Memoirs of a Monticello Slave: As Dictated to Charles Campbell in the 1840’s by Isaac, One of Thomas Jefferson’s Slaves

By Isaac Jefferson

This book, first published in its present form 1951, is a collection of reminiscences by Isaac Jefferson, a tinsmith, blacksmith, and nailer at Monticello, and valued, enslaved artisan of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. In the 1840 census he was recorded as Isaac Granger, a free man working in Petersburg, Virginia, and it was there that the Rev. Charles Campbell interviewed him and went on to publish his memoirs under the name of Isaac Jefferson in 1847.

“The reminiscences are confined to what Isaac saw and heard. They recount the simple events which even an illiterate slave, possessed of normal sight and hearing at the time of the events, could intelligently observe. Isaac Jefferson was obviously not mistreated by his masters. He did not, however, indulge in nostalgia about the “good old days.” The very simplicity of his story is its best watermark of authenticity.”—Introduction by Rayford W. Logan

• Language: English
• Publisher: Papamoa Press
• Release date: Jan 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781787208308

Isaac Jefferson

ISAAC JEFFERSON, son of Great George and Ursula, was born at Monticello in December 1775. His earliest reminiscences date from the days of Thomas Jefferson’s governorship and the British capture of Richmond in 1781. Taken to Yorktown by the British, Isaac apparently lived at Monticello after his release at the end of the Revolutionary War. He accompanied Jefferson to Philadelphia in 1790, returned to Monticello for about nine years, and then lived for more than 25 years with Jefferson’s son-in-law, Thomas Mann Randolph, helping to nurse the ex-president in his old age. The last years of Isaac’s life were spent in Petersburg, where Rev. Charles Campbell came to know him and to record these reminiscences. Isaac is believed to have died around 1850. REV. CHARLES CAMPBELL (May 1, 1807 - July 11, 1876) was a noted American historian. He graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1825. He worked as an engineer during the construction of the Petersburg Railroad before moving to Alabama in 1843, where he taught at an academy for boys for two years. He then returned to Petersburg and worked for his father, who was the collector of customs in that city. From 1840-1843 he owned and edited the Petersburg American Statesman, and in 1849 helped establish the Petersburg Southside Democrat. From 1842-1855 he owned and operated a private school in Petersburg, and from 1855-1870 he served as principal of the Anderson Seminary. He edited many historical collections and wrote numerous articles on Virginia history, mostly for the Southern Literary Messenger.

Book preview

��h2^book_preview_excerpt.html�WKr�8�J/�*E���\�r -˱R���褲�HHĄ$��]�0��#�5�(9ɼ(�q21w"�п�@?��g��]�ϒ\Y��rJW��u�,��eF�-�D-J-hf����럴�l�u��E�j�OuI��[k��a��qMhU�n�B��9ZiC�ܐS�����+��_�r�e�������ok6�K��!ds)R�&~�%�O�V�(�������倚*��\.ɊR�0��n���� ^��6sg ���ɬOS�� ��`mW�T�j�bKK pmt֤2�uڄ0֝Q�Nd��ɒ�䌨l����jK��R�d!S�SQ�����߼G# �QV������6��TTKS����QR��σr]���Oey6kKe�}��";'�/�[HT��u��D��2��rqǩ:�*��~��`g��Z�KD��ڈ�HZ�VV�S_���L����=����soWU�ճ`�4G�4�Ke5�Y�+dd���F�Z�l�)Q1��
�+�(5JT!$��EY�J��ۗ�C��(���L���fKr��SUZ4��T�:�WEѠm[�m~��v'���8�`�9�b�9!��7�Wp�O�0ki��ӳ�;j�B����::+�D߄�м��ܟ����f|O��/)��x�LF������1P�0,Z��d�D�����FW��z��Qt3;�&SJ��4x��%\��G�,�h�;���c��\�7��n|y9�/⩇{o�v|1aO��_�G/��}��u�6������F�p��̬�J�a�����͕���m�@�Un�஁�$:����P��4��9���H��?�cܽ0�?1����#�L��<��%�xJ/CO��%�<�.F���o=yl+��%�9 h0��`�{L�G��a_���Twؗ4x�����b_���b�`�tŞ`�t�∆��m��l���qg�1 ;s���������ag�@��3`z�����qg����Oί'��y4����k���Q.���oNj�.��?�[�Y\�a�5��]*?H��4���F �"��'0ߗ��x�A�`Ը � !0up���BFUa�����I�\9���b�<������g�H!\��a�eFl0����s�Զ������0�+�R�Z��3��t���`7d _� �~��y%�u���c+@�����`�J��{C���Kˣ�=ZB�!�6 � �o�A X3WP:;���Ӄ7��B�a`f<@�<�h��3[5d��|ie����^����V�W7KHLP@�0a�}� SK����\����UX��t�Z��wk��U��~��_���E��;e\�%^�H+(x��>k�v�^( �i�G
��@Z�A�����dQ���Sf_%�6U
����_�Ph]o� � �T$m��H��̔M5" �bݍŦ:�/�K��i� �%��_�G�T)Ys[˴)��"�>#+%+9/B���R���U�r)U&mJ��ݏw
�t��.��������P.۾f{+Q�bۧ�`��Av3���-�Y�/��r $ݗ݆$��v�w�C��w?}M���{̚