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As the oldest and favorite daughter of Thomas Jefferson, Martha "Patsy" Jefferson Randolph (1772-1836) was extremely well educated, traveled in the circles of presidents and aristocrats, and was known on two continents for her particular grace and sincerity. Yet, as mistress of a large household, she was not spared the tedium, frustration, and great sorrow that most women of her time faced. Though Patsy's name is familiar because of her famous father, Kierner is the first historian to place Patsy at the center of her own story, taking readers into the largely ignored private spaces of the founding era. Randolph's life story reveals the privileges and limits of celebrity and shows that women were able to venture beyond their domestic roles in surprising ways.
Following her mother's death, Patsy lived in Paris with her father and later served as hostess at the President's House and at Monticello. Her marriage to Thomas Mann Randolph, a member of Congress and governor of Virginia, was often troubled. She and her eleven children lived mostly at Monticello, greeting famous guests and debating issues ranging from a woman's place to slavery, religion, and democracy. And later, after her family's financial ruin, Patsy became a fixture in Washington society during Andrew Jackson's presidency. In this extraordinary biography, Kierner offers a unique look at American history from the perspective of this intelligent, tactfully assertive woman.
"In this wonderfully researched biography, Cynthia Kierner makes Randolph an important figure in her own right and reveals a woman who deftly handled both her demanding public roles as the hostess of the president's mansion and Monticello and a governor's wife, as well as her more domestic role of mistress of an enormous and complicated household."
-"Register of the Kentucky Historical Society"
| Note on Names and Sources | p. ix |
| Introduction | p. 5 |
| Love and Death at Monticello | p. 15 |
| The Education of Patsy Jefferson | p. 39 |
| Wife, Mother, Plantation Mistress | p. 75 |
| The President's Daughter | p. 109 |
| Return to Monticello | p. 142 |
| Decay and Dissolution | p. 174 |
| Honorable Poverty | p. 208 |
| No Longer a Home for the Family of Thomas Jefferson | p. 245 |
| Epilogue | p. 274 |
| Notes | p. 283 |
| Bibliography | p. 327 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 343 |
| Index | p. 347 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9780807835524
ISBN-10: 0807835528
Audience:
General
Format:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 400
Published: 14th May 2012
Dimensions (cm): 23.5 x 15.5
x 2.8
Weight (kg): 0.667
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