Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on Lease of Tufton and Lego to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, [after 1 January 1818]

Notes on Lease of Tufton and Lego to Thomas Jefferson Randolph

[after 1 Jan. 1818]

Memms of an agreement between Thos Jefferson & Thos J. Randolph for the lease of the Tufton & Lego plantations of the sd Th: Jefferson with all the negroes, stock and utensils upon them.

The lease is to continue five years. the negroes are to be maintained, clothed and their taxes and levies1 paid by the lessee, the land taxes by the lessor.

The lessee is not to be restricted in the cultivation of the land, it being understood that he shall cultivate it as he does his own, giving it the same advantages from manure, clover & plaister.

He is not to permit any person to be concerned in the cultivation of the land, as subtenant, partner or otherwise, nor hire out any of the negroes.

The utensils & stock (horses excepted) shall be inventoried as delivered to the lessee, and shall be returned at the end of the lease in number & kind, & in such condition as they shall happen to be, without particular valuation. the horses to be valued, and equal value to be returned at the end of the lease. and an equal quantity of the fall grains to be left sowed as is recieved, and of each equal in kind.

The remainder of the corn made in 1817. after taking out two hundred & sixty barrels, the rye, seed oats, two thirds of the blade fodder, all the tops, shucks Etc. to be left for the use of the places, of which, at the end of the lease, the lessee is to return equal quantities. of the pork fattened at the commencement of the lease 3500.℔ is to be left for the use of the places, & an equal quantity returned at the end of the lease.

The lessor is to furnish barrels for his rent flour, recieving the offal of the flour as an equivalent. The lessee is to pay to the lessor an annual rent of 350. barrels of flour, in the usual proportion of fine & superfine, 260. barrels of corn, 4000.℔ of pork, 20,000 ℔ of hay or fodder, 300. bushels of oats, 70. bushels of potatoes, 20. bushels of turneps 30. lambs, 6 beeves fatted, fresh butter as has been usually had from the plantations for daily use, straw for litter for the stable, & for cutting as food for the horses.

This lease began on the 1st day of January last, and is signed by the parties this day of 1818.

Th: Jefferson

Th: J. Randolph2

a list of the negroes delivered & included in the lease, & the stock and utensils.3

at Tufton			at Lego

(	Bagwell			Bartlet
	Minerva			Charles
	Willis.	born 1806.		Davy Bedford.
	Archy	08.	(	Eve
	Jordan	11.		Joshua	born 1806
(	Ben.			Burwell	09.
	Lilly			Evelina.
	Lucy.	11.	(	James. Bedford
	Dick Bedford			Rachael.
	Dick Ned’s			Joe	01
	Abram.			Lania	05
(	Esther			Gloster	07
	Lindsay	13.		Washington	10
	Sucky			Edmund	13
	Isaiah.	1800.		Lindsay.	16
	Jerry jr	02.	(	Lucy
	John Bedford.			Robin	05
(	Virginia			Sandy	07
	Robert	11		Molly	14
	Amanda.	15.		Melinda.	16.
(	Maria.		(	Milly	97
	Marshal	14		Sandy	13.
	Martin	16		Moses Bedford
(	Mary. Bagwell’s			Nanny. Bagwell’s	1800
	Washington	05.		Robert
	Nancy		(	Silla
	Ned jr			Jamy	11
	Philip.			Miles	16
(	Rachael			Solomon.
	Eliza	05.
	Ellen	08.
31.			29.

at Tufton	at Lego.
1. work horse. 10. y. old 4 f–9. I one eye	1. work horse 10. y. old 4 f–10. I one eye.
1. do 11. y. old. 4 f 11 I. high.	1. do 15. y. old. 4 f 8 I. one eye.
1. do 12. y. old. 4 f. 10 I.	1. small mule.
1. do 13. y. old 4 f 10.I. one eye	1. mule colt. 6. months old.

2 middle sized mules. 4 f. 4 I.	4. work oxen small.
1. very small do deformed.	2. cows.
8. work oxen, small, with yokes	5. heifers 3. y. old
7. cows.	1. steer 3. y. old.
3. heifers 3. y. old	4. yearlings & 1. bull.
3. steers 3. y. old.	19. sheep.
1. heifer 1. y. old	6 breeding sows.
11. calves of last spring.	32. shoats
42. ewes. none old.	6. poll axes.
7. breeding sows	2. mauling axes.
44. sucking pigs.	3. mattocks.
14. shoats.	8. hilling hoes.
2. oxcarts & chain	4. large & 5. small ploughs.
1. horse cart.	3. coulters.
5. large & 7. small ploughs much worn	6. pr plough geer.
7. pr plough geer.	1. lock chain
3. pr wedges	1. stretch chain
9 poll axes	2. pr wedges
9 mattocks	4. scythe blades & cradles.
13. hilling hoes	2. grass blades.
2. stake hoes, for post fences	1. large iron toothed harrow.
5 coulters	1. oxcart
2. large iron toothed harrows	1. wheat fan.
	1. reap hook.
	1. stake hoe for post fences
	1. half bushel & 1. peck measure
	1. frow.
	10. bags
	1. clover seed box

MS (MHi); in TJ’s hand, signed by TJ and Randolph; written on both sides of a single sheet; undated.

Corn blades, tops, shucks etc. were often used as fodder (Betts, Farm Book description begins Edwin M. Betts, ed., Thomas Jefferson’s Farm Book, 1953 (in two separately paginated sections; unless otherwise specified, references are to the second section) description ends , 228, 244).

Writing from Richmond on 22 Dec. 1817, Bernard Peyton congratulated Randolph on his “brightening prospects” and noted, in reference to the above lease, that the arrangement would benefit TJ, because the annual rent “you are to pay will be more than he would ever make under his own direction from the Estate” (RC in ViU: Papers of Thomas Jefferson and the Randolph Family; endorsed by Randolph). Hetty Carr, in an unsigned postscript to her daughter Ellen Carr’s letter of 28 Jan. 1818 from Carr’s-brook to Ellen’s brother Dabney S. Carr, indicated that Randolph had “rented two Plantations & 70 or 80 blacks from his grand Father and gives him in produce what would be equil to 5 thousand dollars” a year, and that “this gives him blacks enough for his own plantations” (RC in ViU: CC; addressed: “Mr Dabney S Carr Baltimore”; stamped; postmarked Charlottesville, 31 Jan.).

silla was TJ’s slave Scilla Gillette.

1. Preceding two words interlined.

2. Recto ends here.

3. Remainder of text is in four adjacent columns, with latter two editorially moved beneath first two.

Index Entries

Abram (TJ’s slave; b. ca.1740); on Monticello slave lists search
agriculture; and fodder search
agriculture; gypsum used in search
Amanda (TJ’s slave; b.1815); on Monticello slave lists search
Archy (TJ’s slave; b.1808); on Monticello slave lists search
axes search
Bagwell (TJ’s slave); on Monticello slave lists search
barrels search
Bartlet (TJ’s slave; b.1786); on Monticello slave lists search
Ben (TJ’s slave; b.1785); on Monticello slave lists search
Burwell (TJ’s slave; b.1809); on Monticello slave lists search
butter; as rent search
Carr, Hetty Smith Stevenson (Peter Carr’s wife); and lease of Lego and Tufton search
Carr, Hetty Smith Stevenson (Peter Carr’s wife); family of search
carts; mentioned search
cattle; as rent search
cattle; at Lego search
cattle; at Tufton search
Charles (TJ’s slave; b.1785); on Monticello slave lists search
clothing; for slaves search
clover; as crop search
clover; box search
clover; seed search
Colbert, Robert (TJ’s slave; b.1799); on Monticello slave lists search
corn; as crop search
corn; as rent search
corn; tops, blades, and shucks search
crops; clover search
crops; rye search
Davy (TJ’s slave; b.1785); on Monticello slave lists search
Dick (Little Dick) (TJ’s slave; b.1781); on Monticello slave lists search
Edmund (TJ’s slave; b.1813); on Monticello slave lists search
Eliza (TJ’s slave; b.1805); on Monticello slave lists search
Ellen (TJ’s slave; b.1808); on Monticello slave lists search
Esther (TJ’s slave; b.1795); on Monticello slave lists search
Eve (TJ’s slave; b.1779); on Monticello slave lists search
Evelina (TJ’s slave; b.1797); on Monticello slave lists search
flour; as rent search
fodder; for horses search
fodder; mentioned search
food; butter search
food; pork search
food; potatoes search
food; turnips search
Gillette, Dick (TJ’s slave; b.1790); on Monticello slave lists search
Gillette, Ned (TJ’s slave; b.1760); on Monticello slave lists search
Gillette, Ned (TJ’s slave; b.1786); on Monticello slave lists search
Gillette, Scilla (TJ’s slave; b.1794); on Monticello slave lists search
Gillette, Sucky (TJ’s slave; b.1806); on Monticello slave lists search
Gloster (TJ’s slave; b.1807); on Monticello slave lists search
gypsum (plaster of paris); used as fertilizer search
harrows search
hay search
Hern, Lilly (TJ’s slave; b.1791); on Monticello slave lists search
hoes search
horses; as draft animals search
horses; fodder for search
household articles; bags search
Isaiah (TJ’s slave; b.1800); on Monticello slave lists search
James (Jame) (TJ’s slave; b. ca.1772); on Monticello slave lists search
Jamey (TJ’s slave; b.1811); on Monticello slave lists search
Jefferson, Thomas; Business & Financial Affairs; and lease of Lego search
Jefferson, Thomas; Business & Financial Affairs; and lease of Tufton search
Jefferson, Thomas; Writings; Notes on Lease of Tufton and Lego to Thomas Jefferson Randolph search
Jerry (TJ’s slave; b.1802); on Monticello slave lists search
Joe (TJ’s slave; b.1801); on Monticello slave lists search
John (TJ’s slave; b.1785); on Monticello slave lists search
Jordan (TJ’s slave; b.1810); on Monticello slave lists search
Joshua (Jossy) (TJ’s slave; b.1806); on Monticello slave lists search
Lania (TJ’s slave; b.1805); on Monticello slave lists search
Lazaria (Maria) (TJ’s slave; b.1797); on Monticello slave lists search
Lego (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); lease of search
Lego (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); livestock at search
Lego (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); slaves at search
Lindsay (TJ’s slave; b.1813); on Monticello slave lists search
Lindsay (TJ’s slave; b.1816); on Monticello slave lists search
livestock; oxen search
locks search
Lucy (TJ’s slave; b.1783); on Monticello slave lists search
Lucy (TJ’s slave; b.1811); on Monticello slave lists search
Marshal (TJ’s slave; b.1814); on Monticello slave lists search
Martin (TJ’s slave; b.1816); on Monticello slave lists search
Mary (TJ’s slave; b.1788); on Monticello slave lists search
mattocks search
Melinda (TJ’s slave; b.1816); on Monticello slave lists search
Miles (TJ’s slave; b.1816); on Monticello slave lists search
Milly (TJ’s slave;1797–ca.1819); on Monticello slave lists search
Minerva (TJ’s slave; b.1771); on Monticello slave lists search
Molly (TJ’s slave; b.1814); on Monticello slave lists search
Monticello (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); slaves at listed search
Moses (TJ’s slave; b.1792); on Monticello slave lists search
mules; as draft animals search
Nancy (TJ’s slave; b.1791); on Monticello slave lists search
Nanny (TJ’s slave; b. ca.1799); on Monticello slave lists search
oats; as rent search
oats; seed search
oxen; as draft animals search
Peyton, Bernard; and lease of Lego and Tufton search
Philip (TJ’s slave; b.1796); on Monticello slave lists search
pigs; at Lego search
pigs; at Tufton search
plows; used in agriculture search
pork; as rent search
pork; supply of search
potatoes search
Rachael (TJ’s slave; b.1773); on Monticello slave lists search
Rachael (TJ’s slave; b.1776); on Monticello slave lists search
Randolph, Thomas Jefferson (TJ’s grandson; Jane Hollins Nicholas Randolph’s husband); leases Tufton and Lego search
rent; from Lego search
rent; from Tufton search
Robert (TJ’s slave; b.1811); on Monticello slave lists search
Robin (TJ’s slave; b.1805); on Monticello slave lists search
rye; as crop search
Sandy (TJ’s slave; b.1807); on Monticello slave lists search
Sandy (TJ’s slave; b.1813); on Monticello slave lists search
seeds; clover search
seeds; oat search
sheep; as rent search
sheep; at Lego search
sheep; at Tufton search
slaves; and lease of Lego and Tufton search
slaves; clothing for search
slaves; taxes on search
slaves; TJ lists search
Solomon (TJ’s slave; b.1794); on Monticello slave lists search
straw search
taxes; on land search
taxes; on slaves search
tools; axes search
tools; blades search
tools; coulters search
tools; for measuring search
tools; froes search
tools; harrows search
tools; hoes search
tools; mattocks search
tools; reaping hooks search
tools; scythes search
tools; wedges search
tools; wheat fans search
Tufton (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); livestock at search
Tufton (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); slaves at search
Tufton (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); T. J. Randolph’s lease of search
turnips; as rent search
Virginia (TJ’s slave; b.1793); on Monticello slave lists search
Washington (TJ’s slave; b.1805); on Monticello slave lists search
Washington (TJ’s slave; b.1810); on Monticello slave lists search
wheat; fan search
Willis (TJ’s slave; b.1806); on Monticello slave lists search

You Are Looking At

Source Project: Jefferson Papers
Title: Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on Lease of Tufton and Lego to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, [after 1 January 1818]
Authors: Jefferson, Thomas
Randolph, Thomas Jefferson
Date: 1 January 1818

Reference

Cite as: “Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on Lease of Tufton and Lego to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, [after 1 January 1818],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-12-02-0252. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 12, 1 September 1817 to 21 April 1818, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014, pp. 301–305.]