The Thomas Jefferson Papers

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Series 6: Randolph Family Manuscripts. 1790-1889.

From   April, 1790 to February, 1822

The Jefferson and Randolph families have been intertwined by blood, marriage, and politics in Virginia for centuries. Thomas Jefferson was the son of Peter Jefferson and Jane Randolph (daughter of Isham Randolph of Dungeness). In 1790 Thomas's oldest daughter, Martha, married her cousin Thomas Mann Randolph of Tuckahoe. In 1917 the Library of Congress acquired a large group of letters (mostly addressed to Thomas Mann Randolph), several memorandum, account, and commonplace books (including Jefferson's Literary Commonplace Book in Series 5), and some miscellaneous family papers from Henry Burke of Alexandria, Virginia, and other heirs. The letters, account, memorandum, and commonplace books have been distributed in other series of the Jefferson Papers and in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. It is the remaining miscellaneous papers that comprise Series Six of the Thomas Jefferson Papers. Many of these papers are the miscellaneous correspondence of Thomas Mann Randolph, Martha Jefferson Randolph (daughter of Thomas Jefferson), and their children and relations by marriage, such as Joseph Coolidge, Jr. and Nicholas Trist. Thomas Mann Randolph and Martha Jefferson were the parents of 12 children. Some of the papers of these children are in Series 6, such as the literary commonplace book of Cornelia Jefferson Randolph (1799-1871). Thomas Jefferson also purchased books from the libraries of John Randolph, Edmund Randolph, and Peyton Randolph, which contained several manuscript volumes from the Randolph family. These are not part of the Randolph Family Papers, but have been distributed to other parts of the collection, such as Series 8, where Sir John Randolph's Commonplace Book may be found.