Martha Jefferson Research Paper

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Martha Jefferson was born on October 31, 1748. Her father, John Wayles, was a plantation owner and her mother, Martha Eppes, died a week before she was born. John Wayles emigrated to Virginia from England in 1734. He was nineteen when he left his family; soon becoming a lawyer. Martha Eppes was a widow when John married her, she had a slave named Suzanne and a daughter named Elizabeth, nickname Betty. Martha was named after her mother after she passed away. At the age of 18, she married Bathurst Skeleton on November 20, 1766. Martha and Bathurst had a son together named John on November 2, 1767. Bathurst became suddenly ill. He died on September 30, 1768. At the age of 22, Martha became a widow. She lived with her son at The Forest with her father which is “a plantation in Virginia’s …show more content…
Thomas Jefferson began courting Martha, two years after her being a widow. The shared the passion of music. It symbolized romance for the both of them. Thomas played the violin, but also a lawyer. Six months after her son’s death, Martha remarried to Thomas Jefferson on January 1, 1772 in Williamsburg, Virginia. Martha moved into Thomas’s house in Monticello. In a snowstorm, late at night, the two of them toasted to their new home with a bottle of wine and listening to romantic music. To make her a happy wife, he bought a pianoforte for their home. They loved to perform duets together on his violin. That dark night seemed to pursue their love for each other even more. They started a family together. Martha gave birth to their first daughter, Martha which her nickname is Patsy, in September 1772. In the early years of their marriage, Thomas Jefferson was a member of the House of