Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves (36 page)

30.
TJ to Randolph, April 19, 1798, in
Papers
, vol. 30.

31.
Randolph to TJ, April 29, 1798, in
Papers
, vol. 30.

32.
Randolph to TJ, June 3, 1798, in
Papers
, vol. 30.

33.
Martha Jefferson Randolph to TJ, Jan. 30, 1800, in
Papers
, vol. 31. Martha Randolph applied this description to Ursula's symptoms but said the symptoms were the same as Smith George's.

34.
The healer, referred to in letters as both a “doctor” and a “conjuror,” lived near Randolph Jefferson's plantation, Snowden, just across the James River from Scottsville.

35.
Martha Jefferson Randolph to TJ, Jan. 30, 1800, in
Papers
, vol. 31.

36.
TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Feb. 4, 1800, in
Papers
, vol. 31; TJ to Maria Jefferson Eppes, Feb. 12, 1800, in
Papers
, vol. 31. Martha wrote that after Jupiter died, the doctor “absconded” and she thought he should be prosecuted for murder. The healer may have given Jupiter a compound known as nux vomica, a common preparation in colonial times, containing strychnine. In low doses strychnine is a tonic, but in high doses it produces seizures, including the grand mal convulsions that apparently killed Jupiter. Communication from Anthony L. McCall, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, James M. Moss Professor of Diabetes, University of Virginia Health System.

37.
Stanton,
Free Some Day
, pp. 33, 50; Randolph to TJ, April 12, 1800, in
Papers
, vol. 31. Benjamin Franklin's grandson Dr. William Bache, who lived near Monticello, was summoned to take care of Ursula when TJ expressed his concern.

38.
Communication from David J. Stone, M.D.

39.
Stanton,
Free Some Day
, p. 50.

40.
In his memoir Isaac says nothing about his wife and children. Bear,
Jefferson at Monticello
, p. 16; Stanton,
Free Some Day
, pp. 49–50.

8. What the Colonel Saw

1.
TJ to James Dinsmore, Dec. 1, 1802, no. 6540, TJ Papers, University of Virginia. Bear, “Mr. Jefferson's Nails.”

2.
TJ to John Strode, June 5, 1805, Library of Congress. TJ was asking Strode to recommend an overseer.

3.
TJ to William Wirt, 1815, quoted in McLaughlin,
Jefferson and Monticello
, p. 127.

4.
Kern,
Jeffersons at Shadwell
, pp. 141, 325n37; Bear and Stanton,
Jefferson's Memorandum Books
, vol. 1, p. 177n54.

5.
Kern,
Jeffersons at Shadwell
, p. 140.

6.
www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/artifacts/archives/001446.asp
.

7.
Account Book Kept by Thomas Jefferson and Others, no. 186-a. II, “The Est. of Thomas Jefferson Esqr. in Account with Nicholas Lewis,” April 9, 1791. The purchase was made after TJ's return from France when he was in Philadelphia; Lewis was still managing Monticello. At first I thought these might have been horse collars, but those items are identified in TJ's records as “leather collars” or “horse collars,” and Lewis would have been similarly specific.

8.
TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Aug. 26, 1811, in
Farm Book
, p. 149.

9.
Randolph to TJ, March 27, 1792, in
Papers
, vol. 23.

10.
TJ to Randolph, April 19, 1792, in
Papers
, vol. 23; TJ to Randolph, Feb. 18, 1793, in
Papers
, vol. 25.

11.
TJ to Randolph, April 19, 1792.

12.
Randolph to TJ, April 22, 1798, in
Papers
, vol. 30.

13.
TJ to Randolph, Jan. 25, 1798, in
Papers
, vol. 30.

14.
Randolph to TJ, Feb. 26, 1798, in
Papers
, vol. 30.

15.
Stanton,
Free Some Day
, pp. 42–43.

16.
Randolph to TJ, Jan. 13, 1798, in
Papers
, vol. 30; TJ to Randolph, Jan. 25, 1798, in
Papers
, vol. 30; TJ to Randolph, May 3, 1798, in
Papers
, vol. 30; Stanton,
Free Some Day
, pp. 36–40.

17.
TJ to Stevens Thomson Mason, Oct. 27, 1799, in
Papers
, vol. 31.

18.
TJ to James Monroe, July 10, 1796, in
Papers
, vol. 29.

19.
Hochman, “Thomas Jefferson,” pp. 211–13.

20.
Stanton, “Looking for Liberty,” p. 651; Moss and Moss, “Jefferson Miscegenation Legend in British Travel Books,” pp. 257–58; Brodie,
Thomas Jefferson
, p. 370. Anonymous letter: McLaughlin,
Jefferson and Monticello
, pp. 96–97, 100.

21.
La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt,
Travels Through the United States of North America
, vol. 2, p. 162.

22.
Bear and Stanton,
Jefferson's Memorandum Books
, vol. 2, p. 934n.

23.
Eppes to TJ, Feb. 10, 1803, no. 1397, Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.

24.
TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, June 24, 1793, in
Papers
, vol. 26.

25.
TJ to James Madison, Aug. 16, 1810, in
Papers
, Retirement Series, vol. 3; Bear and Stanton,
Jefferson's Memorandum Books
, vol. 2, p. 1251n.

26.
Martha Jefferson Randolph and Thomas Mann Randolph to TJ, postscript, Jan. 31, 1801, in
Papers
, vol. 32.

27.
Francis L. Berkeley Jr., introduction to
Farm Book
, p. xviii.

28.
McLaughlin,
Jefferson and Monticello
, p. 112.

29.
Peterson,
Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation
, p. 535.

30.
Ibid., pp. 529, 534.

31.
Ellis,
American Sphinx
, p. 149; Malone,
Jefferson the Virginian
, p. 163.

32.
Randolph to TJ, April 12, 1800, in
Papers
, vol. 31.

33.
Randolph to TJ, ca. April 19, 1800, in
Papers
, vol. 31.

34.
TJ to Randolph, Jan. 23, 1801, in
Papers
, vol. 32.

35.
Randolph concluded, “Such is the sound sense cleverness & energy of Lillie.” Randolph to TJ, Jan. 31, 1801, in
Papers
, vol. 32.

36.
TJ to Dinsmore, Dec. 1, 1802, no. 6540, TJ Papers, University of Virginia; Bear, “Mr. Jefferson's Nails.”

37.
Randolph to TJ, May 30, 1803, TJ Papers, University of Virginia; TJ to Randolph, June 8, 1803, in
Farm Book
, p. 19; Stanton,
Free Some Day,
p. 77; McLaughlin,
Jefferson and Monticello
, p. 113. Stanton states that Cary was a friend of the runaway James Hubbard and suggests that Cary too might have been planning to run away; if so, Colbert's prank deranged Cary's plans.

38.
Martha Jefferson Randolph to TJ, Nov. 30, 1804, in
Family Letters
, p. 264.

39.
Bear and Stanton,
Jefferson's Memorandum Books
, vol. 2, p. 1108.

40.
TJ to Jones and Howell, May 16, 1804, in
Farm Book
, p. 445.

41.
Oldham to TJ, Nov. 26, 1804, quoted in Stanton,
Free Some Day
, p. 116. I have corrected Oldham's spelling.

42.
On July 20, 1805, TJ wrote to Oldham, who was then in Richmond: “I am informed that James Hemings my servant has put himself under your superintendance until he can hear from me on the subject of his return. I can readily excuse the follies of a boy and therefore his return shall ensure him an entire pardon. During my absence hereafter I should place him with Johnny Hemings and Lewis at house joiner's work. If you will get him a passage in the Richmond stage I will get Mr. Higginbotham to pay his fare on his arrival at Milton.” It seems that Hemings briefly considered the offer, then thought better of it and disappeared (TJ to Oldham, July 20, 1805, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston). A small note in TJ's records indicates that years later Jimmy Hemings did come back to the mountain, probably to see his family. TJ gave him a tip for finding the lost eyepiece of his telescope. But he never again came under TJ's control. McLaughlin,
Jefferson and Monticello
, pp. 113–15.

43.
TJ to John Strode, June 5, 1805, Library of Congress; TJ to Randolph, June 5, 1805, Library of Congress.

44.
Randolph to Nicholas Trist, Nov. 2, 1818, Papers of the Trist, Randolph, and Burke families, accession no. 10487.

45.
Bear,
Jefferson at Monticello
, p. 98.

46.
Alexis de Tocqueville,
Democracy in America
,
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/home.html
.

47.
Waldstreicher,
Runaway America
, p. 185.

48.
“Dillwyn Park Would Hold Memories of Struggle,” p. A6, quoting Wilbert Dean.

49.
Randolph to Nicholas Trist, Nov. 2, 1818.

50.
Onuf,
Jefferson's Empire
,
p. 9
; Bob Dylan, “Lonesome Day Blues,” in
“Love and Theft.”

9. A Mother's Prayers

1.
Hannah's letter,
Farm Book
, pp. 41–42.

2.
Farm Book
, plates 9, 31.

3.
TJ to Edmund Bacon, Poplar Forest, Nov. 29, 1817, quoted in Martin, “Mr. Jefferson's Business,” p. 156.

4.
Yancey to TJ, Oct. 20, 1819, in
Farm Book
, pp. 44–45.

5.
Yancey to TJ, Oct. 14, 1819, in
Farm Book
, pp. 304–5.

6.
Yancey to TJ, Oct. 20 and 26, 1819, in
Farm Book
, pp. 44–45; Oct. 14, 1819, p. 305.

7.
Elizabeth Trist to Nicholas P. Trist, Nov. 28, 1822, Nicholas Philip Trist Papers, Library of Congress; transcription:
Monticello.org
, Family Letters Digital Archive,
http://retirementseries.dataformat.com/Search.aspx
. Trist wrote that Billy “horribly mutilated” the man's face.

8.
Richmond Enquirer
, Nov. 22, 1822, p. 1.

9.
Henry Brown was a relative of Nicholas P. Trist, the husband of TJ's granddaughter Virginia; Jacob White was the overseer.

10.
Wilson C. Nicholas Jr. to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Jan. 31, 1823, March 2, 1824, accession no. 1397, box 4, Edgehill-Randolph Papers; Horn,
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
, pp. 101–102; Stanton,
Free Some Day
, p. 85. The story of Hannah's Billy is difficult to reconstruct, and McLaughlin's account (
Jefferson and Monticello
, pp. 114–16) is partially incorrect, confusing Hannah's Billy with William “Billy” Hern. Stanton,
Free Some Day
, p. 85. Bedford County Court Order Book, vol. 18, pp. 318–19.

11.
Elizabeth Trist to Nicholas P. Trist, Oct. 2, 1822, Nicholas Philip Trist Papers, Library of Congress, transcription: Family Letters Digital Archive.

10. “I Will Answer for Your Safety…Banish All Fear”

1.
Harrison and Burke,
Two Monticello Childhoods
, p. 4.

2.
Margaret Bayard Smith's Account of a Visit to Monticello, July 29, 1809, in
Papers
, Retirement Series, vol. 1.

3.
Neiman, “Sub-floor Pits, Slave-Quarter Architecture, and the Social Dynamics of Chesapeake Slavery.”

4.
Neiman, “Changing Landscapes.”

5.
Ibid.

6.
Ibid.