Jupiter Evans

Portrait to Come (Hidden)

Portrait by Artist to Come

QUICK FACTS
BORN:
1743 at Shadwell Plantation, Albemarle County, Virginia
  DIED:
1800 at Monticello, Albemarle County, Virginia

House slave on the Shadwell and Tuckahoe Plantations of Peter Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson’s father.

Jupiter and Thomas were both born in 1743 and they grew up together. He was Jefferson’s personal valet until Jefferson married Martha in 1772. Then, at the Monticello plantation, Jefferson chose his wife’s half-brother, Robert, as his valet.

Jupiter Evans was then in charge of the Monticello stables until his death in 1800.

CONNECTED TO:
| Jefferson, Thomas

Categories
Virginia
Slave

Lafayette’s years in America had given him the most glorious career it was possible for a youth of his disposition to imagine. He had fought for a noble cause, and won the love of a nation. George Washington sent him admiring and heart-sore letters after the marquis returned to France; the state of Virginia presented a bust of him to the city of Paris; the island of Nantucket sent him a 500-pound cheese. Lafayette cherished the love he had earned overseas, and never let the French forget it. When his first two children were born, he named the boy George Washington and the girl Virginia. At his Paris household, his family spoke English, and his messenger was dressed as an American Indian.

— Richard Brookhiser
Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution (2003)