Ursula Granger
Ursula Granger (b. 1738 – 1800) was an enslaved woman owned by president of the United States Thomas Jefferson for over 27 years, who described her as a person who "unites trust & skill." She worked as a cook, dairymaid, laundress, and wet nurse, and has been referred to as the "Queen of Monticello" and as a pioneer of Black cidermaking in America. Life Ursula was born around 1738. In January 1773, Granger was purchased in a bidding war and enslaved by Thomas Jefferson, and she became a highly trusted domestic servant within Jefferson's household. Martha Jefferson had specifically written that she was "very desirious to get a favorite house woman of the name Ursula." Granger was purchased along with her sons and, later, her husband, George Granger Sr. Her husband became referred to as "Great George," and was a farm foreman and Monticello's only African American overseer. Granger is frequently mentioned in the papers of Thomas Jefferson. She served as a pastry cook (later head cook for a period) and laundress, with duties including meat processing and preservation and supervising the bottling of cider at Monticello. Ursula was also the wet nurse for Jefferson's eldest daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph,