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Martha Jefferson was accomplished and beautiful, with auburn hair and hazel eyes. Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson was wooed by many men before she met the love of her life, Thomas Jefferson. By the time Thomas Jefferson met her, she had become an heiress.
Martha Skelton became a widow early in life. She was only twenty-two when she found herself singing and playing her harpsichord, while being accompanied by Thomas Jefferson's violin and his voice.
Tradition tells us that Martha Skelton and Thomas Jefferson experienced their first duet as romantic. This duet was merely the beginning of an intense romance that would develop into true love and loyalty for years to come. Music would hold the taste of intimacy for Martha and Thomas Jefferson.
Martha and Thomas Jefferson were married on New Year's Day in 1772, at Martha's father's estate, located in Charles City County, Virginia. The estate was called, "The Forest."
After the marriage ceremony and the joyous merrymaking that followed, the newlyweds set out for Monticello on a cold January night.
At the beginning of the journey, they stepped into the carriage, realizing the air was cold, yet it was filled with romance. The snow was light. That was fine because the newlyweds were wrapped in love. The snow increasingly grew deeper and deeper. The newlyweds finally stepped from the carriage. They continued on horseback through the mountain trails rather than on the roads.
The snow became extremely heavy, reaching a depth of approximately two feet. However, Martha and Thomas Jefferson persisted forward for eight to ten more miles, before finally reaching their destination.
Upon arriving at Monticello, the Jeffersons noticed that all fires were out. The house appeared dismal and desolate. Thankfully, strong love was keeping Martha and Thomas quite sane, indeed.
The newlyweds shared a one-half bottle of wine found on a shelf, and then managed to totally ignore any dreariness. They sang happy tunes and exchanged light-hearted chatter, filled with love talk.
Within the following ten years, Martha and Thomas Jefferson had five children, with Martha being the first-born. Only two of the children lived - Martha and Maria.
On May 8, 1782, Lucy Elizabeth was born. Her given name replaced that of the first Lucy Elizabeth who was born one year earlier.
As a result of Martha Jefferson's last pregnancy and birth, she remained bedridden for four months. Shortly before her thirty-fourth birthday, the beloved wife and best friend of Thomas Jefferson died.
Prior to her death, she wrote a passage from Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy".
time wastes too fast: every letter
I trace tells me with what rapidity
life follows my pen, the days and
hours of it are flying over our heads
like clouds of windy day never to
return--more everything presses on--
It has been noted that Martha Jefferson could not reach the finishing point. She had already struggled, exerting strength that she really didn't have in order to force forward with the writing.
Without making corrections to her errors, Thomas Jefferson completed the words. He wrote:
. . . and every time I kiss thy hand to bid adieu, every absence
which follows it, are preludes to that eternal separation which we are shortly to make.
Grieving, Thomas Jefferson wrote on a piece of paper, "My dear wife died this day at 11:45 A.M."
Throughout Martha Jefferson's sickness, Thomas Jefferson never left her side. Martha rated over and above any other ingredient in Thomas Jefferson's life.
When Martha Jefferson died, Thomas wept incessantly with grief. It was three or four weeks before he stepped out of his room.
Martha, Jefferson's daughter, was once quoted as saying, "I was his constant companion, a witness to many a violent outburst of grief."
It is recorded that Martha Jefferson asked that Thomas never marry again. Being the devoted husband that he was, Jefferson promised that he would not.
Thomas Jefferson kept his promise and remained a widower for the rest of his life.
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