Brief Life History of Peter
When Peter Jefferson was born on 29 February 1708, in Osbornes, Chesterfield, Virginia, British Colonial America, his father, Captain Thomas Jefferson, was 31 and his mother, Mary Field Jefferson, was 29. He married Jane Isham Randolph on 3 October 1739, in Goochland, Virginia, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 6 daughters. He died on 17 August 1757, in Shadwell, Albemarle, Virginia, British Colonial America, at the age of 49, and was buried in Shadwell, Albemarle, Virginia, British Colonial America.
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Family Time Line
Sources (24)
- Peter Jefferson, "West Virginia Marriages, 1780-1970"
- 1757 Peter Jefferson, "Find A Grave Index"
- Peter Jefferson, "Virginia, Vital Records, 1715-1901"
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Name Meaning
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.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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