Editor's Page
Minutes of the Business Meeting
Secretary's Report
Treasurer's Report
Trustee's Report
Finance Report
Interments Report
Custodian's Report
Membership Report
Nominating Chairman
President's Report
New Business
Those of us who have read "History of the Graveyard at Monticello" by Robert H. Kean [Chapter I in The Collected Papers of the Monticello Association, George Green Shackelford, ed., Princeton University Press, 1965 ] know that the present Jefferson monument in the Graveyard was placed there in 1883. Further, the obelisk it replaced was given by certain great grandchildren of Mr. Jefferson to the University of Missouri at Columbia, where it was unveiled on July 4, 1885. [William Peden, The Jefferson Monument, University of Missouri Bulletin, Vol. 54, No.32, General Series 1953, No.23. Cited by Kean.] Professor Peden has recently published The Jefferson Monument at the University of Missouri (produced at the expense of the University of Missouri-Columbia Development Fund). In this interesting little booklet we are brought up to date regarding the present locations of the old granite obelisk and of the marble tablet, which had been preserved at Edge Hill (see Annual Report of the Monticello Association for 1975, page 21) and given with the obelisk to the University of Missouri. Quoting Peden, 1977,
"The monument itself was frequently moved from one campus site to another. ..until 1931. In that year, Jefferson 's birthday was declared a state holiday by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri."
* * *
"In America's bicentennial year the monument was again moved, to a site adjacent to the Chancellor's Residence and alongside a much-frequented walk on Francis Quandrangle."
The marble tablet is kept in a vault in Jesse Hall except when it is displayed during the annual celebration of Jefferson's birthday.
The Association is indebted to Mr. Sheridan A. Logan, a long-time friend of the Boston Coolidges and the guest of Roger Coolidge at its Annual Meeting in 1975 and 1976, for having obtained, and given for distribution to members, 200 copies of this publication.
Because only 200 of you can be mailed a copy of The Jefferson Monument ...with this Annual Report, will each of you receiving one please share it with other members in your home or your town.
Please check the list of newly elected Associate Members on page 11. If the name of someone you nominated for election does not appear, the Secretary will be most grateful if you will write her at once of this omission. We fear that one name was lost before the list of nominees was prepared.
-M. J. T. S., Editor
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING
OF
THE MONTICELLO ASSOCIATION
May 1, 1977
Albemarle County provided perfect weather during the entire period of our gathering there. We collected at 11:15 in the graveyard, spent about half an hour chatting with family and friends and "decorating" the graves of those whom we had come to honor and remember. Then Leigh Taylor, our President, standing near Mr. Jefferson's grave, welcomed everyone and read the names of those known to have died since our last meeting. That list is: Thomas Jefferson Bankhead, Agnes Dillon Randolph Hill, Mary Emily Smith Minor, Margaret Randolph Platt, Wilson Randolph Porterfield, Hollins Nicholas Randolph, II, Lewis Randolph Taylor, Junior, and Ellen Cary Bankhead Weakley. All of these were "descendants"; half were members of the Association. (For details, see DEATHS, p. 20.) All those present were asked to join in saying the Lord's Prayer; then followed a reading of selections from the Book of Common Prayer. Finally, complying with the President's request, the children placed flowers near Mr. Jefferson's grave.
The group reassembled shortly before one o'clock at the Keswick Hunt Club where the careful planning and hard work of Anne Barnes and her helpers (family volunteers and the caterer's staff) had produced beautifully set tables and a good and satisfying lunch.
The business meeting was called to order at 1:45 p.m.
President Taylor asked members to introduce their guests and then extended a special welcome to all who had made especially long trips to reach Virginia.
It was moved, seconded, and passed that the reading of the 1976 meeting minutes be omitted.
The Secretary called attention to an error in the published Employer's Identification Number. It appears correctly on page 7. She promised to prepare a tabulation of members to be printed in the Annual Report. This information, based on the Treasurer's records as of June 30, 1977, indicates the following numbers of members:
| Regular (Dues-paying) (Adult = 383; Children = 204) |
587 |
| Associate | 151 |
| Honorary | 1 |
Total |
743 |
Changes in numbers since June 26, 1976 among the several classes of members are here tabulated :
| Member Class |
New or Reinstated |
Dropped | Lost Died |
Net Gain |
| Regular -Adult | 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Regular -Child | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Associate | 10 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| Honorary | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 31 | 4 | 6 | 21 |
The Association extends a warm welcome to all new and reinstated members and regrets each member lost.
The Annual Report of the Treasurer for Fiscal Year 1976 appears on page 16 of this report. Col. Hubard commented that 1977 dues and contributions were coming in sufficiently well to indicate that they will be adequate to fund the 1977 budget.
The Individual Trustee, John Hager Randolph, Jr., was not present. The Statement of Account of the Trust Fund, as rendered to the Treasurer by the Trust Officer of the bank appears on page 18.
Bill Randolph told the membership that the Executive Committee had asked him to review the status of the Trust Fund. He had an appointment to meet with the Individual Trustee on May 2 for this purpose and will report the results of this conference to the incoming Finance Chairman, and to the Executive Committee when it meets in October. The Executive Committee has thus recognized its obligation to make certain that funds given to the Association for investment purposes shall continue to yield a reasonable return. [Editor's Note: The history of the establishment of the Endowment Fund of the Monticello Association, more conveniently called the "Trust Fund", together with the actual Trust Agreement, made on February 14, 1953 between Monticello Association, party of the first part, and the First and Merchants National Bank of Richmond, of Richmond, Virginia, and Robert H. Kean ...(thereinafter sometimes called the "Trustees"), parties of the second part, can be found in the Annual Report for 1952 and 1953 pages 9, 10, and 32 to 34] .
Chairman Colston Taylor noted that there have been four burials since we last met.
Jane Rotch listed her chief concerns to be care of trees, filling chipmunk holes, and eradication of poison ivy. The President interrupted at this point to pay tribute to the Custodian, to her able assistant Ena Whitmore, and to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation for the beautiful condition of the graveyard.
Jane has the on-the-spot responsibility of knowing that anyone for whom burial is requested is entitled to that privilege; she must also do her best to comply with individual wishes regarding allocation of grave sites. The only promise ever made is that spouses will be side by side. Jane, Olivia Taylor, and Madeline (Ena) Whitmore try their best to represent "the family" at all funerals. The President voiced the gratitude of the Association to this loyal delegation.
Chairman John Taylor reported that he had met before lunch today with Committee Member Carey Bankhead. They agreed on the advisability of: a) contacting all members whose dues become three years in arrears, and b) asking parents, when paying their dues, to list the name of each child they wish enrolled as a member and to include $1.00 for each child so listed.
John then asked the Secretary to read the names of those nominated for Associate Membership. The requirements for Associate Membership were read as they appear on page 7. The name of the sponsor (spouse unless otherwise indicated) follows the name of each nominee:
Janet Elaine Lovell Bankhead -(Michael Errett Bankhead)
Thomas Jackson Barnette -(Helen Lattimore Clancy Barnette)
James William Flynn, Jr. -(Katherine Roy Davis Flynn)
James William Flynn, III -(adopted son of Katherine Roy Davis Flynn)
Charles Ephriam French -(adopted son of Margaret Coolidge French)
Elizabeth Moore Harrell Johnstone -(Eugene Hall Johnstone, Jr.)
Helen Mabel Clancy Lattimore -(William Lattimore )
Eric Ashley Magendantz -(adopted sons of Christopher Lawrence Magendantz Ann Storrow
Rotch Magendantz)
Jean Fairfax Dickey Ruffin -(widow of James Mcllwaine Ruffin)
The motion was made, seconded, and passed that these persons be elected as Associate Members.
In the absence of the Chairman, Jaquelin Lamond, John B. Taylor presented the following slate:
| President | Lt. Col. William M. Randolph, III |
| Vice-President | William Roane Ruffin, III |
| Secretary | Martha J. Taylor Stedman |
| Treasurer | Lt. Col. R. BoIling Hubard |
| Historian | Robert T. Coolidge |
| Custodian | Jane R. Whitehill Rotch |
It was moved, seconded, and passed 1) that the nominations be closed; 2) that the slate be accepted; and 3) that the Secretary be instructed to cast an unanimous ballot for that slate.
Mr. Taylor reviewed the discussion that has been going on for several years concerning a proposal that the Monticello Association exchange a 0.287-acre piece of unfenced graveyard land for another 0.287-acre piece of land owned by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation and adjacent to another unfenced portion of the family graveyard. At the request of the Association, Sidney Ruffin and Virginius Shackelford undertook to examine the problems involved. (See Annual Reports for 1975, page 10; and for 1976, page 13.) Sidney carried the ball until a consensus was reached regarding the exact boundaries of the two parcels concerned. Then Virginius, more familiar with Virginia law and to whom local records are more accessible, picked up the ball. Yesterday (April 30, 1977) Virginius presented a detailed report of his findings to the Executive Committee, together with his opinion of a way in which certain legal difficulties may be circumvented. The Executive Committee, after studying the documents with Virginius, accepted the latter's report with deep thanks and voted that his proposed resolution be presented to the full meeting of the Association today. The following Resolution was then made:
RESOLVED, that the following named parties: Frank S. Walker, Jr.; John Byrd Taylor; William Mann Randolph, III; William Leigh Taylor, Sr.; Jane W. Rotch; and V. R. Shackelford, Jr.; all of whom are descendants of Thomas Jefferson and are members of The Monticello Association, be designated as Trustees to hold legal title to the addition to the graveyard at Monticello, containing 0.507 acre, subject to the approval of the Circuit Court of Albemarle County, Virginia, as provided for in 57-8 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended.
RESOLVED FURTHER, that the President and Secretary of The Monticello Association are hereby authorized and directed to execute on behalf of the Association a petition directed to the Judge of the Circuit Court of Albemarle County, Virginia, a copy of which is filed with the minutes of this meeting, praying that the aforesaid parties be named by the Court as Trustees to hold legal title to the addition to the graveyard at Monticello, containing 0.507 acre, and that said Trustees be authorized and empowered to execute and deliver an appropriate deed of exchange with Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc., whereby Parcel A containing 0.287 acre as shown on the plat of a survey made by Kurt M. Gloeckner dated January 27, 1975, as revised June 12, 1975, is to be transferred and conveyed to Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc. in exchange for Parcel B containing 0.287 acre as shown on said plat J; to be transferred and conveyed by Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc. to said Trustees, and shifting and transferring the restriction now applicable to Parcel A, that the same is to be used for "burial purposes only for the descendants of Thomas Jefferson" from Parcel A to Parcel B, to the end that Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc. will thereafter hold title to Parcel A, free and clear of said restriction, and that Parcel B will be held by said Trustees subject to said restriction.
RESOLVED FURTHER, that V. R. Shackelford, Jr., as attorney for The Monticello Association, is hereby authorized and directed to file said petition with the Circuit Court of Albemarle County, Virginia, and to take such action as he may deem necessary to obtain a decree of said court granting the prayer of said petition.
RESOLVED FURTHER, that in the event of a decree by the Circuit Court of Albemarle County, Virginia, granting the prayer of said petition, that the aforesaid Trustees are hereby authorized to execute an appropriate deed of exchange with Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc., and the Secretary of the Association is hereby authorized and directed to affix the seal of said Association to said deed of exchange and to attest the same, the deed of exchange to be prepared in a form acceptable to V. R. Shackelford, Jr., as counsel for the Association and approved by him prior to execution.
A move to accept the resolution was seconded. Mr. Shackelford then moved that in paragraph 2, line 1 of the resolution the word "Trustees" should replace "President and Secretary". This motion was moved, seconded and passed. It was then moved that the resolution be approved as amended. There was a second to this move. Full discussion followed, in which only one member of the Association continued to oppose the proposed exchange of parcels. Everyone else who spoke felt that we had all to gain and nothing to lose. Mrs. Farmer ended the discussion by asking the President to call for the question. This done, the vote was one opposed with everyone else voting for approval of the resolution as amended. Leigh thanked our lawyers for the long hours of hard work they have given the Association.
Mr. Taylor then told of several interesting experiences that had been his as President. Among those was a letter from a young Texan (guessed to be 10 to 12 years old) which is reproduced on page two for your enjoyment. Another letter came very recently from a man in Chicago who wanted to come to this meeting to use the opportunity to photograph and interview descendants of Thomas Jefferson as material for a book he is writing. The assembled descendants approved their President's judgment in having refused to grant such a request.
Leigh then said these past two years had been heartwarming; the chance to know the family better had been a real privilege. He then asked for our recognition of and thanks to Anne Barnes, to Ena Whitmore, to Jane Rotch, and to Cousin Charlotte Randolph for their years of making these meetings possible. He then thanked all the officers and committee chairmen who had helped him get the job done, and finally handed the gavel (see Annual Report for 1976, page 6) to its second "owner", Lt. Col. William Mann Randolph, our new President.
John Taylor asked for a rising vote of thanks and appreciation for the retiring President. His request was granted by acclamation.
President Randolph renewed the following appointments:
| Custodian | Jane R. Whitehill Rotch |
| Interment | E. Colston Taylor, Jr., Chairman |
| Mrs. Richard Moore | |
| Mrs. Claude C. Farmer,Jr. | |
| Trees and Planting | Mrs. A. Slater Lamond |
| Nominating | Mrs. A. Slater Lamond |
| Membership | John B. Taylor, Chairman |
| Angus S. Lamond, Jr. | |
| L. Carey Bankhead, Jr . | |
| Mrs. Charles H. Nowlin | |
| William R. Ruffin, III | |
| Finance | William R. Ruffin, III |
| Collected Papers ... | George G. Shackelford |
As retiring Finance Chairman, Bill Randolph presented the following budget for 1978:
| President | $ 100 |
| Secretary | 1,000 |
| Treasurer | 100 |
| Custodian | 1,200 |
| Historian | 25 |
| Membership | 200 |
| Insurance | 200 |
Total |
$2,825 |
A move for approval of the budget was then made, seconded and passed.
Lt. Col. Randolph reminded us that the Trust Fund was set up to receive bequests and donations. Such gifts should be so earmarked by their donors. Bob Kean made a plea for building up the Trust Fund and for reinvesting the interest instead of using it for current expenses. Olivia Taylor asked whether the Trust Fund could be used to build an extension of the present fence. The Secretary referred her to Article VII of the 1953 Trust Agreement which says "The right is reserved to the Grantor to revoke and annul this Agreement, either in whole or in part, as well as to modify the terms hereof in any respect, except in so far as said terms relate to the duties, responsibilities and compensation of the Trustees, which shall not be changed without their consent. The Trustees may rely conclusively upon a resolution adopted at a meeting of members of the Monticello Association, duly certified by its Secretary , authorizing the revocation and annulment or the modification of this Agreement, as authorization to the Trustees to deliver all assets then held in the Trust Fund to or upon order of the Monticello Association, or to enter into an agreement supplemental to this Agreement, as the case may be."
After announcing that the next Executive Committee meeting will be either the 22nd or the 29th of October, 1977, and the 1978 Annual Meeting on May 7th, the President adjourned the meeting at 3 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha J. Taylor Stedman, Secretary
