# Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe

Thomas Randolph (June 1683 – 1729), also known as Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe, was the first European settler at Tuckahoe, a member of the House of Burgesses, and the second child of William Randolph and Mary Isham, daughter of Henry Isham and Katherine Isham (Banks).

## Early life

Randolph was born in June 1683 on the Turkey Island Plantation along the James River in Henrico County, Virginia. He was the son of the English immigrant William Randolph who established Turkey Island along the James River, and Mary Royall Isham, the daughter of Henry Isham. They descend from Ishams of Northamptonshire in England. Children born to the Randolphs were William, Thomas, Isham, Richard, Henry of Longfield, Edward, Mary, John, and Elizabeth. Randolph studied at the College of William & Mary.
   All of the sons took active and prominent part in the affairs of the Colony, and each received a large patrimony in the distribution of the great estate of their father. Most of them built fine houses and became known by the names of their estates.
William Randolph acquired land probably used as outlying quarter plantations during his lifetime. He died in 1711 and left property to each son, along with enslaved people to work the land.

## Career
### Planter

William Byrd hired Randolph to oversee his Westover Plantation around March 6, 1712. Thomas inherited land from his father and purchased additional adjoining acreage on September 4, 1714, from his brother John for £90 sterling, the total of which became the Tuckahoe plantation. He owned 3,256 acres of land on which Randolph likely built a modest wood-frame house so that he could focus his energy on establishing and operating the plantation. The first church in the area, Dover Church, was built in 1720 by Thomas, who covered the cost with 54,990 pounds of tobacco. Until 1728, the area was mostly wilderness with just a few homesteads. Rev. William Douglass, the first permanent resident minister for the church, was not established in Northam of St. James Parish until 1750. Randolph's estate was in the part of Henrico County that later became Goochland County. In 1727, he also bought Farrar's Island in the James River from Thomas Farrar (who already lived in St. James Parish that became Goochland County that year) and his nephew, William Farrar IV (who moved to Goochland County). That plantation, which had been founded by William Farrar Jr. nearly a century earlier, ultimately became part of Chesterfield County.

### Politician

Randolph became one of the justices of the peace for Henrico county in 1713. Randolph and his brother William Randolph II were the two representatives from Henrico in the House of Burgesses for the 1720 to 1722 session. Goochland was set apart from Henrico County in 1727. A year later, he was the county lieutenant for Goochland.

## Personal life

Thomas Randolph of Henrico County married Judith Fleming on October 16, 1712. Judith, born about 1689, was the daughter of Susanna Tarleton and Charles Fleming of New Kent County and the sister of John and Tarleton Fleming.
The Randolphs had three children:
* William Randolph III (born 1712 or 1713) married Maria Judith, the daughter of Mann Page, and had four children, including their only son Thomas Mann Randolph Sr.
* Judith Randolph (born ~1724) married her first cousin William Stith, 3rd President of the College of William and Mary, and had three children. Stith was the son of her Captain John Stith and Mary Randolph, her aunt.
* Mary Randolph (born ~1726) married Rev. James Keith and had eight children. Their daughter Mary Randolph Keith was the mother of John Marshall, a United States Secretary of State and 4th Chief Justice of the United States.
Thomas died in 1729 or 1730. Judith married Nicolas Davies, an immigrant from Wales, on December 24, 1733.
Randolph was a great-uncle of United States President Thomas Jefferson.

## Ancestry

Ancestors of Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe :