Randolph Jefferson

Randolph Jefferson (October 1, 1755 – August 7, 1815) was the younger brother of Thomas Jefferson, the only male sibling to survive infancy. He was a planter and owner of the Snowden plantation that he inherited from his father. He served the local militia for about ten years, making captain of the local militia in 1794. He also served during the Revolutionary War.
Randolph, known as "Uncle Randolph" when he visited Monticello, was considered as a candidate for the father of Sally Hemings's children following DNA studies that found that the Hemings children descended from the Jefferson line. The theory that Randolph Jefferson fathered Hemings children is discounted by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation given that records do not show that Randolph often visited Monticello. He often socialized with the slaves during his visits. His son, Isham Randolph Jefferson, who lived at Monticello during his childhood is another alternate candidate for Hemings children's paternity. Thomas Jefferson, though, was found by The Monticello Jefferson-Hemings Report (2000) to be the likely father of Sally Hemings's children. Other scholars contend otherwise and find Randolph an attractive candidate.
Early life.
Born at Shadwell, the Jefferson family plantation in Albemarle County, Virginia, his parents were Peter Jefferson, who died when Randolph was two years old, and Jane Randolph Jefferson. He was a twin to Anna Scott Jefferson and the only male sibling of Thomas Jefferson's to survive infancy. The twins were Thomas' youngest siblings, about 13 years younger than him. After Peter Jefferson's death, and while Randolph was a child, his affairs were managed by John Harvie Sr., the executor of Peter Jefferson's estate. After he died, his brother Thomas managed his affairs, such as his education and property, until he came of age in 1776. He assisted in management of his younger brother's affairs after 1776.
In 1764 and 1765, Randolph Jefferson studied with Ben Snead at the residence of his uncle Charles Lewis, Jr. and aunt Mary Randolph Lewis at Buck Island, which was a 960-acre tract located near Monticello and the Rivanna River in Albemarle County. He lived again at Shadwell with his mother in 1769, when he was taught by Patrick Morton. In 1770, the main house at Shadwell was destroyed in a fire, and his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, had a house built there as a replacement. He left Shadwell for Williamsburg when he was 16 to reside and study at the College of William & Mary from October 1771 until September 1772. He attended The Grammar School at the College of William & Mary and was tutored in higher subjects by Thomas Gwatkin, who taught mathematics and natural philosophy at the college. Additionally, he took violin lessons from Frances Alberti, as did his brother.
Description.
Thomas Jefferson described Randolph posthumously in a deposition that was taken as Randolph's sons contested the will that favored their stepmother, Mitchie Pryor Jefferson.
 Thomas was considerate and affectionate toward Randolph; they addressed each other as "Dear Brother," and exchanged visits and services with each other. Letters document that Thomas lent Randolph the harness for a gig, had his watch repaired, gave him a dog, sent him vegetable seeds, and gave him a spinning jenny. At Monticello, he was called "Uncle Randolph". A former Monticello enslaved man, Isaac Jefferson, recalled in 1847 that Randolph "used to come out among black people, play the fiddle and dance half the night..."
Historian Dumas Malone states that Randolph did not share his older brother's eloquence. His letters to Thomas show a disregard of grammar and the use of colloquialisms such as "tech" instead of "touch." His "rustic sense of humor" may have caused people to underestimate his intelligence, yet he lacked his brother's intellectual curiosity.
Military service.
In 1776, Randolph Jefferson served in Captain Wingfield's Company of the Albemarle militia. He served with William Fossett and Joseph Nielson who had worked at Monticello and had live-in relationships with members of the Hemings family. He was a member of the local militia in 1779.
During the Revolutionary War (1775–1783), he served under General Thomas Nelson with the Virginia Light Dragoons, including the fight against Banastre Tarleton and his troops in Central Virginia and what became an aborted attempt to aid George Washington. In the fight against Tarleton, he offered use of his pasture for cavalry horses, had slaves from Snowden move items from military stores at Scotts Ferry which Tarleton has sought to attain, and provided provisions for the Virginia troops. He continued to serve until the end of the Siege of Yorktown victory (October 19, 1781).
Along with his brother, Jefferson signed an Oath of Allegiance to the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1777, He, his brother, and Charles Lewis also signed the Albemarle County Oath of Allegiance to the Commonwealth on April 21, 1779. It was also called the Albemarle Declaration of Independence. Jefferson earned his title, captain, in 1794 while serving in the Buckingham County Militia.
Plantation owner.
In 1776, Randolph inherited the Snowden plantation in Buckingham County, Virginia with 2,291⅔ acres called "Fluvanna lands" located near the Hardware River and Scottsville, from his father, Peter Jefferson's estate. Peter Jefferson built the original house. More specifically, the plantation was located along the James River, about twenty miles south of Monticello and across from Scott's Ferry and on the south side of Horseshoe Bend. His life at Snowden was relatively simple compared to life at Monticello; however, he was an affluent planter and dependent on enslaved labor. He had 2,000 acres, 30 slaves, 6 horses, and 42 cattle in 1782. Months after Randolph's death, the dwelling house at Snowden burned to the ground.
Marriage and family.
On July 30, 1781, Jefferson married his first cousin, Anne Lewis, the daughter of Colonel Charles Lewis of Buck Island and Mary Randolph, the sister of Jane Randolph Jefferson. Isham Randolph of Dungeness was the grandfather of both Randolph Jefferson and Anne Jefferson Lewis. They had six children: Thomas, Robert Lewis, Peter Field; Isham Randolph; James Lilburne and Anna Scott. Anna Scott Jefferson, nicknamed Nancy, married Hastings Mark.
Randolph was a widower for about ten years when his wife died about 1799. He periodically suffered from ill health beginning in 1807, which precluded his ability to travel at times. Randolph remarried about 1809 to Mitchie Ballow Pryor of Buckingham County, who did not get along with her stepsons and convinced Randolph to favor her in a rewrite of his will that was dated May 28, 1808. Mitchie, whose father was David Pryor, was in her early twenties, perhaps not yet age 21, when she married Randolph, who was in his mid-50s. She created disruption within the Jefferson family, including communicating her concerns about Randolph's management of the Snowden estate with her brother-in-law, Thomas Jefferson. She was also prone to heavy spending, responsible for large bills with local merchants. She conceived a son named John before Randolph died at Snowden on August 17, 1815. Randolph suffered an illness in the Spring of 1815, but told his brother in June of that year that he was feeling fine and was involved in the wheat harvest. Randolph's sons and Thomas Jefferson tried to break Randolph's last will, which favored Mitchie. Mitchie and John then moved to Tennessee, where John died unmarried at age 29. Randolph's will called for his property to be sold and the funds divided up among his sons and his slaves were to stay with the family.
Suggested paternity of Sally Hemings's children.
The Jefferson–Hemings controversy concerns the question of whether U.S. President Thomas Jefferson was the father of the children of Sally Hemings, a mixed-race slave. Alternate theories suggest that Randolph Jefferson, or his nephew, Peter Carr, fathered the Hemings children. Carr, though, was ruled out in genetic testing — but there was a match to the Jefferson male line. 
The DNA study, published in "Nature" on November 5, 1998, titled "Jefferson Fathered Slave's Last Child", led to speculation about whether Randolph was the Jefferson who fathered the Hemings children. The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society, formed in 1999, commissioned its own independent scholars' report that was completed in 2001. While the report suggested that Randolph Jefferson, or one of his sons, could have fathered Hemings's children, it is more likely that Thomas Jefferson was the father.