A blacksmith shop was built on at Monticello about 1793. Here Jefferson's slaves Little George, Moses, and Joe Fossett shoed horses, repaired the metal parts of plows and hoes, replaced gun parts, and made the iron portions of the carriages that Jefferson designed. Neighboring farmers brought work to the shop as well, and the slave blacksmiths were given a percentage of the profits of their labor.
Isaac Granger Jefferson (1775-c.1850)[1] was a tinsmith and blacksmith. His brief memoir, written down by an interviewer in 1847, provides important, fascinating information about Monticello and its people. Isaac was the third son of two very important members of the Monticello slave labor force.
Joseph Fossett was the son of Mary Hemings, Elizabeth Hemings’s oldest child. In 1794, Fossett was one of the more efficient of the nine nailboys working in the new naileryon Mulberry Row. He also worked in the main house, where he made fires, carried firewood and water, ran errands, or waited at table. While a part-time nailer, he learned the blacksmithingtrade
