Place of Origin

United States

Date of Composition

ca. 1834-1887

Description

Kept by Septimia Randolph Meikleham, a granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson, this book contains nearly 150 recipes written in a number of different hands. Most of the recipes are culinary, but there are also instructions for making soap and for knitting socks. The book includes a recipe for Monticello Muffins, a favorite among the Jefferson family, which are essentially English muffins. The original recipe and a modern adaptation are available here.

Born at Monticello in 1814, Septimia was the seventh and last daughter of Thomas Jefferson's eldest daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph and her husband Thomas Mann Randolph. Septimia lived at Monticello until Thomas Jefferson's death, in 1826, whereupon she lived for two years with her mother and younger brother in Boston, where she studied piano and guitar. After her father's death in 1828, Septimia and her mother and sisters lived in several places in Washington and Virginia, including in the household of her older sister, Virginia Jefferson Randolph Trist. Virginia Trist later moved with her family to Cuba, where her husband served as consul, and Septimia visited her there. After her mother died, in 1836, Septimia returned to Havana, where she met Dr. David Scott Meikleham, a Scottish graduate of Cambridge. They married in 1838 and lived in Havana until 1844, when they left seeking a healthier climate and better educational opportunities for their children. The family settled in New York City, where Dr. Meikleham practiced medicine until he died of malaria, in 1849. To support herself and four children, Septimia kept a boardinghouse in New York until her eldest son William Moreland bought it from her. She then took her two daughters, Alice Esther and Ellen Wayles, and her son Thomas Mann Randolph to live in Virginia. Septimia later lived in Maryland and Washington, D.C., where she remained until her death in 1887.

See also in this database Virginia Jefferson Trist Cookbook, which was compiled by Septimia's sister, and Martha Jefferson Burke Recipes, which was written by Virginia Trist's daughter.

This book is owned by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. To access it, written permission must be obtained from the foundation's curatorial department.