Presidential Biographies | Jefferson Administrations - Family Life

Family Life

On January 1, 1772, Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton, a widow who had a four-year-old son who died shortly after the wedding. Martha Jefferson was the educated daughter of a wealthy Williamsburg, Virginia, lawyer. With the land and slaves they inherited from their fathers, the Jeffersons were one of the wealthiest families in Virginia, guaranteeing Jefferson a role in Virginia politics.

The newlyweds moved into Monticello, a mansion Jefferson designed as an amateur architect, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Together they had six children, three of whom died in infancy. Jefferson's happiest years were spent at Monticello between 1772 and 1782 with his wife and his daughters, Martha and Mary. The happiness ended tragically with his wife's death on September 6, 1782, shortly after the birth of their daughter Lucy Elizabeth. Tragedy struck again when Lucy died of the whooping cough at the age of two on October 13,...