She was born at Monticello , near Charlottesville, Virginia. Randolph's mother died when she was nearly 10 years old, when only two out of her five siblings were alive. Her father saw that she had a good education. She spoke four languages and was greatly influenced by the education she received in a Paris convent school with daughters of the French elite.
By , she was the lone surviving child of Martha and Thomas Jefferson, the only one of the couple's children to survive past the age of They had twelve children together. Randolph oversaw the operation of Varina and Edge Hill with her husband, and Monticello with her father. She was in regular correspondence with her father when they were not together.
She provided emotional stability for Jefferson, which helped him weather his tumultuous political career. After the White House, Randolph and her children lived at Monticello and cared for her father. Due to debt, the Randolphs sold Varina and lost Edge Hill plantation to foreclosure in Randolph inheritied Monticello and Jefferson's debts when her father died in Many of the enslaved people at Monticello were sold to cover some of the debt.
Martha Jefferson was born on September 27, , [ 1 ] at Monticello , her father's estate in Virginia then in British America. Randolph was their first born. She was followed by Jane Randolph — ; a son who lived for only a few weeks in ; Mary "Polly" — ; Lucy Elizabeth — ; and another Lucy Elizabeth — The family lived a genteel lifestyle and Randolph was initially schooled at home. Her studies included dance lessons.
He was elected on June 1, , and the family first lived in Williamsburg. They relocated to Richmond when the government moved there in Randolph was almost 10 years of age when her mother died [ 1 ] [ 9 ] [ b ] on September 6, , four months after the birth of the Jeffersons' last child.
