Virginia Randolph Cary
Virginia Randolph Cary ( January 30, 1786 - May 2, 1852 in Alexandria , Virginia ) was an American writer of the 19th century, one of her most influential works is Letters on Female Character, Addressed to a Young Lady, on the Death of Her Mother (1828).
life and work
Presumably she was born in Goochland County , Virginia, on Tuckahoe, the plantation of her parents, Thomas Mann Randolph (1741-1794) and his first wife Ann Cary Randolph. The Randolph family were among the most influential families in Virginia , with roots dating back to the early colonial days. She was a descendant of Pocahontas and her British husband, John Rolfe . Her twelve siblings included Mary Randolph , author of the influential cookbook The Virginia House-Wife (1824), and Thomas Mann Randolph (1768-1828), Member of the House of Representatives (1803-1807) and Governor of Virginia (1819-1822). After her mother died, she lived in Albemarle County , Virginia, Monticello with her brother and sister-in-law Martha Jefferson Randolph , daughter of Thomas Jefferson .
On August 28, 1805, Virginia married her cousin Wilson Jefferson Cary in Fluvanna County , Virginia. The couple had six children: Col. Wilson Miles Cary (1806–1877), Archibald Cary (he married Monimia Fairfax and was the father of the famous writer Constance Cary Harrison), Jane Blair Cary, Elizabeth Randolph Cary, Mary Randolph Cary (1806– 1882) and Martha Jefferson Cary (she married Governor Morris Jr., son of Governor Morris , one of the Founding Fathers of the United States ).
After Virginia's husband died, she published her four major works:
- Letters on Female Character, Addressed to a Young Lady, on the Death of Her Mother (1828),
- Mutius: An Historical Sketch of the Fourth Century (1828)
- Christian Parent's Assistant, or Tales, for the Moral and Religious Instruction of Youth (1829)
- Ruth Churchill; or, The True Protestant: A Tale for the Times (1851) , a novella
After her death in Alexandria, she was buried in Saint Paul's Episcopal Church Cemetery .
Individual evidence
literature
- Cynthia A. Kierner, "The dark and dense cloud perpetually lowering over us: Gender and the Decline of the Gentry in Postrevolutionary Virginia," Journal of the Early Republic 20 (2000): 185-217.
- Patrick H. Breen, ed., "The Female Antislavery Petition Campaign of 1831-32," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 110 (2002): 377-398.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cary, Virginia Randolph |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 30, 1786 |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 2, 1852 |
| Place of death | Alexandria |