Isham Randolph of Dungeness explained

Isham Randolph (February 24, 1687  - November 2, 1742) was an American planter, merchant, public official, and shipmaster.^[1] He was the maternal grandfather of United States President Thomas Jefferson.

Early life

Isham Randolph was born on the Turkey Island plantation in Henrico County, Virginia on February 24, 1687. He was the third son of William Randolph (1650–1711) and Mary Isham (1659–1735).^[2] His father was a colonist, landowner, planter, and merchant who served as the 26th Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Randolph graduated from the College of William & Mary.

Marriage and children

In 1717, Isham Randolph married Jane Rogers in London^[3] at St. Paul's Church in the Shadwell parish (today east London).^[3] Jane was from a wealthy landed gentry family of England and Scotland. Isham and Jane Randolph moved to Virginia. Together, they had nine children and were familially connected to many other prominent individuals:

• Isham Randolph (1718-1718), lived only ten days.
• Jane Randolph (1720–1776),^[3] who married Peter Jefferson and had nine children, including Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States.^[4]
• Isham Randolph (born August 18, 1724), married Sarah Hargreaves in 1749, in Philadelphia.^[3]
• Mary Randolph (born October 15, 1725, in Colonial Williamsburg), who married Colonel Charles Lewis of Buck Island and had eight children, including Charles Lilburn Lewis, one of the founders of Milton, Virginia.^{[5] [6]}
• Elizabeth Randolph (born 1727)^[3]
• William Randolph (born July 9, 1729), married Elizabeth Little on 31 July 1761, in London.^[3]
• Dorothea Randolph (born November 24, 1730)^[3]
• Thomas Randolph (1732-173?), died young.
• Ann Randolph (born February 5, 1735),^[3] who had four children in three marriages.^[4] She was the mother of James Pleasants Jr., the 22nd Governor of Virginia, via her last marriage to James Pleasants Sr.^[4]
• Thomas Randolph (born August 13, 1736),^[3] who married Jane Cary, the daughter of Archibald Cary, in 1768.^[3]
• Susannah Randolph (born September 25, 1738),^[3] who married Carter Henry Harrison I (the brother of Benjamin Harrison V, the son of Benjamin Harrison IV, and the grandson of Benjamin Harrison III and Robert "King" Carter) and had six children.^{[4] [7]} She was the great-grandmother of Carter Henry Harrison III, a five-time mayor of Chicago.^{[4] [7]}

Career and death

Following his father, he was a prominent planter, merchant, public official, and also was a shipmaster.^[1] In London, Randolph was a well-established merchant^[8] and agent for the colony of Virginia. By the birth of his second daughter, Mary, in October 1725, he returned to Colonial Virginia. In 1730, he built Dungeness, with English manor house style architecture on what became a large tobacco plantation,^[9] near Goochland, Virginia^[10] just west of Fine Creek (near the Fine Creek Mills Historic District). At the time that he acquired the land for Dungeness, it was frontier land, 40 miles from Richmond, Virginia.^[11] It became a house of "refinement and elegant hospitality" with a hundred or more servants.^[12]

Randolph was a prominent member of the Virginia planter class, often referred to as the "planter aristocracy", owning enslaved Africans which grew tobacco on his plantations.^[13] He also participated in the triangular trade, in addition to bringing indentured servants and slaves to colonial Virginia.

Like his good friend, Colonel William Byrd, Randolph had an interest in science and engaged in amateur science circles while in London. He was noted for his abilities as a naturalist by members of the Royal Society. Upon the recommendation of naturalist John Bartram, Randolph was visited by botanist Peter Collinson and led an excursion to gather specimens in colonial Virginia.

In 1738, Randolph became the adjutant general of Virginia. The following year, he became a colonel of the militia of Goochland County. He was also a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses.^[14] Randolph died in November 1742^[3] and was buried on Turkey Island. In his will he assigned guardians of his children, including his son-in-law, Peter Jefferson (the father of President Thomas Jefferson.)

See also

• Ancestry of Thomas Jefferson
• Jane Randolph Jefferson § Ancestry

Notes

1. Book: Custis . John . John Custis . Josephine Little . Zuppan . The Letterbook of John Custis IV of Williamsburg, 1717-1742. 2005 . Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. . 9780945612803 . 47 .
2. Glenn, p. 458.
3. Randolph . Robert Isham . October 1937 . The Sons of Isham Randolph of Dungeness. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography . 45 . 4 . 383–386 . Virginia Historical Society . 4244820 .
4. Book: Page . Richard Channing Moore . Genealogy of the Page Family in Virginia. 2 . 1893 . Press of the Publishers Printing Co. . New York . 263–264. Randolph Family . https://books.google.com/books?id=cOBBAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA247 .
5. Book: John Meriwether . McAllister . Lura Boulton . Tandy . Genealogies of the Lewis and Kindred Families. 1906 . E.W. Stephens Publishing Company. Columbia, Missouri . 101 . Charles Lewis . https://books.google.com/books?id=_fkcAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA101 .
6. Book: Sorley . Merrow Egerton . Lewis of Warner Hall: The History of a Family. 2000 . 1935 . Genealogical Publishing Co. . Baltimore, Maryland . 9780806308319 . Chapter 13: Col Charles Lewis of Buck Island . https://books.google.com/books?id=yeWgvfDpwbwC&pg=PA345 .
7. Book: Abbot . Willis John . Willis John Abbot . Carter Henry Harrison: A Memoir. 1895 . Dodd, Mead & Company . New York . 9780795020988. 1–23. The Harrison Family . https://books.google.com/books?id=kC2kX7QZ9LgC&pg=PA3 .
8. Book: William G. Hyland Jr.. Martha Jefferson: An Intimate Life with Thomas Jefferson. 26 February 2015. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 978-1-4422-3984-5. 64–65.
9. Book: A Guidebook to Virginia's Historical Markers. 1994. University of Virginia Press. 978-0-8139-1491-6. 156.
10. Web site: Dungeness Historical Marker . www.hmdb.org . December 26, 2019.
11. Book: Willard Sterne Randall. Thomas Jefferson: A Life. registration. 18 June 1994. HarperCollins. 978-0-06-097617-0. 5–6.
12. Book: Henry Stephens Randall. The Life of Thomas Jefferson. 1858. Derby & Jackson. 10.
13. Book: John B. Boles. Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty. 25 April 2017. Basic Books. 978-0-465-09469-1. 16.
14. Book: Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and Their Connections. 1915. H. M. Woodson. 46–47.