Martha Washington and Martha Jefferson

Martha Washington - Was the first one to be in this role of first lady.  With reading about George Washington when in school I do not ever recall being taught about his wife the first lady.  It seems that no one really knew about her or her role was not important enough to include in textbooks to teach.

From research I have found that Martha was born on June 2, 1731 at Chestnut Grove Plantation in New Kent County, Virginia, near Williamsburg. Martha had three brothers and two sisters.  She did not recieve much education as was the way for women of her time.  She received training at home on how to become a wife, cooking, cleaning and such. Later she had acquired some skills in plantation management, crop sales, homeopathic medicine, and animal husbandry which to me she had more of an education then what was normal or that she picks up things quick and soaked up information and questioned what went on around her to get what she needed to do what she did.

She was married once before George but this marriage ended when she was widowed.  She married George January 6, 1759.   But what role did she play in George's Presidency?   Well she was First lady from  April 30, 1789 - March ,1797.  I found that Martha's years as first lady was very unpleasant to her, she was not happy but she felt she had to as a duty to her husband and country.  There was rigid rules set up for the first lady.  One of these rules that shocked me was that the president and first lady were not to accept dinner invitations in private households.  She was very lonely in New york which at that time was The united States Capitol.  She established her public role by hosting dinners at the mansion they had formal dinners on Thursday and public receptions on Fridays.  I found where it says that there was no evidence that she influenced the presidents decisions.

It is stated that Martha was happy when her husbands Presidency came to an end.  She did not like being in the public eye.  She was lonely in New York and Pennsylvania as she had no real close friends.  Her only solace was her grandchildren.

I think with this I am seeing that she had no true role in the presidency or in the public eye.  She portrayed nothing to gain from her position she did not like being this person.  It is interesting to look at this and wonder what it was truly like back then. 

Martha Jefferson

Born:1748, October 19

Marriage:First husband:
18 years old, to Bathurst Skelton (June 1744 - 30 September 1768) planter, on 20, November 1766 likely at "The Forest" plantation; they lived at his Charles City County plantation for one year and ten months, the endurance of their marriage as Bathurst died in 1768.
 
Second Husband:
23 years old, to Thomas Jefferson (13, April 1743– 4, July 1826) lawyer and member of the House of Burgesses for Albemarle County (1769-1775), on 1, January, 1772 at "The Forest" plantation; they departed for a honeymoon in the cottage on the property of what would become later famously known as Monticello, though the mansion house was not yet built

  
Occupation after Marriage: 
Much as she had for her father during his periods of widowhood, Martha Jefferson ran the plantation life of Monticello. It was a considerable responsibility: reading recipes to slaves and overseeing food preparation in the kitchens; food preservation; clothing needs for the family and slaves; and managing the house slaves and their responsibilities. Among the few remaining examples of her handwriting is a precise ledger of the plantation's main cash crop, tobacco, suggesting she worked with Jefferson more as a full partner in this one aspect of life at Monticello than would be otherwise usual.
 
Numerous contemporary accounts of visitors and guests to Monticello consistently suggest that Martha Jefferson was an active hostess when she felt well; her beauty, grace and especially her musical skills were frequently commented upon; she and Jefferson read literature and poetry to each other, and played musical duets together, he on the violin.
 
For the first three years of her marriage, while Jefferson was still a member of the House of Burgesses, Martha Jefferson would likely have accompanied him to the colonial capital of Williamsburg when the burgesses was in session, and taken part in the social life there, that she had known from her own early years. Martha Jefferson was separated from her husband during his tenure as a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia (1776), at which time he authored the Declaration of Independence. While Jefferson served as Governor of Virginia (1779-1781) during the American Revolution, however, Martha Jefferson briefly joined him in Richmond, to where he moved the capital city from Williamsburg, then more vulnerable to British attack by sea. Martha Jefferson's health began to rapidly deteriorate, the result likely of having given birth to seven children in less than fourteen years. The British invasion of Virginia under Lord Cornwallis in 1781 forced her to flee Monticello for their more isolated Bedford County home "Poplar Forest," and it weakened her16-month old daughter Lucy, who died weeks later. Jefferson shortly thereafter resigned his position as governor and promised his wife that he would refuse any more political posts. Thus Jefferson turned down an important diplomatic mission to Europe. Her final pregnancy proved more burdensome than her marital separations; she died four months after childbirth.
 
As the Governor of Virginia's wife during the Revolution, Martha Jefferson assumed one large public role, albeit more symbolic than active; in response to a request from Martha Washington, she agreed to head a list of prominent Virginia women donating necessities and financial support and making other voluntary efforts on behalf of the Continental Army.
 
Martha Jefferson, however, was also to leave an unwitting legacy to her husband on two accounts. With the death of her father in 1772, Martha Jefferson inherited substantial property, including approximately 11,000 acres of land (retaining 5,000) and slaves, including her half-siblings. By law, his wife's property became his own upon marriage, and so Jefferson came into ownership of his slave half sisters-in-law Thenia, Critta and Sally and brothers-in-law Robert and James Hemings.


 Administration Hostesses for Thomas JeffersonMarch 4, 1801-March 4, 1809
 
Thomas Jefferson took charge of the entertaining details at the White House during his presidency, particularly the food and the form of protocol and ceremony; whenever he had women dinner guests, he invited Dolley Madison (1768-1849), the wife of his highest-ranking Cabinet member, Secretary of State James Madison, as his escort, his vice president Aaron Burr also being a widower. At large open functions in the White House, Dolley Madison also assumed a public role as hostess, assisting the President in welcoming the general citizenry.
 
Patsy Randolph, eldest daughter of Thomas and Martha Jefferson, has often been incorrectly identified as the White House hostess during the eight-year Jefferson presidency. In fact, she spent almost his entire time in the White House at either Monticello or the Virginia plantation, "Edgehill" of her husband. She bore four of her twelve children during the eight-year Administration. She was not present at either of his Inaugurations, in 1801 and 1805 and made only two lengthy stays with her father in Washington, during which time she served as his White House hostess - the winter of 1802 and the winter of 1806. During her second visit, she gave birth on January 17, 1806 to her eight child, James Madison Randolph; thus he became the first child born in the White House.