Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. (October 1, 1768 – June 20, 1828) was a planter, soldier, and politician from Virginia. He served as a member of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, a Representative in the U.S. Congress, and was elected Governor of Virginia, serving from 1819-1822.
Biography
The Randolphs were among the First Families of Virginia. Born at Tuckahoe Plantation in Goochland County, Virginia, he was a direct descendant of Pocahontas, the youngest daughter of Native American Chief Powhatan, and her English-born husband, John Rolfe, who is credited with developing a strain of tobacco as successful cash crop for export in the Colony of Virginia in 1612.
He received his early education from private teachers; attended the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 1785-1788.
His sisters included Mary Randolph, author of The Virginia House-Wife (1824), and Virginia Randolph Cary, author of Letters on Female Character (1828).
In 1790, Randolph married Martha Washington Jefferson, daughter of Thomas Jefferson and his wife Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. They were parents to twelve children:
- Anne Cary Randolph (1791 - 1826).
- Thomas Jefferson Randolph (1792 - 1875).
- Ellen Wayles Randolph (1794 - 1795).
- Ellen Wayles Randolph (1796 - 1876). Named after deceased older sister.
- Cornelia Jefferson Randolph (1799 - 1871).
- Virginia Jefferson Randolph (1801 - 1882).
- Mary Jefferson Randolph (1803 - 1876).
- James Madison Randolph (1806 - 1834).
- Benjamin Franklin Randolph (1808 - 1871).
- Meriwether Lewis Randolph (1810 - 1837).
- Septimia Anne Randolph (1814 - 1887).
- George Wythe Randolph (1816 - 1867).
Thomas served in the Virginia State Senate in 1793 and 1794; was elected as a Republican to the Eighth and Ninth Congresses (March 4, 1803-March 3, 1807); he was a colonel of the Twentieth Infantry during the War of 1812; member of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1819, 1820, and 1823-1825; Governor of Virginia, 1819-1822,
He was the first son-in-law of a Virginia Governor to become governor himself; He died at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, his father-in-law, with interment in the family burial ground.
External links
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
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| Preceded by James Patton Preston |
Governor of Virginia 1819–1822 |
Succeeded by James Pleasants |
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