Martha Jefferson Randolph
| Martha Randolph | |
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First Lady of the United States Acting |
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In role March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1809 |
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| President | Thomas Jefferson |
| Preceded by | Abigail Adams |
| Succeeded by | Dolley Madison |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Martha Jefferson September 27, 1772 Monticello, Virginia, British America |
| Died | October 10, 1836 (aged 64) Albemarle County, Virginia, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | Thomas M. Randolph. Jr. (m. 1790; d. 1828) |
| Children | 12, including Thomas Jefferson Randolph and George W. Randolph |
| Parents |
Thomas Jefferson Martha Wayles Skelton |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Signature |  |
Martha Jefferson Randolph (September 27, 1772 – October 10, 1836) was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, and his wife Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. Born at Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia. Her nickname was Patsy.
She married Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., who served as a politician at the federal and state levels and was elected a governor of Virginia (1819–1822). They had twelve children together. Martha was very close to her father in his old age; she was the only one of his acknowledged children to survive past age 25.
Martha Jefferson was born on September 27, 1772 at Monticello, her father's estate in Virginia, which was then British America, to Thomas Jefferson and Martha Wayles Skelton. During her parents' ten years of marriage, they had six children: Martha "Patsy" (1772–1836); Jane (1774–1775); a son who lived for only a few weeks in 1777; Mary Wayles "Polly" (1778–1804); Lucy Elizabeth (1780–1781); and another Lucy Elizabeth (1782–1785). Only Martha and Mary survived more than a few years.
Martha was tall and slim with angular features and red hair, and was said to have closely resembled her father. She became devoted to him.
Her paternal grandparents were Peter Jefferson, a planter and surveyor who died when her father was 33, and Jane Randolph. Jefferson vaguely knew that his grandfather "had a place on the Fluvanna River which he called Snowden after a mountain in Wales near which the Jeffersons were supposed to have once lived". Her mother was the only child and daughter of John Wayles (1715–1773) and his first wife, Martha Eppes (1712–1748). Wayles was an attorney, slave trader, business agent for Bristol-based merchants Farrell & Jones, and prosperous planter who was born in Lancaster, England and had emigrated alone at the age of 19 to Virginia in 1734, leaving family in England. Her maternal grandfather died in 1773, and her parents inherited 135 slaves, 11,000 acres (4,500 ha; 17 sq mi), and the estate's debts. The debts took her father years to satisfy, contributing to his financial problems.
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