Martha wayles skelton biography
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Biographical Sketch
Martha Wayles was born at The Forest Plantation in Charles City County, VA on October 31, , daughter of John Wayles and Martha Eppes. She married her first husband Bathurst Skelton () on November 20, , with whom she had one son, John Skelton (). On January 1, , Martha Wayles Skelton married Thomas Jefferson. 1
Like her mother, who died just under a week after giving birth to her only daughter, Martha Wayles Skelton suffered difficulties recovering from childbirth, and ultimately complications from the birth of her sixth child with Thomas Jefferson resulted in her death almost four months later on September 6, Only two children of her seven live births survived to adulthood. Daughters Mary Jefferson Eppes () died in childbirth at twenty-six years old and Martha Jefferson Randolph () died at sixty-three years of age, the only child to outlive her father. 2
In a letter written from Edmund Randolph in Richmond, VA to James Madison dated September 20, , Randolp
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Martha Jefferson
First Lady of Virginia, wife of Thomas Jefferson (–)
This article is about Thomas Jefferson's wife. For his daughter, see Martha Jefferson Randolph.
Martha Skelton Jefferson (néeWayles; October 30, – September 6, ) was the wife of Thomas Jefferson from until her death. She served as First Lady of Virginia during Jefferson's term as governor from to She died in , 19 years before he became president.[1][2]
Of the six children born to Thomas and Martha, only two survived to adulthood, Martha and Mary. Martha died four months after the birth of her last child.[1] The couple's letters to one another were burned, though by whom is unknown, and Thomas rarely spoke of her, so she remains a somewhat enigmatic figure.[3] (Similarly, Jefferson did not speak much of his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson.)[4][a]
It is held by some that as a widower, Thomas had a long-standing relationship and children with Ma
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Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
A widow of her first marriage, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson was the wife of the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. Dying of ill health during the Revolutionary War, she did not live to see her husband become President.
When Thomas Jefferson came courting, Martha Wayles Skelton at 22 was already a widow, an heiress, and a mother whose firstborn son would die in early childhood. Family tradition says that she was accomplished and beautiful–with slender figure, hazel eyes, and auburn hair–and wooed by many. Perhaps a mutual love of music cemented the romance; Jefferson played the violin, and one of the furnishings he ordered for the home he was building at Monticello was a “forte-piano” for his bride.
They were married on New Year’s Day, , at the bride’s plantation home “The Forest,” near Williamsburg. When they finally reached Monticello in a late January snowstorm to find no fire, no food, and the servants