Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe: Difference between revisions

'''Thomas Randolph''' (June 1683 &ndash; 1729),<ref name="Robert Isham Randolph">{{cite book|last1=Randolph|first1=Robert Isham|title=The Randolphs of Virginia: A Compilation of the Descendants of William Randolph of Turkey Island and His Wife Mary Isham Of Bermuda, Hundred|url=http://randolpharchives.org/books/Randolphs_of_Virginia_001-052.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727200930/http://randolpharchives.org/books/Randolphs_of_Virginia_001-052.pdf|archive-date=2011-07-27|year=1936|url-status=dead}}</ref> also known as '''Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe''', was the first European settler at [[Tuckahoe (plantation)|Tuckahoe]], a member of the [[House of Burgesses]], and the second child of [[William Randolph]] and Mary Isham,<ref name="Tyler" /><ref name="Page">{{cite book |last1=Page |first1=Richard Channing Moore |title=Genealogy of the Page Family in Virginia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cOBBAAAAMAAJ |edition=2 |year=1893 |publisher=Press of the Publishers Printing Co. |location=New York |pages=249–272 |chapter=Randolph Family |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cOBBAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA247 }}</ref><ref name="Glenn">{{cite book |editor1-first=Thomas Allen |editor1-last=Glenn |title=Some Colonial Mansions: And Those Who Lived In Them : With Genealogies Of The Various Families Mentioned |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iQkpAAAAYAAJ |volume=1 |year=1898 |publisher=Henry T. Coates & Company |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |pages=430–459 |chapter=The Randolphs: Randolph Genealogy |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iQkpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA433 }}</ref> daughter of Henry Isham and Katherine Isham (Banks).

Randolph was born in June 1683 on the [[Turkey Island (James River)|Turkey Island Plantation]] along the [[James River]] in [[Henrico County, Virginia]].<ref name="House History">{{Cite web |title=House History |url=https://history.house.virginia.gov/members/1189 |access-date=2021-05-03 |website=history.house.virginia.gov}}</ref><ref name="Anderson p. 41">{{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Jefferson Randolph |date=1937 |title=Tuckahoe and the Tuckahoe Randolphs |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23371542 |journal=Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society |volume=35 |issue=110 |page=41 |jstor=23371542 |issn=2328-8183}}</ref>{{efn|Page states that he was born in 1681.<ref name="Page"/> There are other sources that state he was born about 1683, without the month.<ref name="Tyler" />}} He was the son of the English immigrant [[William Randolph]] who established Turkey Island along the [[James River]], and Mary Royall Isham, the daughter of Henry Isham. They descend from Ishams of [[Northamptonshire]] in England.<ref name="Anderson pp. 32–38">{{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Jefferson Randolph |date=1937 |title=Tuckahoe and the Tuckahoe Randolphs |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23371542 |journal=Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society |volume=35 |issue=110 |pages=32–38 |jstor=23371542 |issn=2328-8183}}</ref> Children born to the Randolphs were [[William Randolph II|William]], Thomas, [[Isham Randolph of Dungeness|Isham]], [[Richard Randolph|Richard]], [[William Randolph#Marriage and children|Henry of Longfield]], [[Edward Randolph|Edward]], [[William Randolph#Marriage and children|Mary]], [[John Randolph (politician)|John]], and [[Richard Bland (burgess)|Elizabeth]].<ref name="Anderson p. 41" /> Randolph studied at the [[College of William & Mary]].<ref name="Krusen">{{Cite webjournal |last=Krusen |first=Jessie Thompson |date=1976 |title=Tuckahoe Plantation |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1180592 |access-date=2021-05-04 |websitejournal=Winterthur Portfolio |volume=11 |pages=103, 105|doi=10.1086/495843 |jstor=1180592 |s2cid=225084024 }}</ref>

William Randolph acquired a lot of land that he probably used as outlying quarter plantations during his lifetime. He died in 1711 and left property to each son, along with enslaved people to work the land.<ref name="Tuckahoe" />

[[William Byrd II|William Byrd]] hired Randolph to oversee his [[Westover Plantation|Westover]] around March 6, 1712.<ref name="Krusen" /> Thomas inherited land from his father and purchased additional adjoining acreage on September 4, 1714, from his brother [[John Randolph (politician)|John]] for £90 [[pound sterling|sterling]], the total of which became the Tuckahoe plantation.<ref name="Krusen" /><ref name="Anderson pp. 29–32">{{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Jefferson Randolph |date=1937 |title=Tuckahoe and the Tuckahoe Randolphs |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23371542 |journal=Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society |volume=35 |issue=110 |pages=29–32 |jstor=23371542 |issn=2328-8183}}</ref>{{efn|There are a number of theories about Randolph having received the land before that time, but the land records show that he could not have owned the land until 1714. The land was acquired by his father by the time he created his will on May 6, 1711. His brother inherited the land for Tuckahoe, which he sold to Thomas in 1714.<ref name="Krusen" /><ref name="Anderson pp. 29–32" />}} He owned 3,256 acres of land on which Randolph likely built a modest wood-frame house so that he could focus his energy on establishing and operating the plantation.<ref name="Tuckahoe" />{{efn|Dendrochronology analysis on the current Tuckahoe house reveals the present dwelling was most likely constructed beginning ca. 1735.<ref name="Glenn"/>}} The first church in the area [[Dover Church]] was built in 1720 by Thomas, who covered the cost with 54,990 pounds of tobacco.<ref name="Krusen" /><ref name="Anderson pp. 29–32" /> Until 1728, the area was mostly wilderness with just a few homesteads. Rev. William Douglass, the first permanent resident minister for the church, was not established in Northam of St. James Parish until 1750.<ref name="Anderson pp. 29–32" /> Randolph's estate was in the part of Henrico County that later became [[Goochland County, Virginia|Goochland County]].<ref name="Sorley">{{cite book |last1=Sorley |first1=Merrow Egerton |title=Lewis of Warner Hall: The History of a Family |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yeWgvfDpwbwC |year=2000 |orig-year=1935 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Co. |location=Baltimore, Maryland |isbn=9780806308319 |page=832 |chapter=Chapter 33: Families Related to the Lewis Family |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wCowEcMe3BcC&pg=PA832 }}</ref>

He was the Henrico county's justice in 1713.<ref name="Tyler">{{Cite book |last=Tyler |first=Lyon Gardiner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CWiel4PVkEkC&pg=PA311 |title=Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography |date=1915 |publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company |pages=311 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Anderson p. 43">{{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Jefferson Randolph |date=1937 |title=Tuckahoe and the Tuckahoe Randolphs |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23371542 |journal=Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society |volume=35 |issue=110 |page=43 |jstor=23371542 |issn=2328-8183}}</ref> Randolph and his brother [[William Randolph II]] were the two representatives from Henrico in the [[House of Burgesses]] for the 1720 to 1722 session.<ref name="Tyler" /><ref name="Sorley"/> Goochland was set apart from Henrico County in 1727.<ref name="Tyler" /> A year later, he was the county lieutenant for Goochland.<ref name="Sorley"/>

*Judith Randolph (born ~1724) married her first cousin [[William Stith]], [[List of presidents of the College of William & Mary|3rd President of the College of William and Mary]], and had three children.<ref name="Page"/><ref name="Gordon">{{cite book |last1=Gordon |first1=Armistead C |author-link1=Armistead C. Gordon |editor1-first=Lyon G. |editor1-last=Tyler |editor1-link=Lyon Gardiner Tyler |title=William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YNYRAAAAYAAJ |volume=XXII |year=1914 |publisher=Whittet & Shepperson |location=Richmond, Virginia |page=44 |chapter=The Stith Family |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YNYRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA44 }}</ref> Stith was the son of her Captain John Stith and [[William Randolph#Descendants|Mary Randolph]], her aunt.<ref name="Page"/>

*Mary Randolph (born ~1726) married Rev. James Keith,{{efn|The claim that he was a descendant of the [[Earl Marischal|Earls Marischal of Scotland]] conflates Rev. James Keith of Virginia with [[James Francis Edward Keith|Field Marshall James Francis Edward Keith]] of Scotland (1696-1758), brother to the last Earl Marischal.}} and had eight children.<ref name="Connelley">{{cite book |last1=Connelley |first1=William Elsey |last2=Coulter |first2=E.M. |editor1-first=Charles |editor1-last=Kerr |title=History of Kentucky |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7DMVAAAAYAAJ |volume=III |year=1922 |publisher=The American Historical Society |location=New York |page=122 |chapter=Capt. Pendleton Farmer De Weese Keith |isbn=9780598572981 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7DMVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA122 }}</ref>{{efn|Some references indicate the husband of Mary Randolph to be ''William'' Keith.<ref name="Page"/><ref name="Glenn"/><ref name="Dillon">{{cite book |editor1-first=John Forrest |editor1-last=Dillon |editor1-link=John Forrest Dillon |title=John Marshall; life, character and judicial services as portrayed in the centenary and memorial addresses and proceedings throughout the United States on Marshall day, 1901, and in the classic orations of Binney, Story, Phelps, Waite and Rawle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XHlAAAAAYAAJ |volume=I |year=1903 |publisher=Callaghan & Company |location=Chicago |pages=liv-lv |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XHlAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR54 }}</ref>}} Their daughter Mary IshamRandolph Keith was the mother of [[John Marshall]], a [[United States Secretary of State]] and [[List of chief justices| 4th Chief Justice of the United States]].<ref name="Connelley"/><!-- Dillon refers to the mother of Marshall as "Mary Randolph Keith -->

Thomas died in 1729<ref name="House History" /> or 1730.<ref name="Tuckahoe" /><ref name="Anderson p. 43" /> Judith married Nicolas Davies, an immigrant from Wales, on December 24, 1733.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Jefferson Randolph |date=1937 |title=Tuckahoe and the Tuckahoe Randolphs |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23371542 |journal=Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society |volume=35 |issue=110 |pages=35, 37 |jstor=23371542 |issn=2328-8183}}</ref>

Randolph was a great-uncle of [[President of the United States|United States President]] [[Thomas Jefferson]]...