When Mary Jefferson was born on 1 August 1778, in Monticello, Albemarle, Virginia, United States, her father, President Thomas Jefferson, was 35 and her mother, Martha Wayles, was 29. She married John Wayles Eppes on 13 October 1797, in Monticello, Albemarle, Virginia, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 3 daughters. She died on 17 April 1804, in her hometown, at the age of 25, and was buried in Monticello Graveyard, Albemarle, Virginia, United States.
English (northern): patronymic from the Middle English personal name Geffrey or Jeffray (see Jeffrey ) + -son. In the late medieval period Geffreyson was increasingly pronounced Jeffrason, with shortening of the diphthong to a simple vowel, which was later commonly altered to Gefferson and Jefferson, with metathesis of -r- and this shortened vowel. In North America, this surname became especially common among African Americans (see 2 below).
African American: from the personal name Jefferson (or Thomas Jefferson), adopted in honor of Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd president of the US; or adoption of the surname in 1 above, in most cases probably for the same reason.
History: The third US president, author of the Declaration of Independence, and VA statesman Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) relates in his memoirs a family tradition that he was descended from Welsh stock on his father's side, while noting the relative infrequency of the name Jefferson in Wales. It is a characteristically northern English name. — A Jefferson was among the burgesses who attended the first representative assembly at Jamestown, VA, in 1619.
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