About this episode
Mr. Bartley: Mr. Jefferson, the last time we spoke, you had basically written the Declaration of Independence. The United States was fighting Britain in the revolutionary war, and in October 1781 George Washington's troops defeated the British at Yorktown Virginia. We had now won our war for independence.
Mr. Jefferson: And by early 1782, my family was back at my home of Monticello. My beloved Martha gave birth to her sixth child, Lucy Elizabeth. Unfortunately Martha grew weaker and weaker following the birth, and I stayed by her bedside. I would read to her from her favorite books, and at night I slept in a nearby room.
But she grew weaker and weaker, and during her final hours, she told me her final wish. Now understand that we had three living children– Patsy, Maria, and Lucy Elizabeth. She said that she could not tolerate her children being raised by a stepmother. And she begged me to never remarry. Of course I promised and soon on September 6, 1782, my beloved Martha died.
My oldest daughter Patsy was nine years old when my wife died, and many years later she wrote that I almost lost my mind from the grief– That I would refuse to leave my room for a week at a time– And then when I did come out I would go on long horseback rides through the woods surrounding Monticello. She later wrote – the violence of his emotion, of his grief to this day I dare not trust myself to describe.
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