There are no known facial images of Martha Jefferson in existence although one silhouette does remain. It is simple, showing a small woman dressed in colonial garb, a white day cap on her head.  Still, contemporary descriptions of Thomas Jefferson's wife do exist and they describe her as being a little over five feet tall, slight, with beautiful auburn hair and hazel eyes.  Her contemporaries also describe her as an active and gracious hostess whose beauty, grace and musical skills were well known.  Friends recall evenings at the Jefferson home being entertained by Martha on the piano while Jefferson himself accompanied her on the violin.  She was also an avid reader, accomplished needlewoman and an enthusiastic patriot.  She had what her daughter later called a "vivacious temper" though she was always calm and subdued with Thomas because of her deep affection for him.  

Martha Jefferson was born Martha Wayles on October 19, 1748, on her father's Virginia plantation called "The Forest"  Sadly, Martha's mother died nearly three weeks after Martha's birth so she never knew this woman whom many contemporaries say she physically resembled.  After her mother's death, Martha's father married two more times, making Martha the oldest of 7 half-sisters and 3 half-brothers.  As people of wealth, Martha's family owned slaves who worked their plantation while Martha was educated in the best fashion, most likely at home by a team of "traveling tutors" in the subjects of literature, poetry, French, religion, music, sewing and the medicinal arts.  

Being so groomed and educated, it was assumed Martha would one day marry and become the mistress of her own home.  This she did for the first time when she turned 18 and married a young man named Bathurst Skelton.  The young bride became a young widow nearly two years later when Bathurst was killed in an accident in Williamsburg, Virginia.  After her husband's death, Martha returned to live with her father and it was here that her young son died of a fever not long after.  It is thought that Martha first met Thomas Jefferson around this time and that love quickly blossomed between the two.  They were married in January of 1772 and their union proved to be a happy and successful one to which five daughters and one son were born.  Sadly, death haunted this marriage as well--four of their six children wouldn't live beyond childhood.

Though frail in health, Martha quickly proved herself the capable mistress of Monticello, the Jeffersons' new home. With an army of servants and slaves at her disposal, Martha saw to food preparation and preservation, household cleaning and upkeep along with various hostess duties and the meticulous keeping of important household, plantation and cash crop accounts.  Martha would also have directed the education and moral instruction of her children.  She must have seen to much of this on her own as by this time, Jefferson's career in politics was firmly established requiring him to often be away from home.  For the first three years of their marriage, Jefferson served as a member of the House of Burgessess before being elected as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1776 during which time he authored the Declaration of Independence.  For a period during the Revolutionary War,  Jefferson also served as Governor of Virginia, (1779-1781).  It was during the British attack on Virginia in 1781 that Monticello itself was threatened and Martha and her children were force to flee to safety.  Her 16-month old daughter died 2 weeks later. Not long after, Martha again became pregnant and this pregnancy proved too much for her delicate health.  She quickly declined to the point that Jefferson felt he could no longer leave her side and resigned his post as governor to be home with her.  This decision was a timely one as Martha died four months after giving birth to their last child, a little girl named Lucy who would follow her mother in death nearly three years later.  

After Martha's death, Jefferson wrote in his account book, "My dear wife died this day at 11:45 a.m.", then shut himself in his bedroom  and refused to be comforted.  He never married again.  Years later, his granddaughter said of Jefferson, "Her loss was the bitterest grief my grandfather ever knew, and no second wife was ever called to take her place."  And though he never left a detailed account of he and Martha's life together, Jefferson referred to it often as ten years of "unchequered happiness".  When Jefferson was elected president nearly 18 years after Martha's death, he himself hosted state dinners unless ladies were present then he enlisted the help of Dolly Madison or used the skills of his capable eldest daughter, Patsy who also became her father's closest advisor.  After retiring from politics, Jefferson finished out his days as the "Sage of Monticello" in the home that he and Martha loved.  Jefferson followed Martha in death nearly 44 years later, in 1826 on the Fourth of July.

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