Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/200

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174
RANDOLPH
RANDOLPH

dolph was an eminent financier, and secured the passage of a tax-bill through the Virginia legis- lature in 1842 which placed the state finances on a sound basis. He wrote an able pamphlet, en- titled " Sixty Years' Reminiscences of the Cur- rency of the United States," a copy of which was presented to every member of the legislature. It is still a document of historical interest. In 1851-'2 he was in the convention that revised the Virginia constitution. After the fall of the Con- federacy, which he supported, he devoted himself to restoration of the prosperity of his state. He was for seven years rector of the University of Vir- ginia, and for thirty-one years on its board of vis- itors. In his last illness he had his bed removed to a room from which he could look on Monticello, where he was buried. In taking the chair at the Baltimore Democratic convention of 1872 he was described as " six feet six inches high, as straight as an arrow, and stood before the convention like one of the big trees of California." Another son, George Wythe, b. at Monticello, 10 March, IMS; d. at Edge Hill, near Charlottesville. Va., 10 April, 1878, at the death of his grandfather. Thomas Jefferson, was placed under the care of his brother-in-law, Joseph Coolidge, of Boston, by whom he was sent to school at Cambridge, Mass. At the age of thirteen he received from President Jackson a midshipman's warrant, and he was at sea almost continuously until his nineteenth year, when he entered the University of Virginia. After two years of study he resigned his naval commis- sion," studied law, and gained high rank at the Richmond bar. At the time of the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry he raised a company of ar- tillery, which continued its organization, and was the main Confederate force against Gen. Butler at the battle of Bethel. He was then given a large command, with the commission of brigadier-gen- eral, which he held until he was appointed secre- tary of war of the Confederate stales. He after- ward resigned and reported for service in the field. He was one of the commissioners sent by Virginia to consult President Lincoln, after his election, concerning his intended policy, with the hope of maintaining peace. A pulmonary affection hav- ing developed during the war, he ran the blockade to seek health in a warmer region, and remained abroad for several years after the fall of the Con- federacy. Thomas Jefferson's daughter, Sarah Nicholas, author, b. at Edge Hill, near Charlottes- ville, Va., 12 Oct., 1839, has become widely known in Virginia by her school at Edge Hill and as prin- cipal of Patapsco institute. Later she, opened a school in Baltimore. She has published "Domes- tic Life of Thomas Jefferson " (New York, 1871) ; a story for the young, " The Lord will Provide " (1872) : a paper on Martha Jefferson Randolph in Mrs. Wister's ' Famous Women of the Revolu- tion" (Philadelphia, 1876); and "Life of Stone- wall Jackson " (1876). In addition, Miss Randolph has written various contributions to current litera- ture, among which is an article of historical value entitled " The Kentucky Resolutions in a New Light," founded on her family papers, printed in the " Nation," 5 May, 1887.


RANDOLPH, William, colonist, b. at Morton Morrell, Warwickshire, England, in 1651 ; d. on Turkey island, Va., 11 April, 1711. He belonged to a family line of which were Thomas Randolfe, mentioned in " Domesday Book " as ordered to do duty in person against the king of France (1294); John Randolph, an eminent judge, and connected with the exchequer (1385) ; A very Ran- dolph, principal of Pembroke college, Oxford (1590); Thomas Randolph, ambassador of Queen Elizabeth ; and Thomas Randolph the poet (lC04-'34). Col. William was a son of Richard (of Morton Morrell, Warwickshire), a half-brother of the poet. Col. William was preceded in Virginia

by his uncle Henry, who came in 1643, and died there in 1673. He also founded a family; his widow married Peter Field, an ancestor of President Jefferson. Col. William arrived in the year 1674 in Virginia, and became owner of large planta- tions on James river. He fixed his abode on Turkey island (not now an island), about twenty miles be- low the city of Richmond.where as yet there was no settlement. He built, with bricks imported on his ship which plied regularly between Bristol and Tur- key island, a mansion with lofty dome, whose pic- turesque ruin remains. Col. William Byrd's letters written at the time show Randolph to have been a man of high character as well as of much influ- ence. He was a member of the house of bur- gesses in 1684, and either he or his eldest son was the William Randolph mentioned as clerk of the house in 1705. Tradition says that he was a member of the governor's council. He was active in the work of civilizing the Indians, was a founder and trustee of William and Mary college, and on its first board of visitors appears " William Randolph, Gentleman," as he is also described in the college charter. He married Mary Isham, by whom he had ten children. The family and the family names so multiplied that the seven sons of William were conveniently distinguished by the estates he bequeathed them : William of Turkey island, Thomas of Tuckahoe, Isham of Dungeness, Richard of Curies, Henry of Chatsworth, Sir John of Tazewell Hall (see illustration), and Edward of Breno. Six of these sons begin the list of forty graduates of the Randolph name to be gathered from the catalogues of William and Mary college. The sons all appear to have entered with energy on the work of colonial civilization, save Edward, who married and resided in England. His eldest son. William, b. 1681, was visitor of William and Mary college, a burgess in 1718, 1723, and 1726, a councillor of state, and treasurer of the colony of Virginia in 1737. The third son, Isham, b. 24 Feb. 1687; d. 2 Nov., 1742, resided in London in early life, where he married in 1717. On his return to Virginia he built himself a grand mansion at Dungeness. wln-iv a baronial hospitality was dispensed. He was a member of the house of burgesses for Goochland (now Alhemarle) county in 1740. and adjutant-general of the colony. He was a man of scientific culture, and is honorably mentioned in the memoirs of Bartram the naturalist, The fifth son, Richard, b. 1691 : d. 1 Dec.. 1748, was a member of the house of burgesses for Henricp county in 1740, and succeeded his brother William as treasurer of the colony. The sixth son, Sir John, lawyer, b. on