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Martha Wayles

Martha Wayles

Female 1748 - 1782  (33 years)

Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Martha Wayles 
    Birth 30 Oct 1748  Charles City County, VA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Death 6 Sep 1782  Monticello, Albemarle County, VA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I13376  Bob Juch's Tree
    Last Modified 31 Dec 2022 

    Father John Wayles 
    Relationship natural 
    Mother Martha Eppes 
    Relationship natural 
    Family ID F6340  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 President Thomas Jefferson,   b. 2 Apr 1743, Shadwell, Albemarle County, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 4 Jul 1826, Monticello, Albemarle County, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 83 years) 
    Marriage 1 Jan 1772  The Forest, Charles City County, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    Children 
     1. Jefferson,   b. 28 May 1777  [natural]
     2. Jefferson,   b. 3 Nov 1780  [natural]
     3. Mary Jefferson,   b. 1 Aug 1778  [natural]
     4. Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson,   b. 8 May 1782  [natural]
     5. Martha Jefferson,   b. 27 Sep 1772   d. 10 Oct 1836 (Age 64 years)  [natural]
     6. Jane Randolph Jefferson,   b. 3 Apr 1774  [natural]
    Family ID F5176  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 31 Dec 2022 

    Family 2 Bathurst Skelton 
    Marriage 20 Nov 1766 
    Family ID F6341  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 31 Dec 2022 

  • Notes 
    • MARTHA WAYLES
      Martha Wayles, d/o John Wayles
      REF: Rev. Philip Slaughter, "The True Thomas Jefferson", E.E. Curtis, 1908. Much of what Rev. Slaughter says, needs verification; the material on the Skipwiths is drawn primarily from his work. He was not a genealogist and
      concerned by accuracy, using rumor and gossip and some records.
      Martha m2. Nov 20 1766 Virginia Bathurst Skelton [d. Sep 30 1768] had 1 son, John Skelton [Nov 7 1767-Jun 10 1771]

      Michael Ragan, MWRagan@aol.com:
      Martha m. Jan 1 1771/72 Thomas Jefferson [Apr 2 1743, Shadwell VA-Jul 4 1826, Alemarle Co VA]

      SJG NOTE: Well, if it is the same MARTHA WAYLES in all 3 marriages, she had to have mar. THOMAS JEFFERSON last, 3rd and would be buried under WAYLES or JEFFERSON.

      Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 00:10:57 -0700
      From: Katherine Snow
      To: VA-SOUTHSIDE-L@rootsweb.com
      Message-ID:
      Subject: Re: [VA-SOUTHSIDE-L] EPES/WAYLES/JEFFERSON

      On Mon, 09 Nov 1998 19:34:48 -0700 Katherine Snow writes:
      who are descended from EPES/WAYLES/JEFFERSON might be interested in
      this lineage:

      Re: Martha (Patty) Wayles (Jefferson): her lineage was:

      Francis I Eppes of England, settled in VA @ Isle of Wight
      ... Francis Eppes II
      ...... Francis Eppes III
      ......... Francis Eppes IV m. Sarah Hamlin Hett
      ............ Child: Martha Eppes m. (1)Llewellin Eppes (2)John Wayles
      ............... Child of Martha & John Wayles:
      .................. Martha (Patty) Wayles born 19 Oct 1748 d. 6 Sep 1782
      .................. m. (1)Bathurst Skelton
      ..................... Child by Skelton: John born 7 Nov 1767
      .................. m. (2?)Thomas Jefferson 1 Jan 1772
      .................. OR DID SHE MARRY HENRY SKIPWITH 2ND, AND JEFFERSON 3RD??
      .................. Children by Thomas Jefferson:
      ..................... Martha (Patsy) Jefferson born 27 Sep 1772;
      ..................... Jane Randolph Jefferson born 3 Apr 1774;
      ..................... Son Jefferson born 28 May 1777;
      ..................... Mary (Maria (Polly) Jefferson born 1 Aug 1778;
      ..................... Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson born 30 Nov 1780 d.bfr May 1782
      ..................... Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson born 8 May 1782

      Lila of VA email: Genealogy98@juno.com

      Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
      1748-1782
      http://www2.whitehouse.gov/WH/glimpse/firstladies/html/mj3.html Biography:

      When Thomas Jefferson came courting, Martha Wayles Skelton at 22 was already a widow, an heiress, and a mother whose firstborn son would die in early childhood. Family tradition says that she was accomplished and beautiful--with slender figure, hazel eyes, and auburn hair--and wooed by many. Perhaps a mutual love of music cemented the romance; Jefferson played the violin, and one of the furnishings he ordered for the home he was building at Monticello was a "forte-piano" for his bride.

      They were married on New Year's Day, 1772, at the bride's plantation home "The Forest," near Williamsburg. When they finally reached Monticello in a late January snowstorm to find no fire, no food, and the servants asleep, they toasted their new home with a leftover half-bottle of wine and "song and merriment and laughter." That night, on their own mountaintop, the love of Thomas Jefferson and his bride seemed strong enough to endure any adversity.

      The birth of their daughter Martha in September increased their happiness. Within ten years the family gained five more children. Of them all, only two lived to grow up: Martha, called Patsy, and Mary, called Maria or Polly.

      The physical strain of frequent pregnancies weakened Martha Jefferson so gravely that her husband curtailed his political activities to stay near her. He served in Virginia's House of Delegates and as governor, but he refused an appointment by the Continental Congress as a commissioner to France. Just after New Year's Day, 1781, a British invasion forced Martha to flee the capital in Richmond with a baby girl a few weeks old--who died in April. In June the family barely escaped an enemy raid on Monticello. She bore another daughter the following May, and never regained a fair measure of strength. Jefferson wrote on May 20 that her condition was dangerous. After months of tending her devotedly, he noted in his account book for September 6, "My dear wife died this day at 11:45 A.M."

      Apparently he never brought himself to record their life together; in a memoir he referred to ten years "in unchequered happiness." Half a century later his daughter Martha remembered his sorrow: "the violence of his emotion...to this day I not describe to myself." For three weeks he had shut himself in his room, pacing back and forth until exhausted. Slowly that first anguish spent itself. In November he agreed to serve as commissioner to France, eventually taking "Patsy" with him in 1784 and send for "Polly" later.

      Famous Folks http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/index.html
      Biography.com http://www.biography.com/
      Jefferson, Martha (b. Wayles Skelton) 1748 -- 1782
      http://search.biography.com/print_record.pl?id=16222
      Wife of Thomas Jefferson; born near Richmond, Virginia Daughter of a well-known lawyer, she was a young widow when she married Thomas Jefferson in 1772 and settled at Monticello. Her premature death left Jefferson devastated; it was said he promised her he would never marry again, and he did not. Two of their children, Martha and Mary, survived to maturity and assisted their father as hostesses in the White House.

  • Sources 
    1. .

    2. [S693] William and Mary Quarterly Vol IV p 229-230.