Post Civil War (1875–1885)
Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Jefferson’s grandson, died in 1875, making no specific provision for the Monticello Graveyard in his will. The graveyard thus passed, undivided, to his heirs. (A.C. Will Book 31, p. 170)
In 1878, because of the deteriorating condition of Jefferson's monument, the United States Congress proposed to replace it "on condition that the owners of the graveyard should quitclaim to the United States Government the grave and a lot two rods square containing it. (Congressional Record for the Forty-Seventh Congress, pp. 2875-2876.)
By then, more than 40 Jefferson descendants had been buried in the graveyard. The family agreed to give the graveyard to the government with the condition that any enclosure would not separate Jefferson’s tomb from the graves of others buried there. They also requested that Jefferson’s remains never be removed and reserved the right of his living grandchildren and their spouses to burial in the graveyard. Had the government accepted the offer, the graveyard would have passed from family ownership to the public. But because of inaction on the part of the government and the possibility of legal disputes with the descendants, the deal fell through.
In 1879, after the much legal wrangling among Uriah Levy’s heirs, the estate was auctioned off and bought by Uriah Levy’s nephew Jefferson Monroe Levy, "a New York city lawyer, stock and real estate speculator and three-term U.S. congressman.,. He poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into repairs, renovations, maintenance, and furnishings." (Marc Leepson, Saving Monticello, p. 148 ff.) In 1882 the U.S. Government followed suit with an appropriation of $10,000 for a monument to replace the original gravestone which by then had been so badly battered that it was a misshapened column. (Congressional Record for the Forty-Seventh Congress, p. 2511)
Soon thereafter, the government secured a contract for both a new monument and an iron fence to enclose the graveyard. By then there was nothing left of the slab that had been over Jefferson's wife and only fragments left of the one over his daughter, Martha. (from Mrs. Ellen Wayles Harrison writing in 1885 to Prof. A. F. Fleet of the University of Missouri)
In 1883, the new monument, weighing over 16,000 pounds, was pulled up the mountain by ten horses. It was almost twice as large as the original monument designed by Jefferson and covered not only his grave but those of his two daughters who had lived past infancy - Martha and Maria - and Martha’s husband, Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr.
Soon after the appropriation was made by Congress, Mr. W. W. Corcoran, a philanthropist, endowed a professorship of natural history at the University of Virginia on condition that the institution should take over the care of the graveyard at Monticello, “thus placing the care of Jefferson’s tomb in the hands of this, the child of his old age, and the last creation of his genius.” (letter from Miss Sarah N. Randolph Kean)
Jefferson's Randolph descendants received numerous requests for the original tombstone, and ultimately decided to give the stone to the University of Missouri. There may have been many reasons for this choice. As the first state university in the Louisiana Purchase, it presented an appealing claim, strengthened because of Jefferson’s lifelong labors on behalf of state-supported education and because of his faith in the future of the western portions of the nation. Perhaps more significant was the fact that the sponsors of Missouri’s efforts were Virginians. The descendants shipped the monument to the University, which placed it in front of the chancellor’s residence in Francis Quadrangle. It was dedicated on July 4, 1885.
Not only was Jefferson’s monument in demand, but so were his remains. In 1858 Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise sought to rebury all Virginia’s presidents, including Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe, in Presidents Circle at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. He was only successful in reburying James Monroe. (Mary Mitchell, Hollywood Cemetery, The History of a Southern Shrine), In 1882, as reported by the New York Times there was a proposal by the Glenwood Cemetery in Washington, DC to have Jefferson’s remains moved there. This request caused wide-spread indignation in Virginia and, of course, Jefferson’s descendants refused.
Go to 1900 - Present
Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Jefferson’s grandson, died in 1875, making no specific provision for the Monticello Graveyard in his will. The graveyard thus passed, undivided, to his heirs. (A.C. Will Book 31, p. 170)
In 1878, because of the deteriorating condition of Jefferson's monument, the United States Congress proposed to replace it "on condition that the owners of the graveyard should quitclaim to the United States Government the grave and a lot two rods square containing it. (Congressional Record for the Forty-Seventh Congress, pp. 2875-2876.)
By then, more than 40 Jefferson descendants had been buried in the graveyard. The family agreed to give the graveyard to the government with the condition that any enclosure would not separate Jefferson’s tomb from the graves of others buried there. They also requested that Jefferson’s remains never be removed and reserved the right of his living grandchildren and their spouses to burial in the graveyard. Had the government accepted the offer, the graveyard would have passed from family ownership to the public. But because of inaction on the part of the government and the possibility of legal disputes with the descendants, the deal fell through.
In 1879, after the much legal wrangling among Uriah Levy’s heirs, the estate was auctioned off and bought by Uriah Levy’s nephew Jefferson Monroe Levy, "a New York city lawyer, stock and real estate speculator and three-term U.S. congressman.,. He poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into repairs, renovations, maintenance, and furnishings." (Marc Leepson, Saving Monticello, p. 148 ff.) In 1882 the U.S. Government followed suit with an appropriation of $10,000 for a monument to replace the original gravestone which by then had been so badly battered that it was a misshapened column. (Congressional Record for the Forty-Seventh Congress, p. 2511)
Soon thereafter, the government secured a contract for both a new monument and an iron fence to enclose the graveyard. By then there was nothing left of the slab that had been over Jefferson's wife and only fragments left of the one over his daughter, Martha. (from Mrs. Ellen Wayles Harrison writing in 1885 to Prof. A. F. Fleet of the University of Missouri)
In 1883, the new monument, weighing over 16,000 pounds, was pulled up the mountain by ten horses. It was almost twice as large as the original monument designed by Jefferson and covered not only his grave but those of his two daughters who had lived past infancy - Martha and Maria - and Martha’s husband, Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr.
Soon after the appropriation was made by Congress, Mr. W. W. Corcoran, a philanthropist, endowed a professorship of natural history at the University of Virginia on condition that the institution should take over the care of the graveyard at Monticello, “thus placing the care of Jefferson’s tomb in the hands of this, the child of his old age, and the last creation of his genius.” (letter from Miss Sarah N. Randolph Kean)
Jefferson's Randolph descendants received numerous requests for the original tombstone, and ultimately decided to give the stone to the University of Missouri. There may have been many reasons for this choice. As the first state university in the Louisiana Purchase, it presented an appealing claim, strengthened because of Jefferson’s lifelong labors on behalf of state-supported education and because of his faith in the future of the western portions of the nation. Perhaps more significant was the fact that the sponsors of Missouri’s efforts were Virginians. The descendants shipped the monument to the University, which placed it in front of the chancellor’s residence in Francis Quadrangle. It was dedicated on July 4, 1885.
Not only was Jefferson’s monument in demand, but so were his remains. In 1858 Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise sought to rebury all Virginia’s presidents, including Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe, in Presidents Circle at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. He was only successful in reburying James Monroe. (Mary Mitchell, Hollywood Cemetery, The History of a Southern Shrine), In 1882, as reported by the New York Times there was a proposal by the Glenwood Cemetery in Washington, DC to have Jefferson’s remains moved there. This request caused wide-spread indignation in Virginia and, of course, Jefferson’s descendants refused.
Go to 1900 - Present