Peter Jefferson

For other people named Peter Jefferson, see Peter Jefferson (Radio).

Peter Jefferson
Born	February 29, 1708(1708-02-29) Chesterfield County, Virginia
Died	August 17, 1757(1757-08-17) (aged 49) Albemarle County, Virginia
Occupation	surveyor, cartographer
Spouse	Jane Randolph Jefferson
Children	Jane Jefferson Mary Jefferson Bolling Thomas Jefferson Elizabeth Jefferson Martha Jefferson Carr Peter Field Jefferson Peter Thomas Jefferson Lucy Jefferson Lewis Anna Scott Jefferson Marks Randolph Jefferson

Peter Jefferson (February 29, 1708, - August 17, 1757) was the father of American President Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)[1]. A surveyor and cartographer, his Fry-Jefferson Map of 1751 accurately depicted the Allegheny Mountains for the first time and showed the route of "The Great Road from the Yadkin River thro Virginia to Philadelphia distant 455 Miles" — what would later come to be known as the Great Wagon Road.

Biography

Jefferson was born in Chesterfield County, Virginia, one of six children. He did not receive any formal education while young, but according to his famous son, he nevertheless "read much and improved himself."

In 1734, Jefferson claimed the land in present-day Albemarle County which he eventually named Shadwell. He married Jane Randolph in 1739 (daughter of Isham Randolph and granddaughter of William Randolph). For a year or two following his marriage, his residence was in present-day Powhatan County Virginia near Fine Creek. Jefferson built a house on the Shadwell tract in 1741 or 1742, and moved there sometime before Thomas Jefferson was born.

Children

Peter Jefferson's children were:

• Jane Jefferson (1740–1765) - died unmarried at age 25
• Mary Jefferson Bolling (1741–1811) - married John Bolling, who served in the Virginia House of Burgesses
• Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
• Elizabeth Jefferson (1744–1774) - mentally handicapped
• Martha Jefferson Carr (1746–1811) - married Dabney Carr, founder of the underground Committee of Correspondence in Virginia on the eve of the American Revolution
• Peter Field Jefferson (1748-1748) - died as an infant child
• Peter Thomas Jefferson (1750-1750) - died as an infant child
• Lucy Jefferson Lewis (1752–1811) - married Charles Lilburn Lewis
• Anna Scott Jefferson Marks (1755–1828) - twin of Randolph
• Randolph Jefferson (1755–1815) - twin of Anna Scott

Thomas Jefferson, Lucy Jefferson, and Randolph Jefferson were notable for having a number of descendants in common with the Lewis family of Virginia.

He was made one of the first officers of Albemarle County in 1745. Later in that same year, he was made guardian over the children of William Randolph, his wife's cousin who had recently died. He and his family moved to Tuckahoe in Goochland County, where Thomas Jefferson first attended school. In 1749, Peter Jefferson, along with Joshua Fry, Thomas Walker, Edmund Pendleton and others, established the Loyal Land Company, and were granted 800,000 acres (3,200 km²) in present-day Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky.

1751 Fry-Jefferson map depicting 'The Great Waggon Road to Philadelphia'

Peter Jefferson was a cartographer and surveyor who, along with Fry, completed the survey of the Virginia-North Carolina border, begun by William Byrd II some time earlier. The detailed Fry-Jefferson Map, cited by his son Thomas in Notes on the State of Virginia, was produced by him and Fry.

The Jefferson family moved back to Shadwell in 1752.

Peter Jefferson died at his house on the Shadwell tract in Albemarle County when his son Thomas was 14 years old. It burned down in 1770. The area around his house is being studied, but his burial location is unknown.

See also

• John Harvie Peter Jefferson Chief Executor.
• Thomas Lewis (1718–90), a surveyor with Jefferson of the "Fairfax Line"