First Ladies For Dummies - Marcus A. Stadelmann, PhD

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alt="Intheirwords"/> Abigail’s son and future president John Quincy Adams wrote the following about his mother: “My mother’s life gave the lie to every libel on her sex that was ever written.”

      Becoming famous after her death

      Abigail Adams left us letters, so we have a good record of her life. She actually provided the best record of a woman’s role during the American Revolution and the early years of the U.S. government. Her letters, covering the period of 1762 until 1801, were published by her grandson in 1840 and became a bestseller. Her collected letters actually went into four editions in the 1840s alone and are still available for purchase today.

      Charles Francis Adams, her grandson, summed up her life best, writing,

      She was a farmer cultivating the land and discussing the weather and the crops; a merchant reporting prices current and the rates of exchange and directing the making up of invoices, a politician speculating upon the probabilities of war, and a mother … and in all she appeared equally well.

      At the young age of 18, Martha married Bathurst Skelton, an attorney, who died within two years of them being married. Being a widow at the age of 20, she was courted by many young gentlemen, including Thomas Jefferson, who was also an attorney. They met while Thomas was serving in the Virginia House of Burgesses, Virginia’s colonial legislative assembly. Martha lived only a few blocks away in the house she had inherited from her husband. By the time they met, Martha had not only become a widow but also recently lost her only child.

Photo depicts the portrait of Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson.

      Source: C-Span / National Cable Satellite Corporation / Public Domain

      FIGURE 4-2: Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson decided to pursue Martha with what she loved most: music. They played music together and sang songs, and Thomas even gave her a piano as a gift. Martha fell in love with Thomas while they played music together. She played the harpsichord, and he played the violin.

      The two got married on January 1, 1772, and then the couple moved to Thomas’s estate called Monticello, which he had designed himself. When Martha married Thomas, the future president received a plantation and a large number of enslaved people as part of her dowry. After Martha’s father’s death in 1773, Thomas received even more property, including enslaved people, so he then owned 187 enslaved people, making him the second largest slave owner in Virginia.

      

Among the enslaved people Thomas received when marrying Martha was his future mistress, Sally Hemings, who was fathered by Martha’s father, John Wayles.

      

According to colonial law, a widowed woman’s property automatically became the property of her new husband.

      The next 10 years proved to be hectic. Thomas Jefferson was involved in the American Revolution, being a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1776 and writing the Declaration of Independence the same year. In 1779, he was elected the governor of Virginia. Martha became the First Lady of Virginia.

      

Martha started brewing her own beer while married to Thomas Jefferson, producing 170 gallons in the first year alone.

      Dying too soon

      While Thomas Jefferson was active in politics and open rebellion, Martha stayed home raising their six children. Martha fell ill and became an invalid. Thomas turned down a job in France to stay with his ill wife. In June of 1781, Martha and Thomas got lucky when they managed to escape their estate, Monticello, after the British had attacked it. However, the strain of fleeing the British and bearing so many children made Martha very sick. She died on September 6, 1782, at the age of 33. Thomas went into mourning and never married again.

      

Martha made Thomas promise her never to marry again. She had many unpleasant experiences with stepmothers while she was growing up and didn’t want her children to grow up with a stepmother.

      

Thomas Jefferson said the following after Martha’s death:

      “Martha was the cherished companion of my life, in whose affections … I have lived … the last ten years of my life in uncheckered happiness.”

      

Of the six Jefferson children, only two survived into adulthood. They were Martha and Mary Jefferson.

      Becoming First Lady after her death

      

With Martha Jefferson a tradition was established of referring to a spouse of a president, who had died before her husband became president, as First Lady, if the president never got remarried.

      

Dolley Madison excelled at planning and throwing parties, which became a good foundation for her future role as First Lady (see the next section).

      After Thomas Jefferson retired from politics in 1809, he invited his daughter to live with him at his estate, Monticello. Thomas died in 1826, and both he and Martha are buried at Monticello.

Photo depicts the portrait of Martha Jefferson Randolph, daughter of Thomas and Martha Jefferson.

      Source: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Reproduction number LC-USZ62-25769 (b&w film copy neg.)

      FIGURE 4-3: Martha Jefferson Randolph, daughter of Thomas and Martha Jefferson.

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