragedy and mourning, but she was a lively, creative woman who had an untimely death at a cruel age.

[fatimajpeg]

i said i wouldn’t talk about spiderman india but i think i will now. i went in expecting the lame millennial chai-tea naan-bread jokes but halfway through the film i started to hope it would be better considering the love and care the writers put into miles’ culture and background. so while i wasn’t curveballed by the lazy jokes and stereotypes i couldn’t help but feel disappointed. The more i sat with the writing the more it became clear to me that they didn’t really try with pavitr and his world at all. his costume? like unless he’s learning traditional bharatanatyam dance why would it look like that? mumbattan? idk if it’s from the comics but why would mumbai and new york be merged together esp if the british still colonised india in this alternate reality and speaking of that i found it funny (and telling) that even in the fun spider multiverse we were STILL colonised. there’s also like tons of spiderman jokes in online desi spaces (mentioning cuz there was a lot of internet humor in the movie) especially eespiderman like that’s a song! they could’ve easily licensed it and make it a fun reference for desi viewers that would’ve been equally funny to non-desis. And then i find out there weren’t many south asian writers/creatives/artists working on atsv (if there were any esp for all the big creative decisions), and it was like damn. why even include him then? The voice actor had to jump in and give them notes about how one dimensional pavitr was (and tbh i can’t believe that the version we got was somehow an improvement). Lbr south asians don’t really need representation from hollywood cuz we have our own entertainment industries esp indians; but if you’re gonna include us then idk maybe try a little?

[yourfriendbird]

Billie Boy! Tried some new brushes with this and I’m pretty happy with it!

[macaron-n-cheese]

I was doing a little research for class and came across an article about Thomas Jefferson and classical texts. I was reading and it spoke about him being familiar with mythological stories and such.

Then I wondered, "huh, I wonder if he made any comment about Achilles and Patroculs because that would be kinda silly and gay if he did..."

LO AND BEHOLD

(possibly) THE BEST PIECE OF EVIDENCE THAT COULD EXIST

OH MY GOODNESS

AAAAAAAA

Thomas Jefferson pretty much had to know they were lovers if he put himself and his wife into these roles. Why else would he? He was so obsessed with her I couldn't imagine him choosing a mediocre quotation. He even wrote this in Greek, so not many people could understand or read it. I find it so incredible that he chose this out of any other quotes between lovers. Choosing this quotation over a hetero quotation impresses me...to think a hypocrite Founding Father used a gay quotation to express love for his wife?!

I will cherish this little fact forever. It opens so many new questions...

[composing-the-future]

look guys its her my icon my spoingus blorbo

[brudberg1]

Bridge by reading

Books are often bridgesrickety and narrowreaching over lightyearsof space and timean arrow inkedin blood and sootfrom mind to mind. Books can bridgethe sea and desertsover rivers, bordersinto bedrooms, kitchens,into the hardened headsof misogynist and terrorists,but if you never let touchyour dreams, it mightinstead enrage,cause words in cagetaken out of contextare often the accelerantsa…

[randofanficrecs]

Today's random fic is from them 1776 - Edwards/Stone fandom, The War Within Us by yes_indeed.

Chapters: 2/? Words: 3,553 Fandom: 1776 (1972), 1776 - Edwards/Stone, Turn (TV 2014), Hamilton - Miranda Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: John Dickinson/Thomas Jefferson, John Adams/Thomas Jefferson, Abigail Adams/John Adams, Martha Wayles Jefferson/Thomas Jefferson, Abigail Adams/Martha Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson & John Dickinson, John Adams & Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton & Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton & John Laurens, Thomas Jefferson & Edward Rutledge, Thomas Jefferson & Benjamin Tallmadge, Thomas Jefferson & George Washington, Lyman Hall/Edward Rutledge, John Dickinson & Edward Rutledge, Alexander Hamilton/Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson/John Laurens, Alexander Hamilton/Thomas Jefferson/John Laurens, Nathan Hale (1755-1776)/Benjamin Tallmadge Characters: Thomas Jefferson, John Dickinson, John Adams, Abigail Adams, Martha Wayles Jefferson, Lyman Hall, Edward Rutledge, Benjamin Franklin, Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette, Tench Tilghman, Alexander Hamilton, John Hancock, John Laurens, George Washington, and more, Richard Henry Lee, Caleb Brewster, Nathan Hale (1755-1776), Benjamin Tallmadge Additional Tags: Edward Rutledge: CEO of bullying North Carolina, American Revolution, Revolutionary War, Sexual Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, and then, Resolved Sexual Tension, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Friends to Lovers, Sharing a Bed, Aide de camps, Thomas Jefferson: redheaded tombstone, all the chapters are tarot cards, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Thomas Jefferson, Bisexual John Adams, Bisexual Martha Jefferson, Bisexual Edward Rutledge, Bisexual Lyman Hall, Bisexual John Dickinson, Bisexual Alexander Hamilton, Battle, Gunshot Wounds, Autistic Thomas Jefferson, John Dickinson: resident asshole, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags Are Hard, Historical, Historical References, Historical Dress, Historical Accuracy, Historical Figures, Polyamory, Polyamorous Character, Polyamorous Thomas Jefferson Series: Part 1 of The War of Men Language: English Summary: When John Dickinson left Congress, what if Thomas Jefferson chose to follow?

☾✧☾✧☾✧☾✧

“Gentlemen. I say Yea John Dickinson.”

John Adams’ voiced rang throughout the Congress hall.

John Dickinson pulled a weak smile, announcing that he chose to fight in America’s honour, before taking his leave out the large doors.

[kingdomtual]

also idk what it is but wonjun, wonhyuk, and yejun all look like they’re related to me. especially yejun and wonhyuk...? anyone else get this? I think it’s their energy bc they’re all hyper to a degree, and maybe a little cringe LOL but something about them...they could be actual siblings

[yasbinfirnas]

What makes a mortal? Support the Arab world’s first Psychological thriller as a Graphic Novel. 300 pages worth of story and additional content.

[kingfrogface]

The Hobbit - 1st Edition

[icarusbetide]

#save elizabeth schuyler hamilton from male biographers 2024

Just got pissed off so bad. I'm in the middle of reading Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character, which presents an intriguing argument that Burr deserves to be put back into the Founding Father Pantheon, so to speak. The author doesn't shy away from hitting hard against the idea that Jeff & Ham were morally superior to Burr, and I was on board! Ready to go!

But then. During the discussion of the women in each of their lives, the author decides the best way to further promote Burr's attitude towards women compared to Jefferson and Hamilton is to disparage Martha Jefferson & Elizabeth Hamilton?

On Martha Jefferson:

Martha Wayles Skelton had been a widow, and none of Jefferson's biographers, even the resourceful Fawn Brodie, has been able to tell us much about her—from the solitary letter remaining to us in her hand or the accounts of their contemporaries—beyond the general impression that she was handsome, musical, and frail.

On Elizabeth Hamilton:

Hamilton's Elizabeth was an heiress, the daughter of an upstate squire, Philip Schuyler, with Livingston and van Rensselaer connections. She was plain, straightforward, loyal, and neurasthenic, endured his flagrant and frequent infidelities, and lived to the brink of the Civil War.

I'm sorry, I don't know enough about Martha J. to protest to her characterization, but I think I can say something about Eliza. Plain? Neurasthenic? And once again, annoyed at the lack of citation or evidence for flagrant and frequent infidelities - but putting that aside, even if it were true, I don't like how her staying in her marriage is subtly implied to be some failure or at least less interesting than a woman who didn't "endure" them. There's a lack of consideration of both her own strength & the societal circumstances of that time that would have influenced her actions.

On Theodosia:

Her character emerges from their large and fervent correspondence. She was confident, well connected, well read, beautiful even after a burn scarred her face, witty, worldly, and full of expectations of him.

Okay. The author saw the point and it sailed over his head. "From their large and fervent correspondence" is key here. Like I said earlier, I don't know enough about Martha Jefferson, but I bet that "handsome, musical, frail" is probably not an all-encompassing picture of her. The similarity between her and Eliza? We don't have the letters that they wrote to their husbands. It's unfair to judge Theodosia (don't get me wrong! she was well read and intelligent, that's not what i'm denying) from her correspondence with Burr, but then not acknowledge that the lack of that perspective would impact how we view the other two women.

And to top it all off:

Unlike Jefferson's and Hamilton's, Burr's character was molded by the love of a woman of immense force and intelligence.

Neither Hamilton nor Jefferson married a woman who evidenced such force of character and independence of view.

Jesus Christ. There's plenty to criticize about Jefferson & Hamilton, and I really wanted to see a well-reasoned argument about Burr's character and whatnot but this lacks nuance and is unnecessarily dismissive. It pisses me off that a book that seems determined to break down the idolized version of Hamilton, somehow ends up using his wife to further their angle, just like biased Hamiltonian biographies. In both cases, Eliza is the plain, unintelligent, steadfast wife. For sympathetic authors like Chernow, that's somehow justification for the Reynolds affair. For Roger G. Kennedy, that's used in an argument against her husband. "Let's talk attitude towards women! Hamilton & Jefferson didn't have intellectual wives! Point for Burr!"

I don't know nearly enough about Martha Jefferson to say anything of merit, but really?

To give credit where credit is due, I think Kennedy is trying to make the point here that Theodosia Bartow Burr was a major influence on Burr, as "Burr's character blossomed in the radiance of his wife and mentor". He also goes on to talk about various genuine reasons why Burr's attitude towards women is noteworthy. But I still don't like the way he dismissed the other two women as what? Not smart enough to help their husbands' characters blossom? Maybe there's merit to this book outside of this one section, The Women, but right now I'm not in the mood. Am I being dramatic? Idk.

[kemetic-dreams]

Isaac Granger Jefferson (1775-c. 1850) was an enslaved tinsmith and blacksmith at Monticello. His brief memoir, written down by an interviewer in 1847, provides important, fascinating information about Monticello and its people.1 Isaac was the third son of two very important members of the enslaved labor force at Monticello. His father, Great George Granger, rose from foreman of labor to become, in 1797, overseer of Monticello — the only enslaved individual to reach that position — and received an annual wage of £20. Isaac's mother, Ursula Granger, was a particularly trusted enslaved domestic servant whom Thomas Jefferson had purchased in 1773.2 Ursula was a pastry cook and laundress; her duties included the preservation of meat and bottling of cider.

Isaac Granger Jefferson

Isaac Granger, thus, spent his childhood on the mountaintop near his mother and from a very young age, he would have performed light chores in and around the house. He himself speaks of lighting fires, carrying fuel, and opening gates.3 Because he and his parents accompanied the Jefferson family to Williamsburg and Richmond when Jefferson was governor, the young Isaac was witness to dramatic events in the Revolution. In his reminiscences he recounted his vivid memories of 1781, including Benedict Arnold's raid on Richmond and the internment camp for captured slaves at Yorktown.4

Probably about 1790, Isaac Granger began his training in the metalworking trades. Jefferson took him to Philadelphia, where he was apprenticed for several years to a tinsmith. His own account is the only source of our knowledge of this aspect of his working life. He learned to make graters and pepper boxes and finally tin cups, four dozen a day. A tin shop was set up at Monticello on his return, but he recalled that it did not succeed. He also trained as a blacksmith under his older brother "Little George" and, sometime after 1794, became a nailer as well, dividing his time between nailmaking and smith's work.5

By 1796, Granger had a wife, Iris, and a son, Joyce. At this time he worked extra hours in the blacksmith shop, making chain traces for which Jefferson gave him threepence a pair. Also in 1796, according to Jefferson's records, Isaac Granger was the most efficient nailer. In the first three months of that year he made 507 pounds of nails in 47 days, wasting the least amount of nail rod in the process and earning for his master the highest daily return — the equivalent of eighty-five cents a day.6

In October 1797, Jefferson gave Isaac and Iris Granger, and their sons Squire and Joyce, to Maria and John Wayles Eppes as part of their marriage settlement.7 Thomas Mann Randolph was in need of a blacksmith at the time, so he hired Isaac from Eppes,8 though records are fragmentary and inconclusive on this point. Isaac and his family moved to Randolph's Edgehill plantation in 1798. A daughter, Maria, was apparently born soon after.9 As some of Granger's memories indicate his presence at Monticello in Jefferson's retirement years, he may have accompanied the Randolphs to reside there in 1809.

Tragedy stuck in 1799 and 1800, when Isaac's parents and brother Little George all died within a few months of each other. The persistence of an African heritage at Monticello is indicated by the fact that, in their illness, the members of this family consulted a black conjurer living near Randolph Jefferson in Buckingham County.10 Shortly after Great George Granger's death, Jefferson gave Isaac $11, the value of "his moiety of a colt left him by his father."11

In 1812 an Isaac belonging to Thomas Mann Randolph ran away and was caught and imprisoned in Bath County.12 We have as yet no way of knowing if this was Isaac the blacksmith. Randolph owned at least one other Isaac in this period.

How Isaac Granger gained his freedom is also unknown. He reported that he left Albemarle County about four years before Thomas Jefferson's death. He met and talked with the Marquis de Lafayette in Richmond in 1824. In 1847, he was a free man in Petersburg, still practicing his blacksmithing trade at the age of seventy-two.13 His reminiscences, taken down by the Reverend Charles Campbell in that year, do not reveal whether he took the surname Jefferson by choice or whether it was imposed on him by a white official, as was the case with Israel Gillette Jefferson, his fellow member of the enslaved community.

The fates of Iris, Squire, and Joyce Granger are unknown. Isaac had a wife, apparently not Iris, in 1847. Campbell wrote that Isaac Jefferson died "a few years after these his recollections were taken down. He bore a good character."14

[obetrolncocktails]

In regards to this supposed theory about WAYL...

So I wrote parts of a fic based on Waited All Your Life with Jake in a hospital a month or two ago...so if you want ouchie, here's a snippet.

Warnings: Hospitals, sickness, sadness, anxiety.

Josh would simply refuse to exist without Jake. Listening to the whirring and beeping of the machines above his brother’s head was becoming nauseating. 

“Honey, why don’t you take a break, maybe grab some coffee?” Karen, the twins’ mother suggested. “Jake is fine. No need to tie yourself up in knots right now.” Josh shook his head, waving his mother off. 

“No, I’m fine,” He said, ruffling his hair, which had gone one-too-many days without washing. Josh’s eyes were ringed with dark circles, and his skin had grown pallid from worrisome days of having no appetite. 

“No, you’re not,” Jake said, his raspy voice croaking softly, but with great effort. “You reek.” Josh’s lips curled upward with a mischievous grin. 

“You’re lucky I don’t have my armpit in your face,” He warned, standing up from the hospital recliner. 

“That would surely stop me from breathing,” Jake retorted morbidly. Josh was definitely unenthused. 

“Son,” Kelly said to Josh, stepping in front of the hospital bed, looping his hands around the handles at the foot of the frame. “Go shower and get something to eat. Jake is stable right now. I promise we will call you if there’s any update.”

“But,” Josh argued, crossing his arms as he looked down at his brother. 

“Go,” Jake said, nodding upward toward the door of the hospital room. “I’m okay.”

“Okay, but please keep me updated,” Josh pleaded with his parents. “Where’s Jita?” He asked. 

“She went home a while ago. We told her the same thing we’re telling you. You can’t be there for Jake if you can’t take care of yourself, honey,” Karen said, stepping over to rub Josh’s back. 

“Okay,” Josh resigned, stepping toward the door. “I won’t be gone long, Jake.” He looked at his brother with deep concern, and he wasn’t wrong to do so. Jake had been diagnosed with ‘Risk Class IV pneumonia,” and his oxygen saturation levels weren’t increasing as quickly as the doctors had wanted. Jake was wheezy, and it was obvious to everyone in the room how difficult it was for him to breathe evenly. He was in stable condition, but for how long was anyone’s guess. His hands were poked with several IV leads, and his face was pale in pallor, which was frightening for Josh to see. Growing up, he couldn’t remember a time when he and Jake had ever been this seriously ill. Jake had broken his arm when he was younger, and it required surgery, but sickness was something new for Josh. He’d never spent too much time worrying about it, but now with his brother sick in a hospital bed with something far more serious than anything he’d ever experienced, Josh began to let his mind wander to the darker, intruding thoughts. The drive home consisted of Josh tapping nervously on the steering wheel, unable to focus. When he arrived at the red light where he needed to turn left, he decided to continue straight, heading for Jake’s house. He needed to be with Jita. She understood; being Jake’s other closest loved one, she would understand the weight that he bore on his shoulders. He also knew that she’d be the last to judge his appearance.