John Wayles Eppes
Encyclopedia
John Wayles Eppes was an attorney, a United States
Representative
and a Senator
from Virginia
. One of the planter
class, he married his first cousin Maria Jefferson, the youngest surviving daughter of Martha Wayles Skelton
and Thomas Jefferson
. After her early death following the birth of her third child, Eppes was a widower for five years before marrying Martha Burke Jones from North Carolina.
Descendants of his slave Betsy Hemmings, who was with his household from the age of 14, say that Eppes as a widower took her as a concubine when she was about 21. The oral tradition among her descendants is that their relationship continued through his second marriage, and she had several children with him. Hemmings was buried next to Eppes in the planter's family cemetery at Millbrook plantation, and her grave is marked by a fine tombstone. Martha Jones Eppes chose to be buried at her daughter's plantation.
, the only son and youngest of six children of Francis Eppes and Elizabeth (née Wayles) on April 19, 1773. He attended the University of Pennsylvania
at Philadelphia and graduated from Hampden-Sydney College
in Virginia in 1786. He studied law
and was admitted to the bar in 1794 and commenced practice in Richmond, Virginia
.
and Thomas Jefferson
, October 13, 1797 at Monticello
. The couple resided at Mont Blanco in Chesterfield County, Virginia
.
Among the wedding presents received from Thomas Jefferson was the 14-year-old enslaved
girl Betsy Hemmings (1783-1857), born at Monticello as the mixed-race daughter of Mary Hemings
. She was the granddaughter of Betty Hemings
. Her father was unidentified. (The oral tradition of the Betsy Hemmings descendants (as they spelled it) was that Betsy, born in 1783, was the daughter of the recently widowed Thomas Jefferson
, whose wife died in 1782. The historian Lucia Stanton found that Jefferson had taken Mary Hemings and her children with him as part of the household staff when he became governor; she lived with him and his family at Williamsburg and Richmond from 1779-1781.)
Eppes and Maria had three children:
After her son Francis was born, in 1802 Maria Jefferson Eppes "borrowed" Critta Hemings, one of Betty Hemings
' daughters, from her father's household to care for the infant boy as a nurse. In 1827 after Jefferson's death, Francis W. Eppes purchased his former nurse from the estate and gave her freedom. She was then 58 years old and lived until 1850.
Mary Jefferson Eppes died two months after the birth of her third child Maria, on April 17, 1804 at her father's home. The girl Martha died at age three.
Eppes was a widower for five years. In 1809 he married the nineteen-year-old Martha Burke Jones from North Carolina; she was known as Patsy. They had four surviving children, born from 1810 to 1820. Among their children was Mary Eppes, who married Philip A. Bolling.
According to her descendants, Betsy became a concubine to Eppes in a relationship that began when he was a widower and continued for the rest of his life, even after his second marriage in 1809. Betsy bore his son, Joseph, and a daughter, whom she named Frances, a name traditional in the Eppes family. The names of her other children were lost in 1869 when the records of Millbrook burned in a fire.
As the historians Philip D. Morgan
and Joshua D. Rothman have written, there were numerous interracial relationships in the Wayles-Hemings-Jefferson families, as well as in Albemarle County and Virginia, often with multiple generations repeating the pattern. For instance, Eppes' father-in-law Thomas Jefferson
had such a relationship with his slave Sally Hemings
when he was a widower, as his father-in-law John Wayles
had as a widower with his slave Betty Hemings
. Each man had six mixed-race children with their slaves, who were also mixed-race. The succeeding generations had increasing proportions of European ancestry, so that Jefferson's "natural" children were seven-eighths European, legally white in Virginia at that time.
Betsy Hemmings lived as a slave at Milbrook for the rest of her life, and cared for the children of Eppes' second family. The matriarch of the slave community, she was distressed when in 1828 Francis Eppes took some of her grown children with him as slaves when he moved with his young family and relations to Florida.
Betsy, also called Mam Bess, died at the age of 73 in 1857. She was buried at Millbrook plantation next to her master John Wayles Eppes in the white family cemetery, which was unusual for those times. Her gravesite is marked by a substantial tombstone attesting to the Eppes family's affection and respect for her; her descendants believe its location also marks the importance of her role in the life of John W. Eppes. These are the only two tombstones still visible in the family cemetery.
from 1801 to 1803. On March 4, 1803 he was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Eighth United States Congress and the next three succeeding Congresses, so he was frequently away from his plantation. He chaired the Ways and Means Committee for the Eleventh Congress but failed to be elected to the Twelfth. He spent the next two years at his plantation of Milbrook.
He was elected to the Thirteenth Congress (March 4, 1813-March 4, 1815) and chaired the Committee on Ways and Means again. After losing the election to the Fourteenth Congress, he was elected to the United States Senate
and served from March 4, 1817, until December 4, 1819, when he resigned because of ill health. He chaired the Committee on Finance
during the second session of the Fifteenth Congress.
.
John's second wife Patsy Eppes died at Millbrook in 1862. She was buried in the family cemetery of her daughter Mary (Eppes) and her husband Philip A. Bolling at their plantation in nearby Chellowe. Local stories were that she did not want to be buried near her husband's mistress.
A portrait of John W. Eppes hangs in the dining room of Weston Manor
house in Hopewell, Virginia. He had given the plantation as a wedding gift to his cousin Christian Eppes and William Gilliam.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
and a Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. One of the planter
Planter
Planter may refer to:*A flower pot or box for plants**Jardinière, one such type of pot*A person or object engaged in sowing seeds**Planter , implement towed behind a tractor, used for sowing crops through a field*A coloniser...
class, he married his first cousin Maria Jefferson, the youngest surviving daughter of Martha Wayles Skelton
Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, born Martha Wayles was the wife of Thomas Jefferson, who was the third President of the United States. It was her second marriage, as her first husband had died young...
and Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
. After her early death following the birth of her third child, Eppes was a widower for five years before marrying Martha Burke Jones from North Carolina.
Descendants of his slave Betsy Hemmings, who was with his household from the age of 14, say that Eppes as a widower took her as a concubine when she was about 21. The oral tradition among her descendants is that their relationship continued through his second marriage, and she had several children with him. Hemmings was buried next to Eppes in the planter's family cemetery at Millbrook plantation, and her grave is marked by a fine tombstone. Martha Jones Eppes chose to be buried at her daughter's plantation.
Personal life
Eppes was born in Chesterfield County, VirginiaChesterfield County, Virginia
Chesterfield County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. In 2010, its population was estimated to be 316,236. Chesterfield County is now the fourth-largest municipality in Virginia . Its county seat is Chesterfield...
, the only son and youngest of six children of Francis Eppes and Elizabeth (née Wayles) on April 19, 1773. He attended the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
at Philadelphia and graduated from Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden–Sydney College is a liberal arts college for men located in Hampden Sydney, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1775, Hampden–Sydney is the oldest private charter college in the Southern U.S., the last college founded before the American Revolution, and one of only three four-year,...
in Virginia in 1786. He studied law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and was admitted to the bar in 1794 and commenced practice in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
.
Marriage and family
Eppes married his first cousin Maria Jefferson (known also as "Polly"), the daughter of Martha (Wayles)Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, born Martha Wayles was the wife of Thomas Jefferson, who was the third President of the United States. It was her second marriage, as her first husband had died young...
and Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, October 13, 1797 at Monticello
Monticello
Monticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...
. The couple resided at Mont Blanco in Chesterfield County, Virginia
Chesterfield County, Virginia
Chesterfield County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. In 2010, its population was estimated to be 316,236. Chesterfield County is now the fourth-largest municipality in Virginia . Its county seat is Chesterfield...
.
Among the wedding presents received from Thomas Jefferson was the 14-year-old enslaved
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
girl Betsy Hemmings (1783-1857), born at Monticello as the mixed-race daughter of Mary Hemings
Mary Hemings
Mary Hemings, also known as Mary Hemings Bell , was born into slavery, most likely in Charles City County, Virginia, as the oldest child of Elizabeth Hemings, a mixed-race slave held by John Wayles...
. She was the granddaughter of Betty Hemings
Betty Hemings
Elizabeth "Betty" Hemings was an American enslaved woman of mixed race, who in 1761 became the concubine of the planter John Wayles of Virginia. He had become a widower for the third time. He had six children with her over a 12-year period...
. Her father was unidentified. (The oral tradition of the Betsy Hemmings descendants (as they spelled it) was that Betsy, born in 1783, was the daughter of the recently widowed Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, whose wife died in 1782. The historian Lucia Stanton found that Jefferson had taken Mary Hemings and her children with him as part of the household staff when he became governor; she lived with him and his family at Williamsburg and Richmond from 1779-1781.)
Eppes and Maria had three children:
- a daughter born December 31, 1799 who lived only weeks;
- a son Francis W. EppesFrancis W. EppesFrancis Wayles Eppes VII was the grandson of President Thomas Jefferson. After moving from Virginia with his family to near Tallahassee, Florida in 1829, he established a cotton plantation. In 1856 Eppes donated land and money to gain the location in Tallahassee of one of the first two...
(September 20, 1801–May 30, 1881), and - Maria (February 20, 1804–February 1806).
After her son Francis was born, in 1802 Maria Jefferson Eppes "borrowed" Critta Hemings, one of Betty Hemings
Betty Hemings
Elizabeth "Betty" Hemings was an American enslaved woman of mixed race, who in 1761 became the concubine of the planter John Wayles of Virginia. He had become a widower for the third time. He had six children with her over a 12-year period...
' daughters, from her father's household to care for the infant boy as a nurse. In 1827 after Jefferson's death, Francis W. Eppes purchased his former nurse from the estate and gave her freedom. She was then 58 years old and lived until 1850.
Mary Jefferson Eppes died two months after the birth of her third child Maria, on April 17, 1804 at her father's home. The girl Martha died at age three.
Eppes was a widower for five years. In 1809 he married the nineteen-year-old Martha Burke Jones from North Carolina; she was known as Patsy. They had four surviving children, born from 1810 to 1820. Among their children was Mary Eppes, who married Philip A. Bolling.
Betsy Hemmings
After Mary's death in 1804, Eppes moved his household and slaves to another plantation called Millbrook in Buckingham County, Virginia. The household included the enslaved Betsy Hemmings, then 21 years old, who was recorded as being the nurse of his son Francis.According to her descendants, Betsy became a concubine to Eppes in a relationship that began when he was a widower and continued for the rest of his life, even after his second marriage in 1809. Betsy bore his son, Joseph, and a daughter, whom she named Frances, a name traditional in the Eppes family. The names of her other children were lost in 1869 when the records of Millbrook burned in a fire.
As the historians Philip D. Morgan
Philip D. Morgan
Philip D. Morgan is a British-American historian. He has specialized in Early Modern colonial British America, and slavery in the Americas...
and Joshua D. Rothman have written, there were numerous interracial relationships in the Wayles-Hemings-Jefferson families, as well as in Albemarle County and Virginia, often with multiple generations repeating the pattern. For instance, Eppes' father-in-law Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
had such a relationship with his slave Sally Hemings
Sally Hemings
Sarah "Sally" Hemings was a mixed-race slave owned by President Thomas Jefferson through inheritance from his wife. She was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson by their father John Wayles...
when he was a widower, as his father-in-law John Wayles
John Wayles
John Wayles was a planter, slave trader and lawyer in the Virginia Colony. He is historically best known as the father-in-law of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States....
had as a widower with his slave Betty Hemings
Betty Hemings
Elizabeth "Betty" Hemings was an American enslaved woman of mixed race, who in 1761 became the concubine of the planter John Wayles of Virginia. He had become a widower for the third time. He had six children with her over a 12-year period...
. Each man had six mixed-race children with their slaves, who were also mixed-race. The succeeding generations had increasing proportions of European ancestry, so that Jefferson's "natural" children were seven-eighths European, legally white in Virginia at that time.
Betsy Hemmings lived as a slave at Milbrook for the rest of her life, and cared for the children of Eppes' second family. The matriarch of the slave community, she was distressed when in 1828 Francis Eppes took some of her grown children with him as slaves when he moved with his young family and relations to Florida.
Betsy, also called Mam Bess, died at the age of 73 in 1857. She was buried at Millbrook plantation next to her master John Wayles Eppes in the white family cemetery, which was unusual for those times. Her gravesite is marked by a substantial tombstone attesting to the Eppes family's affection and respect for her; her descendants believe its location also marks the importance of her role in the life of John W. Eppes. These are the only two tombstones still visible in the family cemetery.
Political career
Eppes was a member of the Virginia House of DelegatesVirginia House of Delegates
The Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbered years. The House is presided over by the Speaker of the House, who is elected from among the...
from 1801 to 1803. On March 4, 1803 he was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Eighth United States Congress and the next three succeeding Congresses, so he was frequently away from his plantation. He chaired the Ways and Means Committee for the Eleventh Congress but failed to be elected to the Twelfth. He spent the next two years at his plantation of Milbrook.
He was elected to the Thirteenth Congress (March 4, 1813-March 4, 1815) and chaired the Committee on Ways and Means again. After losing the election to the Fourteenth Congress, he was elected to the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
and served from March 4, 1817, until December 4, 1819, when he resigned because of ill health. He chaired the Committee on Finance
Committee on Finance
The Committee on Finance or Finance Committee may refer to:*Board of Finance in New England local government *Canadian Senate Standing Committee on National Finance, a standing committee of the Senate of Canada...
during the second session of the Fifteenth Congress.
Retirement and death
Eppes retired to his estate, Millbrook, in Buckingham County, Virginia, where he died September 13, 1823. He was buried in the private cemetery of the Eppes family at Millbrook, near Curdsville, VirginiaCurdsville, Virginia
Curdsville is an unincorporated community in Buckingham County, in the U.S. state of Virginia.-Reference:...
.
John's second wife Patsy Eppes died at Millbrook in 1862. She was buried in the family cemetery of her daughter Mary (Eppes) and her husband Philip A. Bolling at their plantation in nearby Chellowe. Local stories were that she did not want to be buried near her husband's mistress.
A portrait of John W. Eppes hangs in the dining room of Weston Manor
Weston Manor
Weston Manor is an 18th century plantation house on the south shore of the Appomattox River currently located in the City of Hopewell in eastern Virginia.- History :...
house in Hopewell, Virginia. He had given the plantation as a wedding gift to his cousin Christian Eppes and William Gilliam.