Susan Kern . The Jeffersons at Shadwell . (The Lamar Series in Western History.) New Haven : Yale University Press . 2010 . Pp. xi, 362. $30.00.

Abstract

Very little is known about Thomas Jefferson's life before February 1, 1770. On that date, fire destroyed his ancestral home at Shadwell and all of its furnishings, including Jefferson's papers and the books that he inherited at the time of his father Peter's death in 1757. Susan Kern's book attempts to fill this void based on archaeological excavations of the Shadwell sites; wills and probate inventories; Peter Jefferson's account book and accounts of Jane Jefferson after her husband's death; Jane's Bible, which she purchased after the 1770 fire; and lists of the names of Shadwell's slaves and their assignment of responsibilities. Kern's piecing together of this evidence allows her to draw conclusions—many of them impossible before this book—regarding the Jefferson family, including the man who became its most important personage. The fact that her conclusions come with significant caveats, however, will also raise serious questions in the minds of some concerning their validity.