Sarah N. Randolph

Sarah Nicholas Randolph (October 12, 1839 – April 25, 1892) was an American educator, school principal, historian, and an author.[1][2] She wrote The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson and The Life of General Thomas J. Jackson.

Sarah N. Randolph
Born
Sarah Nicholas Randolph

(1839-10-12)October 12, 1839
Edge Hill, Albemarle County, Virginia
DiedApril 25, 1892(1892-04-25) (aged 52)
Baltimore, Maryland
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Author and educator
Notable workThe Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson
The Life of General Thomas J. Jackson
Parent(s)Thomas Jefferson Randolph
Jane Hollins Nicholas
RelativesThomas Mann Randolph Jr. (paternal grandfather)
Martha Jefferson Randolph (paternal grandmother)
Thomas Jefferson (paternal great grandfather)
Wilson Cary Nicholas (maternal grandfather)

Early life

Sarah Nicholas Randolph was born on October 12, 1839, at Edge Hill, Albemarle County, Virginia. She was the daughter of Jane Hollins Nicholas and Thomas Jefferson Randolph. Her great grandfather was Thomas Jefferson.[1][2] Her father accepted the debts of Thomas Jefferson's estate, which greatly impaired his ability to support his family. He was a farmer and politician, drafting a bill for the gradual emancipation of enslaved people, before the American Civil War. It was not enacted. His financial circumstances worsened during the war.[3]

Educator
Patapsco Female Institute, 1857

Randolph, her mother, and her sisters, Carolina Wayles Randolph, Ellen Wayes Randolph Harrison, and Mary Buchanan Randolph ran the Edge Hill School for Girls.[1][2] The school was established in 1836 by Jane Nicholas Randolph, Randolph's mother. In 1869, after her mother died and following the end of the American Civil War, the school was re-opened and managed by Randolph and her sister, Mary B. Randolph. As the school grew, a frame house on the estate was used for music and art classes.[3] The school had a good reputation, known for its academic program as well as instilling character in the girls.[3][4] In 1879, she moved to the Ellicott Mills, Maryland, area, where she was the principal of the Patapsco Institute. She established the Miss Randolph's School of Girls in Baltimore in 1884. She ran the school until her death.[1][2] It was located at Eutaw Place and Lanvale Street.[5] The school continued on after her death as The Sarah Randolph School, which was operated by the principal A. L. Armstrong.[6]

Historian and author
Martha Jefferson Randolph

She corresponded with Hugh Blair Grigsby, a historian, about details and accuracy of History of the Life and Times of James Madison by William C. Rives and John Smith's Pocahontas.[1] Her letters to and from Grigsby were published in Letters of Sarah Nicholas Randolph to Hugh Blair Grigsby.[2]

In 1870, her chapter about "Martha Jefferson Randolph", her grandmother, was published in Famous Women of the Revolution.[7]

Thomas Jefferson, 1791

She wrote about her great grandfather in The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson: Compiled from Family Letters and Reminiscences that was published in 1871. It discusses the relationship between Thomas Jefferson Randolph and his maternal grandfather Thomas Jefferson.[1] Historian Dumas Malone stated that "nobody has given a better picture of [Jefferson] as a family man than Sarah N. Randolph."[1]

From this northern terrace the view is sublime; and here Jefferson and his company were accustomed to sit, bare-headed, in the summer until bed-time, having neither dew nor insects to annoy them. Here, perhaps, has been assembled more love of liberty, virtue, wisdom, and learning than any other private spot in America.

— Sarah N. Randolph, The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson[8]
General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson

Her work, The Lord Will Provide, was published in 1872.[7] She also wrote The Life of General Thomas J. Jackson, who was also known as Stonewall Jackson. It was published in 1876. She found southern figures of the American Civil War "no less loved, no less honored, and no less brilliant … [Robert E.] Lee and [Stonewall] Jackson" than George Washington.[1] In 1877, her work, "Mrs. Thomas Mann Randolph," was published in Worthy Women of Our First Century, which was edited by Mrs. O. J. Wister and Agnes Irwin.[9] "The Kentucky Resolutions in a New Light" was published in The Nation on May 5, 1887.[7]

She represented the Randolph and Nicholas families, as well as Thomas Jefferson, when people performing research.[10] Randolph contributed to magazines.[5] She helped establish monuments of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee.[1]

Personal life and death

At some point she owned Underhill, a 500-acre tract and a house, near Edge Hill and Shadwell, Virginia.[11] She was ill with consumption for several years, and spent the last several weeks of life in bedrest at her home.[5] She died on April 25, 1892, in Baltimore, Maryland, and she was buried in the Monticello cemetery.[1][2]

References
  1. Torsney, Cheryl B. (2000). "Randolph, Sarah Nicholas (1839–1892), historian and educator". American National Biography. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1601344. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  2. Randolph, Sarah Nicholas; Torrence, Clayton (1951). "Letters of Sarah Nicholas Randolph to Hugh Blair Grigsby". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 59 (3): 315–336. ISSN 0042-6636. JSTOR 4245789.
  3. Mead, Edward C. (Edward Campbell) (1899). Historic homes of the South-West mountains, Virginia;. Philadelphia, London, J.B. Lippincott Company. pp. 70–73.
  4. "Sarah Randolph, Authoress and Educator, Passes Away". The Charlotte Observer. 1892-04-26. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  5. "Miss Sarah N. Randolph obit". The Baltimore Sun. 1892-04-26. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  6. Shaw, Albert (1895). The Review of Reviews. Review of Reviews. p. 7.
  7. Johnson, Rossiter, ed. (1904). Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. Boston: The Biographical Society.
  8. "Extract from Sarah N. Randolph's The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson, 1871 [Quote] – Jefferson Quotes & Family Letters". Jefferson's Monticello. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  9. "Martha Jefferson Randolph". Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  10. Adams, Henry (1879). The life of Albert Gallatin. Philadelphia, London, J.B. Lippincott & Co. pp. iii.
  11. Mead, Edward C. (Edward Campbell) (1899). Historic homes of the South-West mountains, Virginia;. Philadelphia, London, J.B. Lippincott Company. p. 61.

Further reading
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