Jupiter

Born at Shadwell the same year as Jefferson, Jupiter was Jefferson’s trusted personal servant and later a hostler, coachman, and stonecutter.  When Jefferson attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Jupiter bought Jefferson’s books, fiddlestrings, and wig powder, paid the bills of the baker, shoemaker, and washerwoman, and collected debts.  He lent Jefferson money to provide tips to the enslaved domestic servants of his Williamsburg friends.  He took on the role of hostler and coachman in 1774, the same year that he married 16-year-old Suck, whom Jefferson had inherited from his father-in-law’s estate.  Jefferson intended that they occupy the “Negro quarter” on Mulberry Row.  Jupiter learned stonecutting from William Rice and worked on Monticello I’s columns; he also worked in the Mulberry Row stable.  He died after receiving a “dose” from an African American doctor who “pronounced that it would either kill or cure;” in nine days he was dead.  Jupiter and Suck had three children but only their son Phillip lived to adulthood. 

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