Isaac Jefferson
(1775-c.1850)

Born at Monticello in 1775, Isaac Jefferson was the third son of two very important members of the Monticello labor force. Great George rose from foreman of labor to become, in 1797, overseer of Monticello--the only slave to reach that position. His wife Ursula was a particularly trusted household servant who had been purchased at the request of Jefferson's wife, Martha. Ursula was a pastrycook and laundress, and was responsible for the preservation of meat and bottling of cider.

Great George and Ursula's son Isaac was trained as a blacksmith. In the early 1790s Jefferson took him to Philadelphia to learn the tinsmithing trade. Isaac's reminiscences reveal that he first learned to make pepper boxes and graters, and then advanced to the more difficult art of making tin cups. When he returned to Monticello he practiced three trades, for he also worked in the Mulberry Row nailery. According to Jefferson's records for 1796, Isaac was the most efficient nailer, wasting the least amount of nailrod in the process.

In 1847, Isaac Jefferson, then a free man working as a blacksmith in Petersburg, was interviewed. His vivid recollections of life at Monticello include descriptions of Jefferson and a reference to the metalworking skills they shared: "My Old Master was neat a hand as ever you see to make keys and locks and small chains, iron and brass."

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