learned lawyers in the province. Jefferson spent two years at William and Mary. His studies and the companionship of cultured men stimulated his eager mind. He formed many of his ideas about humanity and God. Jefferson had been reared in the Anglican Church, but he developed a distrust of organized religion. His views resembled those of the Unitarians. In his old age, he wrote: "To love God with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself is the sum of religion." (Thomas Jefferson, an intimate history [by] Fawn M. Brodie. Published: New York, Norton [1974])In 1772, Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton (Oct. 19, 1748–Sept. 6, 1782), a widow. She was the daughter of John Wayles, a prominent lawyer who lived near Williamsburg. According to legend, Jefferson's love of music helped him win his bride. Two rival suitors came to call one day but left without a word when they saw the couple playing a duet on the harpsichord and violin. The Jeffersons settled at Monticello, which was not yet completed. They had one son and five daughters, but only two children lived to maturity—Martha (1772-1836) and Mary (1778-1804). Mrs. Jefferson died in 1782, after only 10 years of marriage. Jefferson reared his two daughters. He never remarried. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1683/ljindex.htmLike many landowners of the time, Jefferson kept slaves at Monticello. For many years, some historians thought that Jefferson might have had children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. In 1998, scientists conducted a study of the hereditary material DNA to help determine whether this was so. The Y chromosome in DNA is almost always passed unchanged from father to son. The study compared the DNA from male-line descendants of Jefferson's uncle with DNA from male-line descendants of two of Sally Hemings's sons. The study could not include male-line descendants of Jefferson and his wife because they had no sons who lived to adulthood. The auth...
