RANDOLPH, Thomas Mann, patriot, born at Tuckahoe, his father's homestead, in Virginia, in 1741; died there, 19 November, 1793. He was the son of "William of Tuckahoe," who, at his death (1745), confided his infant and only child to Peter , Jefferson, father of Thomas, who thereupon removed to the child's estate (Tuckahoe) in Goochland (now Albemarle) county, Virginia The young man was graduated at William and Mary college, and in 1761 married Anne, daughter of Colonel Archibald Cary (b. 1745 ; died 1789), widely known by her charities. He was a member of the Virginia house of burgesses, and of the convention of 1776. He was also a member of the Colonial committee of safety from the first.

His son, Thomas Mann Randolph, governor of Virginia, born at Tuckahoe, on James river, Virginia, 1 October, 1768; died in Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia, 20 June. 1828. In 1785 Randolph was sent with a younger brother to Edinburgh university, where he was very studious, and formed the friendship of Sir John Leslie, who returned with the brothers and was for two years tutor in their Virginia home. While at Edinburgh he formed a scientific society, of which Thomas Jefferson was elected an honorary member. Jefferson acknowledged the diploma with cordiality ; he also wrote several letters of advice to the youth, with whose father he had been brought up almost as a brother. In the summer of 1788 he visited the Jeffersons in Paris, and there first met Martha Jefferson (q. v.), whom he married, 23 February, 1790, at Monticello. This marriage of his daughter gratified Jefferson, who described the youth as "a man of science, sense, virtue, and competence." The event also put an end to his daughter's desire for a conventual life, which had distressed him.  

Randolph, at the entreaty of Jefferson, resided at Monticello for a time, and gave much attention to study. Among his frequent visitors was the Abbe Corea, a botanist. In 1803 he was elected to the house of representatives, where he sharply resented remarks of John Randolph of Roanoke, and a duel nearly resulted. He continued in congress until 1807. While in Washington the family resided in the executive mansion. In 1812 he enlisted in the military service, and on 3 January became lieutenant of light artillery. He marched to Canada as captain of the 20th infantry, but resigned on 6 February, 1815, on account of a misunderstanding with General Armstrong. He was governor of Virginia in 1819-'21. His death was caused by exposure while riding, after giving his cloak to an aged and thinly clad man whom he passed on the high-road.

--His son, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, born at Monticello, 12 September, 1792; died at Edge Hill, Albemarle County, Virginia, 8 October, 1875, was Thomas Jefferson's oldest grandson, and was described by his grandfather as "the staff of his old age." When six years of age he used to walk five miles to an "old-field school," so called, and used to say that, he had a watch in his pocket before he had shoes on his feet. He went to school in Philadelphia at fifteen, and afterward in Charlottesville, Virginia In 1824 he married Jane Hollins, daughter of Governor Wilson Cary Nicholas. After the sale of Jefferson's property, debts to the extent of $40,000 remained, and these were paid by Randolph out of regard for his grandfather's honor. He also supported and educated his brothers and sisters. He had been appointed literary executor of Jefferson, and in 1829 published the " Life and Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson" (4 vols., Boston). Being in the Virginia legislature at the time of the Southampton Negro insurrection in 1832, he introduced a bill for emancipation on what was called the " post-natal" plan, originally suggested by Jefferson. This was necessarily postponed to the following session, and then failed through the resentment excited by the harangues of George Thompson, who was regarded as an " abolition emissary" from Great Britain.

Thomas Jefferson Randolph
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Randolph was an eminent financier, and secured the passage of a tax-bill through the Virginia legislature in 1842 which placed the state finances on a sound basis. He wrote an able pamphlet, entitled "Sixty Years' Reminiscences of the Currency of the United States," a copy of which was presented to every member of the legislature. It is still a document of historical interest. In 1851-'2 he was in the convention that revised the Virginia constitution. After the fall of the Confederacy, which he supported, he devoted himself to restoration of the prosperity of his state. He was for seven years rector of the University of Virginia, and for thirty-one years on its board of visitors, in his last illness he had his bed removed to a room from which he could look on Monticello, where he was buried. In taking the chair at the Baltimore Democratic convention of 1872 he was described as " six feet six inches high, as straight as an arrow, and stood before the convention like one of the big trees of California."

--Another son, George Wythe Randolph, born at Monticello, 10 March, 1818; died at Edge Hill, near Charlottesville, Virginia, 10 April, 1878, at the death of his grandfather. Thomas Jefferson, was placed under the care of his brother-in-law, Joseph Coolidge, of Boston, by whom he was sent to school at Cambridge, Massachusetts At the age of thirteen he received from President Jackson a midshipman's warrant, and he was at sea almost continuously until his nineteenth year, when he entered the University of Virginia. After two years of study he resigned his naval commission, studied law, and gained high rank at the Richmond bar. At the time of the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry he raised a company of artillery, which continued its organization, and was the main Confederate force against General Butler at the battle of Bethel. He was then given a large command, with the commission of brigadier-general, which he held until he was appointed secretary of war of the Confederate states. He afterward resigned and reported for service in the field. He was one of the commissioners sent by Virginia to consult President Lincoln, after his election, concerning his intended policy, with the hope of maintaining peace. A pulmonary affection having developed during the war, he ran the blockade to seek health in a warmer region, and remained abroad for several years after the fall of the Confederacy.

--Thomas Jefferson's daughter, Sarah Nicholas, author, born at Edge Hill, near Charlottesville, Virginia, 12 October, 1839, has become widely known in Virginia by her school at Edge Hill and as principal of Patapsco institute. She has now (1888) a school in Baltimore. She has published " Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson " (New York, 1871); a story for the young, "The Lord will Provide" (1872); a paper on Martha Jefferson Randolph in Mrs. Wister's "Famous Women of the Revolution" (Philadelphia, 1876) ; and " Life of Stonewall Jackson" (1876). In addition, Miss Randolph has written various contributions to current literature, among which is an article of historical value entitled "The Kentucky Resolutions in a New Light," founded on her family papers, printed in the , ' Nation," 5 May, 1887.