Thomas Mann Randolph Sr.

Thomas Mann Randolph Sr. (1741–November 13, 1793) served in the Virginia House of Burgesses, the Revolutionary conventions of 1775 and 1776, and the Virginia state legislature. Married twice, he fathered 15 children. One marriage was to a cousin, Anne Cary, with whom they had 13 children. His second marriage, which resulted in two children, caused a dissention among family members. The youngest son, with the same name as his half-brother, Thomas Mann Randolph, inherited the family plantation, Tuckahoe plantation. Randolph expanded upon the house that began to be built during his parent's short marriage. Orphaned as a young boy, Randolph continued work on Tuckahoe when he came of age. He also purchased Salisbury house, which was used during his lifetime as a hunting lodge.

Thomas Mann Randolph Sr.
Born	Thomas Mann Randolph 1741 Tuckahoe Plantation
Died	November 13, 1793 (aged 51–52)
Spouse(s)	Anne Cary Randolph ​ ​ (m. 1761; died 1789)​ Gabriella Harvie ​ (m. 1790)​
Children	15, including: Mary Randolph Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. Judith Randolph Ann Cary Randolph Morris Virginia Randolph Cary
Parent(s)	William Randolph III Maria Judith Page
Relatives	Martha Jefferson Randolph (daughter-in-law, cousin) Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe (paternal grandfather) Mann Page (maternal grandfather)

Early life

Randolph was the only son of William Randolph III[1] (1712–1745) and Maria Judith Page (died 1744), the daughter of Mann Page[2] of the Rosewell plantation.[3] The Randolph family of Virginia were among the First Families of Virginia.[4] He was the grandson of Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe and descendant of William Randolph (c.1650–1711).[3]

Randolph's parents were married in 1736 and her father provided a £2000 sterling dowry that was used to built an "elegant new two-story mansion.[3] By 1742, Maria Page Randolph had died. William Randolph died in 1745.[3] William Randolph stipulated in his will of late 1745 that he wanted his good friend Peter Jefferson and his first cousin and Peter's wife, Jane Randolph Jefferson, to take care of his son and two daughters at Tuckahoe Plantation and provide the children a good education until Thomas Mann Randolph came of age.[3] Peter Jefferson also managed the plantation's business affairs.[3]

The Jeffersons left their residence at Shadwell, Virginia, with their three daughters and son, Thomas Jefferson, in 1746.[3][lower-alpha 1] Second cousins, Randolph and Thomas Jefferson were close during their childhood at Tuckahoe.[5] The boys were tutored at Tuckahoe on English spelling, grammar, and composition.[3][lower-alpha 2] Thomas Jefferson maintained relationships with his Randolph family members, particularly the Randolphs at Tuckahoe.[3][lower-alpha 3]

Marriages and children

Tuckahoe Plantation - view of the Whole House.

In 1761, Thomas Mann Randolph Sr. married Anne Cary (1745–1789),[6] the daughter of Archibald Cary and Mary Randolph Cary of Ampthill.[7][lower-alpha 4] Anne and Thomas were second cousins. He came of age in 1762.[3] Randolph worked on construction of the mansion sometime between 1760 and 1765, perhaps partially funded by a dowry for his wife. The house came to have an h-shaped layout, with a north wing, hyphen, and a south wing. The mansion was built for a large family and entertaining. Construction was completed by 1769 when Englishman Thomas Anburey visited Tuckahoe. He wrote that the mansion[3]

seems to be built solely to answer the purposes of hospitality... It is in the form of an H, and has the appearance of two houses, joined by a large saloon; each wing has two stories, and four large rooms on a floor; in one, the family reside, and the other is reserved solely for visitors.[3]

Ann Cary and Thomas Mann Randolph had thirteen children, which include:[6][8]

• Mary Randolph (1762–1828), married David Mead Randolph, she was the author of The Virginia House-Wife (1824)[9]
• Henry Cary Randolph, born about 1763 and died as an infant
• Elizabeth Randolph, born about 1765, married Robert Pleasants of Filmer about 1785
• Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. (October 1, 1768 – June 20, 1828) an American planter, soldier, and politician, including Governor of Virginia. Married Martha Jefferson
• William Randolph, born about 1769, married Lucy Bolling, the daughter of Beverley Randolph about 1794
• Archibald Cary Randolph, born about 1771, died an infant
• Judith Randolph, born about 1773, married Richard Randolph of the Bizarre plantation and tried for the Bizarre plantation scandal
• Ann Cary "Nancy" Randolph (1774–1837), wife of Gouverneur Morris. Nancy was harassed throughout her life because of an alleged unwed teenage pregnancy and subsequent suspicion of abortion that was detailed in a sensational murder trial at the time where she was defended by both John Marshall and Patrick Henry who secured her acquittal for lack of evidence. She later claimed a stillborn birth had occurred after a member of her own family relentlessly pursued her in the court of public opinion.[10]
• Jane Cary Randolph, born about 1777, married Thomas Eston Randolph of Bristol, England about 1797
• Dr. John Randolph, born about 1779, married Judith Lewis
• George Washington Randolph, born about 1781, died an infant
• Harriet Randolph, born about 1783, married Richard S. Hackley of New York about 1803
• Virginia Randolph Cary (1786–1852), author of Letters on Female Character (1828)

Ann Cary Randolph died in 1789.[6] In 1790, a few months after his first wife's death, the 49-year-old Thomas Mann Randolph Sr. married Gabriella Harvie, the daughter of John Harvie Jr. She was 17 years of age,[6] and he was more than twice her age.[11]

The children of Gabriella Harvie and Thomas Mann Randolph are:

• A baby daughter who died while an infant.[11]
• Thomas Mann Randolph (1792–1848), was born before 1793 when Randolph died. This son had the same name as the son of his first wife[11] which caused a great deal of division among the family.[6]

The children from Randolph's first marriage did not visit Tuckahoe after the second marriage.[6]

Career

Randolph served during the Revolutionary War where he acquired the name "Colonel Randolph".[6] He served in the Virginia House of Burgesses, the Revolutionary conventions of 1775 and 1776, and the Virginia state senate in 1776.[12][13] He was a member of the House of Delegates from 1784 to 1788 and was County Lieutenant of Goochland County.[12]

Salisbury house

In 1777, Thomas Mann Randolph Sr. purchased the Salisbury house from Abraham Salle (a Huguenot descendant of Abraham Salle (1670–ca. 1719)). The estate in Chesterfield County, Virginia (14 miles from Richmond, directly across the River from the Randolph-owned Tuckahoe) became a Randolph family hunting lodge. In 1784 Patrick Henry lived at Salisbury during his second term as Virginia governor (1784 to 1786).[14]

Death

Randolph died on November 13, 1793.[12] The second Thomas Mann Randolph, Gabriella's son, inherited Tuckahoe.[6] After Randolph's death, Gabriella married Dr. John Brockenbrough of Richmond by 1798.[11]

Notes

1. Thomas Jefferson's earliest memory, according to family lore, was said to be a two or three year old boy being held securely by a trusted slave while riding on horseback and cushioned on a pillow as he was transported from Shadwell to Tuckahoe.[3]
2. The site of Thomas Jefferson's earliest education, a bronze plaque which stated "Here the discipline of his noble mind began," which was installed at Tuckahoe by the Commonwealth Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.[3]
3. His daughter Martha Jefferson later married Thomas Mann Randolph's son Thomas Mann Randolph Jr.[3]
4. Mary Randolph was the daughter of Richard Randolph and Jane Bolling Randolph.[7]

References

1. Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society (Vol 16 No 47 ed.). Frankfort, KY: Kentucky State Historical Society. May 1918. p. 64. Retrieved 28 February 2018. ... Thomas of Tuckahoe had three children, viz.: William Randolph III, Mary Isham Randolph, and Judith Randolph. William Randolph III married Maria Judith Page and inherited the Tuckahoe Estate, which is turn was inherited by his son Col. Thomas Mann Randolph.
2. Page, Richard Channing Moore (1893). "Randolph Family". Genealogy of the Page Family in Virginia (2 ed.). New York: Press of the Publishers Printing Co. pp. 249–272.
3. "Tuckahoe". www.monticello.org. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
4. Glenn, Thomas Allen, ed. (1898). "The Randolphs: Randolph Genealogy". Some Colonial Mansions: And Those Who Lived In Them : With Genealogies Of The Various Families Mentioned. 1. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Henry T. Coates & Company. pp. 430–459.
5. "Thomas Mann Randolph". www.monticello.org. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
6. "National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet - Tuckahoe (2019 Update)" (PDF). 2019. pp. 31–32. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
7. Sons of the Revolution in State of Virginia Quarterly Magazine. Sons of the Revolution in the State of Virginia. 1924. p. 33.
8. Page, Richard Channing Moore (1893). Genealogy of the Page Family in Virginia: Also, a Condensed Account of the Nelson, Walker, Pendleton, and Randolph Families, with References to the Bland, Burwell, Byrd, Carter, Cary, Duke, Gilmer, Harrison, Rives, Thornton, Welford, Washington, and Other Distinguished Families in Virginia. Publishers' Print. Company. pp. 257–260.
9. Randolph, Mary; American Institute of Wine & Food, former owner; Plaskitt, John (1836). The Virginia housewife: : or, Methodical cook. Baltimore: : Published by John Plaskitt. p. 6.
10. Crawford, Alan Pell (November 6, 2000). "A House Called Bizarre". The Washington Post.
11. "Founders Online: Certificate for John and Gabriella Brockenbrough, 29 June 1798". founders.archives.gov. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
12. Sons of the Revolution in State of Virginia Quarterly Magazine. Sons of the Revolution in the State of Virginia. 1922. p. 56.
13. "Mary Randolph at Feeding America". "Mary Randolph at Feeding America"
14. Lancaster Jr., Robert Alexander (1915). Historic Virginia Homes and Churches. Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Company. pp. 162–163. ISBN 9780722246610. Retrieved 28 February 2018.