Edmund Bacon

Edmund Bacon (1785-1866), a native of Albemarle County, was an overseer at Monticello from 1806 until 1822.

He lived with his family near the base of Monticello mountain, close to a nailery, stable, and several dwellings for enslaved families.  Bacon had few agricultural responsibilities; instead, most tasks related to manufacturing elements of the plantation: “superintending 10. or 12. nailers, providing their coal, selling the nails &c. and some attention hereafter to a grist mill kept” for Jefferson. The Monticello Department of Archaeology identified the likely site of Bacon's home during an archaeological survey project, and recorded it as Site 17, and several field seasons recovered hundreds of artifacts including glass, ceramic, and architectural materials. ¹ 

In 1823, Bacon and his family moved to Trigg County, Kentucky, where he farmed successfully until his death.

Bacon's recollections of his experiences as overseer at Monticello and his relationship with Thomas Jefferson were collected by the Reverend Hamilton W. Pierson and published as Jefferson at Monticello in 1862.²

- Jefferson Library Staff, 2007

Further Sources

• Bacon-Jefferson Correspondence. Transcriptions available at Founders Online.
• Betts, Edwin M., ed. Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book: With Commentary and Relevant Extracts from Other Writings. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953. Rep. 1976, 1987, 1999. A chronogical list of Monticello's overseers can be found on page 1:149 of the edited volumes. Manuscript and transcription available online at Massachusetts Historical Society.
• Martin, Russell Lionel."Mr. Jefferson's Business: The Farming Letters of Thomas Jefferson and Edmund Bacon, 1806-1826." PhD diss., University of Virginia, 1994.
• Martin, Russell L. "Thomas Jefferson and Edmund Bacon: Two American Farmers." The Magazine of Albemarle County History 50 (1992): 1-27.
• Memoranda Book of Edmund Bacon, 1802-1822 (microform of original manuscript in Special Collections, University of Virginia Library).