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Dec 14, 2023 · Although the Jeffersons were not among the elite landholding families of colonial Virginia, Thomas Jefferson’s grandfather and great-grandfather, both also named Thomas, were well respected, held various public offices, and married advantageously. Fry-Jefferson Map.
United States. Browse Getty Images' premium collection of high-quality, authentic Thomas Jefferson Family stock photos, royalty-free images, and pictures. Thomas Jefferson Family stock photos are available in a variety of sizes and formats to fit your needs.
Thomas and Martha Jefferson's Children. Thomas and Martha had five daughters and a son. Of the six, only two would live to be adults: Martha, the first-born, and Mary, who went by Polly when she was young. The youngest child, Lucy, succumbed to whooping cough at the age of two. The other children did not survive past infancy.
- Thomas Jefferson’s Early Years
- Marriage and Monticello
- Thomas Jefferson and The American Revolution
- Jefferson's Path to The Presidency
- Jefferson Becomes Third U.S. President
- Thomas Jefferson’s Later Years and Death
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, a plantation on a large tract of land near present-day Charlottesville, Virginia. His father, Peter Jefferson (1707/08-57), was a successful planter and surveyor and his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson (1720-76), came from a prominent Virginia family. Thomas was their third child and eldest ...
After his father died when Jefferson was a teen, the future president inherited the Shadwell property. In 1768, Jefferson began clearing a mountaintop on the land in preparation for the elegant brick mansion he would construct there called Monticello(“little mountain” in Italian). Jefferson, who had a keen interest in architecture and gardening, de...
In 1775, with the American Revolutionary War recently underway, Jefferson was selected as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. Although not known as a great public speaker, he was a gifted writer and at age 33, was asked to draft the Declaration of Independence (before he began writing, Jefferson discussed the document’s contents with a f...
After returning to America in the fall of 1789, Jefferson accepted an appointment from President George Washington (1732-99) to become the new nation’s first secretary of state. In this post, Jefferson clashed with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (1755/57-1804) over foreign policy and their differing interpretations of the U.S. Co...
Jefferson was sworn into office on March 4, 1801; he was the first presidential inauguration held in Washington, D.C. (George Washington was inaugurated in New Yorkin 1789; in 1793, he was sworn into office in Philadelphia, as was his successor, John Adams, in 1797.) Instead of riding in a horse-drawn carriage, Jefferson broke with tradition and wa...
Jefferson spent his post-presidential years at Monticello, where he continued to pursue his many interests, including architecture, music, reading and gardening. He also helped found the University of Virginia, which held its first classes in 1825. Jefferson was involved with designing the school’s buildings and curriculum and ensured that unlike o...
This portrait remained in the family for over a hundred years, hanging first at Monticello and then at Edgehill, the home of Jefferson's grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph. Despite its lone private ownership, the "Edgehill" portrait, through the engravings based on it, provided the image that became the most popular and enduring icon of Jefferson.
Find out more on Thomas Jefferson's ancestors, siblings, and descendants, including the twelve children he fathered with Martha W. S. Jefferson and Sally Hemings.
1788 miniature portrait of Jefferson by John Trumbull. Depicts Jefferson at age 33, but painted when he was 45. Oil on wood. ©Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello
