05/10/2026
In late January of 1801, Thomas Jefferson was in Washington, D.C., no doubt anxiously awaiting the results of the 1800 presidential election. His daughter, however, was back in Virginia, experiencing the daily joys and frustrations of motherhood. At that time, Martha Jefferson Randolph was 28, and she had four living children: Anne Cary (10), Thomas Jefferson (8), Ellen (4), and Cornelia (2), and was two months pregnant with her daughter Virginia. Writing at the end of January, Martha asked after her father, but the content of her letter clearly communicates her preoccupation with her children – at turns fond, anxious, and exasperated. Her son has “cought (that filthiest of all disorders) the itch,” and she despairs that “my 2 eldest are uncommonly backward in every thing much more so than many others who have not had half the pains taken with them.” Her four-year-old, Ellen, however, is “wonderfully apt,” but little Cornelia is constantly foiling her plans. “Ellen counts the weeks and continues scoring up complaints against Cornelia whom she is perpetually threatning with your displeasure. long is the list of misdemeanors which is to be comunicated to you, amongst which the stealing of 2 potatoes carefully preserved 2 whole days for you but at last Stolen by Cornelia.” Despite these trials, the children looked upon their mother fondly. Later in life, Ellen would write that her mother, Martha, “had loved [her] better than any other being on earth could do—for under heaven there is no love like that of a mother.”
