Elizabeth Jefferson - A Mystery

The title for this post says it all: this colonial woman was, indeed, a mystery. She is most often listed as an interesting factoid about her very famous brother, a la "Wow, did you know Thomas Jefferson had a disabled sister? Anyway..." Finding information on her was difficult but worth the work. Sadly, I could find no paintings or words of hers, so we do not know what she looked like or her own perceptions. She is only a snapshot of being disabled in colonial America, but I hope you enjoy her story.

Shadwell Plantation House

Elizabeth Jefferson was born on November 4, 1744, the fourth of ten children to Peter and Jane Randolph Jefferson. She was the child closest in age (she was nineteen months younger) to her famous brother, Thomas Jefferson. The family lived on a plantation named Shadwell located in the center of the colony of Virginia. They were very wealthy: the Randolphs were a distinguished Virginian family and Peter Jefferson was a successful planter and surveyor. The 1400 acre estate was home to both free and enslaved workforces that grew tobacco, grain, and clover.

There is frustratingly little known about Elizabeth. It appears that she had an intellectual disability. The only way we have this information is from a letter from family friend Wilson Miles Carry to Thomas Jefferson's great-granddaughter, Sarah N. Randolph. She was writing a book, published in 1871, about her famous ancestor based on family letters and stories, so she wrote to Carry, asking about Elizabeth. He wrote, "I have always understood that she was very feeble minded if not an idiot – that she and her maid drowned together while attempting to cross the Rivanna in a skiff.” These were the terms for intellectual disability or mental illness in this time period. The 1913 Mental Deficiency Act defined "idiot" as a person "so deeply defective in mind as to be unable to guard against common physical dangers" while "feeble-minded" was having a condition "so pronounced that they require care, supervision, and control for their own protection or the protection of others." 

Sarah N. Randolph

In her book, Randolph described Elizabeth as "rather deficient in intellect." A 1976 biographer of Thomas Jefferson, Page Smith, interpreted his sister as “perilously close to being mentally retarded.” Another biographer, Dumas Malone, in his 1948 six-volume, Pulitzer Prize-winning Jefferson and His Time, wrote, "Whether [Jefferson’s mother Jane] exhausted herself in bearing Thomas, or there was some mishap in the delivery, the child she bore just after him was subnormal. The later story of this unfortunate girl can wait, but at least it can be said here that Elizabeth Jefferson afforded little companionship to her well-endowed brother." Jane Jefferson was apparently so exhausted giving birth to a genius such as Thomas that the next child was doomed to be "subnormal" (I only get snarky when people clearly deserve it). 

Thomas Jefferson as a young man

Having a disability in colonial America was often horrific. Some families tried to care for their relatives at home, shutting them away from the world. If they could not support them, those relatives were provided for by the town. Towns and cities were expected to provide for these individuals with poor farms or almshouses, where criminals, people in poverty, the mentally ill, the homeless, and other social outcasts were dumped, usually involuntarily, along with those with disabilities. They were overcrowded and dirty. The people were often neglected and abused. There was a movement in Europe called the "moral treatment," which discouraged the use of physical restraints like shackles and straitjackets, but this had not gained popularity yet.

The Friends Almshouse in Philadelphia, built 1713

To the Jefferson family's credit, Elizabeth remained at home with her family. Jefferson did appear to love his sister, whatever her level of cognitive ability was. He called her by the nickname, "Bet." Their father died when Elizabeth was a young teenager. Jefferson, aged fourteen, was the oldest son, forced to take on his father's sizeable estate and see that his mother and six living siblings, ranging in age from 2-17, were all cared for. 

Elizabeth never married and lived her whole life on her family's estate. Her brother acquired more land, building his beloved home Monticello just across the Rivanna River from Shadwell. He married Martha Wayles Skelton in 1772, their first daughter Patsy born later that year. Elizabeth's brother managed her finances for her entire life, which was not uncommon for single women at this time. For instance, his account books recorded approval of clothing purchases so that she "should be well dressed."

A map of the area where Elizabeth and her family lived

The mysterious end to Elizabeth's mysterious life came in 1774, according to Jefferson's memorandum book, or in 1773, according to the family Prayer Book. His memorandum book records: "Mar. 1. My sister Elizabeth was found last Thursday being Feb. 24. ... Mar. 7. Sold my two old book cases to Mr. Clay for £5. of which credit him 40/ for performing the funeral service this day on burying my sister Elizabeth, & 40/ more for preaching Mr. Carr’s funeral sermon. ... Mar 10. Took admn. of E. Jefferson's estate." The family Prayer Book records her death as March 1, 1773, but is usually accepted by scholars that Jefferson mistakenly wrote this date later and that the 1774 death year is correct. She was 29 years old when she died.

The Rivanna River by Shadwell

Somehow Elizabeth and a maid, an enslaved woman named Little Sall, drowned in the Rivanna River. The biographer Page Smith was the first to connect the deaths to an earthquake that occurred in Virginia on February 21, 1774, three days before Elizabeth was found. Jefferson had written that the earthquake "... shook the houses so sensibly that every body run out of doors." An aftershock was felt the next day. Smith later wrote, "Monticello was shaken by a strong earthquake, which drove everyone from the house. In the excitement Jefferson’s afflicted sister, Elizabeth, then in her thirtieth year, disappeared. It was two days before she was found, more dead than alive. She died a few days later and was buried in the family plot near Dabney Carr." A 2013 biographer, Jon Meachem, theorized that, "In the furor, Elizabeth Jefferson, Thomas’s reputedly mentally disabled sister, disappeared from Shadwell. She was found, dead, three days later, after apparently drowning in the Rivanna." In Jefferson's meteorological records, he did note very high flooding during this time. All of this is speculation and nothing can be certain. Maybe she did drown fleeing an earthquake or had wandered off in the winter weather or simply died in a tragic boating accident. 

That is all we currently know about Elizabeth. We do not know how she communicated or expressed affection to her family. We do not know how she was treated or what her family thought about her. Though her short life ended tragically, I hope that she was happy and loved. 

Most sincerely,

Christina

Further Reading/Listening

• The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson by Sarah H. Randolph

• The Jeffersons at Shadwell by Susan Kern

• "Elizabeth Jefferson's Earthquake Drowning" episode by the Plodding Through the Presidents podcast

Works Consulted

Brief Biography of Thomas Jefferson. Monticello. (2021). Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://www.monticello.org/thomas-jefferson/brief-biography-of-jefferson/.

Dorre, H. (2014, July 24). The Earthquake That Drowned Thomas Jefferson's Sister. Plodding through the Presidents. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://www.ploddingthroughthepresidents.com/2014/07/the-earthquake-that-drowned-thomas.html.

Hughes, A. (2011, July). Disabilities in Colonial America. Amanda Hughes The Bold Women Series. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from http://www.amandahughesauthor.com/disabilities-in-colonial-america.html#.YTToRJ291PY.

Meldon, P. (2017, October 31). Disability History: Early and Shifting Attitudes of Treatment. National Parks Service. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://www.nps.gov/articles/disabilityhistoryearlytreatment.htm.

Roberts, A. (1981). Mental Health History Words. Study More. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from http://studymore.org.uk/mhhglo.htm.

S, P. (2019, July 5). Elizabeth Jefferson. Find a Grave. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/200847958/elizabeth-jefferson.

Shelley. (2021, March 26). Badass Disabled women in History: Elizabeth Jefferson. Chronic Mom. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://www.chronicmom.com/2021/03/badass-disabled-women-in-history-elizabeth-jefferson.html/.

Wilson, G. (1999, February). Elizabeth Jefferson. Monticello. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/elizabeth-jefferson.

Last Updated: 22 Sept. 2023