Tomorrow At Monticello
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71°
Sunny
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Sun
73°
/
47°
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Mem
75°
/
56°
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Tue
81°
/
61°
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Wed
86°
/
65°
Today’s Hours
Gartes are open 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
John Wayles Eppes (1773-€“1823) was born near Petersburg, Virginia. Educated at home, at the College of William and Mary, and in Philadelphia, Eppes studied the sciences and law under the direction of his uncle Thomas Jefferson. Eppes became a successful attorney and planter, represented Virginia in the United States House of Representatives (1803-€“11 and 1813-€“15), and in the Senate (1817-€“1819). On 13 October 1797, he married Thomas Jefferson's daughter Maria, with whom he had three children. Their only surviving child, Francis Wayles Eppes, was born in 1801 at Monticello. Eppes was a staunch political supporter and regular correspondent of Jefferson, even after his wife's death in 1804 and his second marriage to Martha Burke Jones on 15 April 1809. With Martha, Eppes had four more children. After retiring from office in 1819 due to poor health, Eppes returned to his prosperous Buckingham County tobacco plantation, Millbrook, and remained there until his death.