today on the ancestral findings podcast I'll answer the questions who was Thomas Jefferson
beyond being our third president and author of the Declaration of Independence who was he where did
he come from what was his family like and what other contributions did he make to our country
Thomas Jefferson is such a well-known name in American history he wrote the Declaration of
Independence was our third US president and is on our nickel also the $2 bill but those are
hardly ever used anymore but other than writing the Declaration who was he as a person and what
other roles did he play in the colonies gaining their independence from Great Britain here is the
story of one of America's most famous accomplished and impressive founding fathers born April 13th
17:43 in Shadwell Virginia Thomas Jefferson was the third of ten children born to Peter
Jefferson and Jane Randolph Peter was a planter and surveyor and quite wealthy for the time in
colonial Virginia this meant he had a lot of lands land equalled wealth in that colony in
those times when Thomas was 14 Peter died and left half of his estate to Thomas and a half
to Thomas's brother Randall Jefferson Thomas's portion of the estate which he came into full
ownership of when he was 21 included the land on which he would one day build the famous Monticello
mansion which is still there today and open for visitors to tour Thomas began his education among
his Randolph cousins with private tutors he was fluent in Latin Greek and French by the time he
was nine as well as an accomplished horse rider he later boarded with the Reverend James Mari
where he learned the classics history and science at age 16 he enrolled at William and Mary College
where he studied math metaphysics and philosophy he also became an accomplished violinist at this
time he graduated when he was 18 then studied for the bar exam and was admitted to it as a lawyer he
worked as a law clerk for a while continuing to improve his foreign language skills and
reading heavily amongst the English classics and political works Thomas was a definite bibliophile
loving books above most other things he lost 2,000 books inherited from his father in a fire but soon
replaced them with 1,250 books around the start of the Revolution this number grew to around 6500
by 1814 when the British burned the Library of Congress during the war of 1812 Jefferson sold
them his collection intending to use the money to pay off some of his large debt he soon started
collecting books once more however writing to his friend and fellow revolutionary John Adams
that he could not live without books during his time at the bar is a practicing lawyer he lived
with his mother he took on a number of cases for slaves seeking their freedom even doing so for
free at least once when one client lost his case to gain freedom before the age of 31 which was the
standard age of freedom for the time for slaves with one or more white grandparents Jefferson gave
his money as consolation and presumably to aid in the man's escape Jefferson served in the Virginia
House of Burgesses while he was practicing law which was Virginia's equivalent of a state
legislature and he brought up many anti-slavery issues including a bill that demanded masters
be given authority over whether to free their slaves rather than having to get permission from
the governor most of his bids to help slaves in Virginia failed but he used a good deal of
the language he used in defending his views of freedom of slavery in writing the Declaration
of Independence he began building Monticello in 1768 and married Martha Wales Skelton his second
cousin and widow of Bathurst Skelton on January 1st 1772 Jefferson often described his marriage
to Martha as the happiest years of his life she was a frequent hostess for him read widely was
accomplished at fine needlework and a skilled pianist Jefferson often accompanied her on the
violin while she played the piano martha bore jefferson six children two of whom lived to
adulthood she suffered from diabetes and weakened by repeated child bursts before she died at age
33 after 10 years of marriage to Jefferson she made him promise to never marry again this was
because she herself lost her mother at a young age and went through two stepmothers and could
not stand the idea of another woman raising her children three of whom were surviving at the time
Jefferson promised and he kept that promise at the outset of the revolution Martha was still alive
and Jefferson was heavily involved in Virginia politics being elected to the Virginia House of
Delegates being made a commander of the Albemarle County militia and being elected governor of the
colony for one term as war with the British grew more and more likely he was elected as
a delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia where he penned his
famous Declaration of Independence as a top revolutionary Jefferson was near the top of
the list of Britain's most wanted but he only had to actually escape them once when Benedict Arnold
led an invasion of Virginia while Jefferson was there he had to take Martha who had just given
birth to their fifth child and his other living children and flee into the woods for a time Martha
begged him to get out of politics after this episode but Jefferson felt his duty to public
service was too important to ignore even during the revolution Jefferson found time to work on
scholarly things such as his famous notes on the state of Virginia a large book about Virginia's
history culture politics and geography in it he espoused the belief that blacks and whites were
equal but could never live together peaceably due to resentments over slavery he also stated
his belief that the Native Americans were equal to the white European colonists in
every way these were Radical views for the time most of Jefferson's political career happened
after the Revolution and after he lost Martha his probable affair with Sally Hemings Martha's
enslaved half-sister who was only one-quarter black also occurred after the Revolution
plenty has been written on those subjects but Jefferson's contributions to the revolution
cannot be understated he protected Virginia from the British and put into words the sentiments of
all the colonists that they were by rights a free and independent people those words still
echo throughout our country's very essence today you know we celebrate our nation's independence on
the 4th of July but do you know how this holiday came to be when was it first celebrated what
is its true meaning let me share with you this fascinating story of American history next time
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