Forge & Quarters

Forge and Quarters. . , Isaac Granger Jefferson worked the forge in the original building on this site, which housed a "storehouse for iron" in 1796, a short-lived tinsmithing operation, a small nail-making shop, and also served as quarters for enslaved people. The use of buildings on Mulberry Row changed during the long construction of the house and as Jefferson set up small industries to increase the plantation's self- sufficiency. Jefferson shifted enslaved workers from task to task and location to location, often giving or hiring them to his family members. Isaac mastered three trades and belonged to three different members of Jefferson's family before becoming free. His Memoirs contain important information about life at Monticello., Isaac Granger Jefferson, Isaac Granger Jefferson (1775-post-1847) learned blacksmithing from his brother George and tinsmithing in Philadelphia. At Monticello he was a tinsmith, blacksmith, and in 1796 was the most productive nailer. In 1797, Jefferson gave Isaac, his wife Iris, and their two sons to his daughter Maria and her husband John Eppes, who sold them to her sister and brother-in-law. Isaac gained freedom before Jefferson's death and moved to Petersburg, Virginia after 1820, where he was a blacksmith known by the surname Jefferson. Hear an excerpt from his Memoirs on our mobile app: monticello.org/app, Isaac carried on the tin-business two years:-it failed. He then carried on the nail-business at Monticello seven years: made money at that., Isaac Granger Jefferson (describing himself), Memoirs, 1847, The Grangers, Monticello's only enslaved overseer, George Granger (1730-99), and his wife Ursula (1737-1800) were vital to Monticello's operations for 25 years. Ursula was a cook, laundress, and dairymaid, supervised cider- making, and was wet-nurse to Jefferson's daughter Martha. They had three sons: George, Jr., a blacksmith who managed the plantation forges; Bagwell, a farm laborer; and Isaac. Granger, Ursula, and their son George all died within months of each other, victims of serious illness treated by a folk healer., (Captions):, Isaac Granger Jefferson, daguerreotype, 1840s. Charles Campbell, who recorded Isaac's memoirs ca. 1847, described him as "rather tall of strong frame, stoops a little, in color ebony; sensible, intelligent, pleasant; wears large circular ironbound spectacles and a leather apron." , Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Archaeological excavations at this site revealed the remains of a small forge for heating metals and large quantities of metal and ceramic fragments. , Thomas Jefferson Foundation (Monticello), Tin cup, probably made by Isaac Granger Jefferson, found on this site. , Thomas Jefferson Foundation (Monticello)