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Jefferson at Monticello : Recollections of a Monticello Slave and of a Monticello Overseer
Covering the years from 1781 into the 1820s, these valuable accounts remain the chief source of information about Thomas Jefferson's domestic and personal life, interests, habits, appearance, and day-to-day activities at Monticello. Isaac Jefferson and Edmund Bacon were each sixty-five years old when their recollections were recorded. What they remember best, of course, are scenes from the past made vivid and immediate by details involving their own experience. Although their recollections of Jefferson differ in a number of ways, apparent in both accounts is a concern for the master whose involvement in national affairs made his life so different from their own.
144 pages, Paperback
First published May 22, 1967
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 21, 2022
I visited Monticello last year and went alone to avoid being distracted by another as I toured the house and walked the grounds. I wanted to be present and just connect as much as possible to what had happened there all those years ago. I walked along Mulberry Row (a one-thousand-foot path adjacent to the mansion where enslaved people lived and worked during that time) and glanced back over my shoulder to see the mansion, and the reality of it all came flooding to me. Picking up this book was another way of trying to understand the daily complex realities of what took place at Monticello.
There are two narratives being told here. The first is from someone who was enslaved by Jefferson named Isaac. The second is from a Captain Bacon, who was an overseer at Monticello.
I loved reading Isaac’s account. I had to stop and take a moment at times to try and appreciate how important an account like his is. Isaac was one of over 600 people that Jefferson enslaved during his lifetime, but one of the very few (possibly the only one? I’m not sure) to leave an account of their life behind. I enjoyed learning new little details about Thomas Jefferson through Isaac’s experience with him like the fact that Jefferson would sing all the time or details about his family. Most of the stories Isaac tells seem to be about Jefferson and other non-enslaved people around him, which is interesting in their own right, but I found myself wanting more stories from his personal life and experience. With that being said, we do hear some great stories from him such as the time when he was six years old and was captured by the British during the war and the British put a cocked hat and a red overcoat on him, that was so big, it covered his entire body as they stood around laughing.
I found Bacon’s account a little less interesting, although still informative. We hear more about Jefferson’s personal life in regards to how he treated the needy and Jefferson comes across as a very compassionate person. We hear details about the manufacturing on the plantation and logistics on running such an operation. We hear stories from Bacon that sometimes veer decently far away from Jefferson and go more into Bacon’s personal life and those weren’t as entertaining to read. But, like Isaac, Bacon tells some interesting stories like once, when a fight broke out among a bunch of boys at Monticello (that, a footnote tells us, a Jefferson descendent denies ever happened).
Both narrators are speaking from memory and thus provide some errors in their recollections, at least, according to the footnotes in the back of the book. Bacon does provide some evidence of what he’s saying in the form of letters and other documents, although it seemed at times, he inflated his own importance in relation to Jefferson. I did find the footnotes helpful, but it was a little annoying to have to constantly flip to the back of the book instead of just having them on the bottom of the page.
At the end of the book is an appendix which includes the full text of Thomas Jefferson’s will. It was interesting to read through that. I was reminded of Sally Hemmings and how she wasn’t freed or mentioned at all in the will. It left me with a complex and complicated feeling that I feel often when reading about Thomas Jefferson: at once in awe of his accomplishments and an admirer of his personality and greatness, and then at the same time, disappointed or saddened by the apparent contradictions throughout his life. But I leave that discussion for another time.
Overall though, I’m glad I read this and I learned new details about Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, the complex relationships therein and surrounding his life, and the rare vantage point of someone who lived an enslaved experience and think that others who are interested in these topics will get something out of it as well.
There are two narratives being told here. The first is from someone who was enslaved by Jefferson named Isaac. The second is from a Captain Bacon, who was an overseer at Monticello.
I loved reading Isaac’s account. I had to stop and take a moment at times to try and appreciate how important an account like his is. Isaac was one of over 600 people that Jefferson enslaved during his lifetime, but one of the very few (possibly the only one? I’m not sure) to leave an account of their life behind. I enjoyed learning new little details about Thomas Jefferson through Isaac’s experience with him like the fact that Jefferson would sing all the time or details about his family. Most of the stories Isaac tells seem to be about Jefferson and other non-enslaved people around him, which is interesting in their own right, but I found myself wanting more stories from his personal life and experience. With that being said, we do hear some great stories from him such as the time when he was six years old and was captured by the British during the war and the British put a cocked hat and a red overcoat on him, that was so big, it covered his entire body as they stood around laughing.
I found Bacon’s account a little less interesting, although still informative. We hear more about Jefferson’s personal life in regards to how he treated the needy and Jefferson comes across as a very compassionate person. We hear details about the manufacturing on the plantation and logistics on running such an operation. We hear stories from Bacon that sometimes veer decently far away from Jefferson and go more into Bacon’s personal life and those weren’t as entertaining to read. But, like Isaac, Bacon tells some interesting stories like once, when a fight broke out among a bunch of boys at Monticello (that, a footnote tells us, a Jefferson descendent denies ever happened).
Both narrators are speaking from memory and thus provide some errors in their recollections, at least, according to the footnotes in the back of the book. Bacon does provide some evidence of what he’s saying in the form of letters and other documents, although it seemed at times, he inflated his own importance in relation to Jefferson. I did find the footnotes helpful, but it was a little annoying to have to constantly flip to the back of the book instead of just having them on the bottom of the page.
At the end of the book is an appendix which includes the full text of Thomas Jefferson’s will. It was interesting to read through that. I was reminded of Sally Hemmings and how she wasn’t freed or mentioned at all in the will. It left me with a complex and complicated feeling that I feel often when reading about Thomas Jefferson: at once in awe of his accomplishments and an admirer of his personality and greatness, and then at the same time, disappointed or saddened by the apparent contradictions throughout his life. But I leave that discussion for another time.
Overall though, I’m glad I read this and I learned new details about Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, the complex relationships therein and surrounding his life, and the rare vantage point of someone who lived an enslaved experience and think that others who are interested in these topics will get something out of it as well.
January 27, 2020
I picked this up after a visit to Monticello years ago, and finally took it off the pile after a second visit. Although I certainly didn't race to read the book, I was looking forward to a more contemporary, non-familial, and less erudite view of Jefferson. However, if you're looking for an unbiased view of Jefferson, this isn't it.
With this book, we get views of Jefferson from two individuals - one, a former slave of Jefferson's, and the other, a former overseer at Monticello. Isaac, the former slave, relies solely on memory, but we have extensive footnotes correcting his recall. Edmund Bacon, the former overseer, has correspondence from Jefferson to augment his stories - nonetheless, extensive footnotes provide the necessary corrections. Although Bacon could read and write, he apparently did not keep a diary, and over the years (not surprisingly) his recollections of his personal interactions with, and importance to, Jefferson increased.
Regardless, I found Bacon's portion to be the most interesting. The sheer detail of the instructions that Jefferson sent to Bacon regarding Monticello, when the government of the country was also Jefferson's responsibility, was eye opening. Jefferson was specific to the placement of each and every plant, the sale of each imported sheep, all while we know he was working to get his arms around governing a burgeoning country in an increasingly complex world. Bacon's section also acknowledged one of the major debts that Jefferson was unable to clear in his lifetime.
Isaac's section gives a rather telling portrait of how the family of the plantation owner becomes the soap opera watched, and viewed as intimate family, by all those on the property. He also provides an account of the skills a slave might develop, or be expected to develop, in his lifetime - skills that might lead to a form of quasi-independence and could be used in later life as a free man, or skills that would be exploited for profit by his owner.
From a narrative perspective, I found both sections to be a bit jumbled - the storytellers tended to hop from one topic to another and back again (without editing); the footnotes required the reader to hop as well. This makes it a more arduous read then first glance might indicate - and if there's a particular point to a discussion, sometimes it's subverted to a sideline by hop-scotching. Generally, though, both Bacon and Isaac provide an overwhelmingly complementary portrait of Jefferson the man, Jefferson the farmer, and Jefferson the master.
A family tree is included for Isaac and for the Hemings, mentioned in the narrative. In the tree, Sally Hemings is noted in as having five children, but there is no reference to her relationship (now acknowledged by historians) with Thomas Jefferson or her parentage by John Wayles, who was also the father of Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson.
An interesting book, but one-sided by today's views.
With this book, we get views of Jefferson from two individuals - one, a former slave of Jefferson's, and the other, a former overseer at Monticello. Isaac, the former slave, relies solely on memory, but we have extensive footnotes correcting his recall. Edmund Bacon, the former overseer, has correspondence from Jefferson to augment his stories - nonetheless, extensive footnotes provide the necessary corrections. Although Bacon could read and write, he apparently did not keep a diary, and over the years (not surprisingly) his recollections of his personal interactions with, and importance to, Jefferson increased.
Regardless, I found Bacon's portion to be the most interesting. The sheer detail of the instructions that Jefferson sent to Bacon regarding Monticello, when the government of the country was also Jefferson's responsibility, was eye opening. Jefferson was specific to the placement of each and every plant, the sale of each imported sheep, all while we know he was working to get his arms around governing a burgeoning country in an increasingly complex world. Bacon's section also acknowledged one of the major debts that Jefferson was unable to clear in his lifetime.
Isaac's section gives a rather telling portrait of how the family of the plantation owner becomes the soap opera watched, and viewed as intimate family, by all those on the property. He also provides an account of the skills a slave might develop, or be expected to develop, in his lifetime - skills that might lead to a form of quasi-independence and could be used in later life as a free man, or skills that would be exploited for profit by his owner.
From a narrative perspective, I found both sections to be a bit jumbled - the storytellers tended to hop from one topic to another and back again (without editing); the footnotes required the reader to hop as well. This makes it a more arduous read then first glance might indicate - and if there's a particular point to a discussion, sometimes it's subverted to a sideline by hop-scotching. Generally, though, both Bacon and Isaac provide an overwhelmingly complementary portrait of Jefferson the man, Jefferson the farmer, and Jefferson the master.
A family tree is included for Isaac and for the Hemings, mentioned in the narrative. In the tree, Sally Hemings is noted in as having five children, but there is no reference to her relationship (now acknowledged by historians) with Thomas Jefferson or her parentage by John Wayles, who was also the father of Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson.
An interesting book, but one-sided by today's views.
May 30, 2020
Presents primary source material offered up by persons who lived at Monticello.. Priceless. In a category of its own.
April 22, 2023
In many ways, this is exactly what a history book ought to be: primary sources allowed to speak for themselves, accompanied by endnotes that contextualize and correct them and point the reader to other useful sources.
As my primary interest is in Jefferson’s life as a slave owner (and in particular, the life of Sally Hemings), Isaac’s section was the more interesting of the two and it’s a shame it’s so much shorter than Bacon’s. There’s a lot of details in both accounts that are extraneous to me (I could give a damn what kinds of trees TJ had planted on various parts of his property), but I imagine would be invaluable for somebody with a particular interest in the grounds and history of Monticello specifically.
I will say that the endnotes are good, but this is a book from 1967 and that age does show a bit: in counting TJ’s children, Bear makes no mention of Sally Hemings’ children, and he also makes no comment on the rumor that Bacon reports that Harriet was Jefferson’s daughter. Whether these were a naive omission because the parentage of Hemings’ children wasn’t yet well known, or a deliberate glazing-over to keep from sullying TJ’s image, I can’t say.
I also would’ve liked to see a little more unpacking of Bacon’s takes on Jefferson’s attitudes on slavery: I imagine Bacon being pro-Union and a big fan of Jefferson more or less HAD to believe that TJ was a “good master” and hated slavery, regardless of whether or not that was actually true. The endnotes do point out that Bacon’s recollection of TJ as very reluctant to have the slaves beaten is hard to reconcile with TJ’s account books, which do report “flogging”.
All in all, certainly worth a read for anybody interested in Thomas Jefferson or the history of American slavery in the early republic. The photograph of Isaac is honestly worth the price of admission in itself, as is his musings on what people looked like (apparently he though Patrick Henry looked quite a bit like Napoleon). Also, I learned that Thomas Jefferson owned a mule named Dr. Slop.
As my primary interest is in Jefferson’s life as a slave owner (and in particular, the life of Sally Hemings), Isaac’s section was the more interesting of the two and it’s a shame it’s so much shorter than Bacon’s. There’s a lot of details in both accounts that are extraneous to me (I could give a damn what kinds of trees TJ had planted on various parts of his property), but I imagine would be invaluable for somebody with a particular interest in the grounds and history of Monticello specifically.
I will say that the endnotes are good, but this is a book from 1967 and that age does show a bit: in counting TJ’s children, Bear makes no mention of Sally Hemings’ children, and he also makes no comment on the rumor that Bacon reports that Harriet was Jefferson’s daughter. Whether these were a naive omission because the parentage of Hemings’ children wasn’t yet well known, or a deliberate glazing-over to keep from sullying TJ’s image, I can’t say.
I also would’ve liked to see a little more unpacking of Bacon’s takes on Jefferson’s attitudes on slavery: I imagine Bacon being pro-Union and a big fan of Jefferson more or less HAD to believe that TJ was a “good master” and hated slavery, regardless of whether or not that was actually true. The endnotes do point out that Bacon’s recollection of TJ as very reluctant to have the slaves beaten is hard to reconcile with TJ’s account books, which do report “flogging”.
All in all, certainly worth a read for anybody interested in Thomas Jefferson or the history of American slavery in the early republic. The photograph of Isaac is honestly worth the price of admission in itself, as is his musings on what people looked like (apparently he though Patrick Henry looked quite a bit like Napoleon). Also, I learned that Thomas Jefferson owned a mule named Dr. Slop.
January 14, 2023
Written by one of his former slaves & overseer of his property and slaves.
January 25, 2017
Strictly for Thomas Jefferson enthusiasts. He is idolized by those who knew him personally. If you want to know what kinds of animals he kept, what kinds of grains he grew, what he ate . . . that's what you can expect.
My disappointment: no light is shed on his alleged affair with Sally Hemings.
Easy reading. Short.
My disappointment: no light is shed on his alleged affair with Sally Hemings.
Easy reading. Short.
June 29, 2017
The book contained two solid primary sources that shed an interesting light on Thomas Jefferson. Well worth the read for those interested in learning more about our third president.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews