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Thomas Jefferson's family tree: a second family, born enslaved.

Thomas Jefferson was born on 13 April 1743 in Shadwell Plantation, Virginia, the son of Peter Jefferson and Jane Isham Randolph, and died on 4 July 1826 in Monticello, Virginia, at 83. He married Martha Wayles. 12 children are in the tree, 6 of them with Sally Hemings.

Thomas Jefferson, born in Shadwell Plantation, VirginiaThomas Jefferson1743–1826Peter Jefferson, born in Osbornes, VirginiaPeter Jefferson1708–1757Jane Isham Randolph, born in Shadwell Parish, LondonJane Isham Randolph1720–1776Thomas Jefferson, born in Henrico, VirginiaThomas Jefferson1677–1731Mary Field, born in Henrico, VirginiaMary Field1679–1715Colonel Isham Randolph, born in Turkey Island Plantation, VirginiaColonel Isham Randolph1685–1742Jane Rogers, born in Shadwell, EnglandJane Rogers1698–1760Thomas Jefferson, born in Pettistree, SuffolkThomas Jefferson1629–1697Mary Martha Branch, born in Henrico, VirginiaMary Martha Branch1657–1715Peter Field, born in Charles City County, VirginiaPeter Field1646–1707Judith Soane, born in Lewes, EnglandJudith Soane1646–1703William Randolph, born in Stratford on Avon, WarwickshireWilliam Randolph1650–1711Mary Isham, born in Bermuda Hundred, VirginiaMary Isham1659–1735Charles William Rogers, born in Shadwell, MiddlesexCharles William Rogers1660–1704Jane Ann Lilburne, born in Durham, EnglandJane Ann Lilburne1665–1724Samuel Jefferson, born in Pettistree, SuffolkSamuel Jefferson1607–1690Elizabeth Deely, born in London, EnglandElizabeth Deely1616–1660Christopher Branch, born in Henrico, VirginiaChristopher Branch1628–1665Sarah Almond, born in Henrico, VirginiaSarah Almond1629–1666James FieldJames Field?–1707Anne Rogers, born in Stratford-upon-Avon, EnglandAnne Rogers1608–1651Henry Soane, born in Brighton, SussexHenry Soane1622–1662Judeth Fuller, born in Southover Grange, EnglandJudeth Fuller1614–1695Richard Randolph, born in Moreton Morrell, WarwickshireRichard Randolph1622–1678Elizabeth Ryland, born in Hall End, WarwickshireElizabeth Ryland1621–1669Henry Isham, born in Pytchley, NorthamptonshireHenry Isham1626–1676Katherine Banks, born in Canterbury, KentKatherine Banks1627–1686Christopher Rogers, born in Over, CambridgeshireChristopher Rogers1639–?Elizabeth Peck, born in Over, EnglandElizabeth Peck1642–?William Lillburne, born in Durham, EnglandWilliam Lillburne1635–1680Elizabeth Nicholson, born in Newcastle upon Tyne, EnglandElizabeth Nicholson1640–1721
Five generations, as the FamilySearch Family Tree has them: 30 of the 30 places filled. Each name opens that person's page on FamilySearch.
Thomas Jefferson, born in Shadwell Plantation, VirginiaThomas Jeffer…1743–1826Peter Jefferson, born in Osbornes, VirginiaPeter Jeffers…1708–1757Jane Isham Randolph, born in Shadwell Parish, LondonJane Isham Ra…1720–1776Thomas Jefferson, born in Henrico, VirginiaThomas Jeffer…1677–1731Mary Field, born in Henrico, VirginiaMary Field1679–1715Colonel Isham Randolph, born in Turkey Island Plantation, VirginiaColonel Isham…1685–1742Jane Rogers, born in Shadwell, EnglandJane Rogers1698–1760
Three generations, as the FamilySearch Family Tree has them: 6 of the 6 places filled. Each name opens that person's page on FamilySearch.

Thomas Jefferson's family, year by year.

  1. 1743Shadwell Plantation, VirginiaOn 13 April 1743, Thomas Jefferson is born to Peter Jefferson and Jane Isham Randolph.
  2. 1757Shadwell, VirginiaOn 17 August 1757, his father, Peter Jefferson, dies. He is 14.
  3. 1772Monticello, VirginiaOn 27 September 1772, his daughter Martha Jefferson is born.
  4. 1774Monticello, VirginiaOn 3 April 1774, his daughter Jane Randolph Jefferson is born.
  5. 1775Monticello, VirginiaHis daughter Jane Randolph Jefferson dies.
  6. 1776Charlottesville, VirginiaOn 31 March 1776, his mother, Jane Isham Randolph, dies. He is 32.
  7. 1777Monticello, VirginiaOn 28 May 1777, a son is born, and dies 17 days later.
  8. 1778Monticello, VirginiaOn 1 August 1778, his daughter Mary Jefferson is born.
  9. 1780Richmond, VirginiaOn 30 November 1780, his daughter Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson is born.
  10. 1781Monticello, VirginiaOn 15 April 1781, his daughter Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson dies as a baby.
  11. 1782Monticello, VirginiaOn 8 May 1782, his daughter Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson is born.
  12. 1782Monticello, VirginiaOn 6 September 1782, his wife, Martha Wayles, dies at 33.
  13. 1784Eppington, VirginiaHis daughter Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson dies.
  14. 1790Monticello, VirginiaA child is born, and dies the same year.
  15. 1791On 23 January 1791, his first grandchild, Ann Cary Randolph, is born.
  16. 1795Monticello, VirginiaOn 5 October 1795, his daughter Harriet Hemings is born.
  17. 1797His daughter Harriet Hemings dies.
  18. 1798Monticello, VirginiaOn 1 April 1798, his son Beverly Hemings is born.
  19. 1801Monticello, VirginiaHis daughter Harriet Hemings is born.
  20. 1804Monticello, VirginiaOn 17 April 1804, his daughter Mary Jefferson dies at 25.
  21. 1805Monticello, VirginiaHis son Madison Hemings is born.
  22. 1808Monticello, VirginiaOn 21 May 1808, his son Eston Hemings is born.
  23. 1826Monticello, VirginiaOn 4 July 1826, Thomas Jefferson dies at 83.

His children.

With Sally Hemings, a woman he enslaved, years after his wife's death:

His descendants.

Below his children, the FamilySearch Family Tree holds 29 grandchildren, 75 great-grandchildren, 214 2nd great-grandchildren and at least 159 3rd great-grandchildren who have died, and more further down. Anyone who may still be living is left out. The most recent death among his descendants in the tree is his 2nd great-granddaughter Gloria Pearl Roberts, on 1 August 2011, at 86.

And 393 more, further down his line, in his family on the FamilySearch Family Tree.

Where the lines came from.

Up his father's line: Peter Jefferson, his father, born 1708 in Osbornes, Virginia; Thomas Jefferson, his grandfather, born 1677 in Henrico, Virginia; Thomas Jefferson, his great-grandfather, born 1629 in Pettistree, Suffolk; Samuel Jefferson, his 2nd great-grandfather, born 1607 in Pettistree, Suffolk; Samuel Jefferson, his 3rd great-grandfather, born 1584 in Pettistree, England; John Jefferson, his 4th great-grandfather, born 1530 in Pettistree, Suffolk; Johann John Jefferson, his 5th great-grandfather, born 1500 in Wales; Geoffrey Jefferson, his 6th great-grandfather, born 1490 in Wales.

Up his mother's line: Jane Isham Randolph, his mother, born 1720 in Shadwell Parish, London; Colonel Isham Randolph, his grandfather, born 1685 in Turkey Island Plantation, Virginia; William Randolph, his great-grandfather, born 1650 in Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire; Richard Randolph, his 2nd great-grandfather, born 1622 in Moreton Morrell, Warwickshire; William Randolph, his 3rd great-grandfather, born 1572 in Biddenden, Kent; Robert Randolph, his 4th great-grandfather, born 1548 in Hamsey, Sussex; John Randolph, his 5th great-grandfather, born 1525 in Lewes, Sussex; John "The Elder" Randolph, his 6th great-grandfather, born 1505 in Hamsey, Sussex.

The family as the FamilySearch Family Tree holds it: 973 people, 331 of them his ancestors. The earliest on his direct line is William Fiske, born 1433 in Laxfield, Suffolk.

What history says.

At 77, Jefferson began his autobiography with his family: "The tradition in my father's family was that their ancestor came to this country from Wales, and from near the mountain of Snowdon, the highest in Gr. Br." The FamilySearch Family Tree carries his father's line back through Pettistree, Suffolk, to Wales.Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, 1821, the Avalon Project, Yale Law School
"Years after his wife's death, Thomas Jefferson fathered at least six of Sally Hemings's children. Four survived to adulthood": Beverly, Harriet, Madison and Eston Hemings. In Paris, where enslaved people could petition for their freedom, Sally Hemings negotiated with Jefferson to return to enslavement at Monticello in exchange for "extraordinary privileges" for herself and freedom for her unborn children. Decades later, he freed all of them.Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: A Brief Account, Monticello
Sally Hemings was the daughter of John Wayles, who enslaved her mother, Elizabeth Hemings, so she was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha. Monticello lists her children as a child born soon after the return from France, Harriet (1795–1797), Beverly, a daughter (1799–1800), Harriet, Madison and Eston. The FamilySearch Family Tree has an Edy Hemings, born 1796, whom that list does not, and not the daughter born in 1799.Sally Hemings, Getting Word, Monticello
Martha's son by her first husband, Bathurst Skelton, was John, born on November 7, 1767. He died on June 10, 1771, six months before she married Jefferson on January 1, 1772. The FamilySearch Family Tree lists him as Jefferson's son and dates his death 1772.Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, Monticello
"At mid-century Eston and Julia Hemings and their three children, John Wayles, Anna, and Beverly, left Ohio for Wisconsin, changing their surname to Jefferson and living henceforth as white people." The FamilySearch Family Tree also gives Eston a son George, born in 1829, three years before Eston married, and gives Beverly Hemings, whose later life history does not know, six children. This page lists neither.Eston Hemings Jefferson, Getting Word, Monticello

Gaps in the record.

The FamilySearch Family Tree is built by the people who use it, and Thomas Jefferson's has places nobody has filled yet. Eight generations back, 197 of the 254 places are filled. Most of the open ones are in England, in the 16th and 17th centuries: if that's where you research, they're your question. If you know who they were, add them on FamilySearch, with a source, and the next person to look will find them.

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More family stories.

From the FamilySearch Family Tree, read on 7 November 2026: 973 people around Thomas Jefferson, up to eight generations back and two down. Thanks to everyone who has added to it. The tree is its contributors' work; where it and history differ, this page says so and names the source. Everyone named on this page has died.