Peter Jefferson

Peter Jefferson (February 29, 1708 – August 17, 1757) was a planter, cartographer and politician in colonial Virginia best known for being the father of the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. The "Fry-Jefferson Map", created by Peter in collaboration with Joshua Fry in 1757, accurately charted the Allegheny Mountains for the first time and showed the route of "The Great Road from the Yadkin River through Virginia to Philadelphia distant 455 Miles"—what would later come to be known as the Great Wagon Road. Early life Jefferson was born at a settlement called Osbornes along the James River in what is now Chesterfield County, Virginia and was the son of Captain Thomas Jefferson, a large property owner, and Mary Field, who was the daughter of Major Peter Field of New Kent County and granddaughter of Henry Soane of the Virginia House of Burgesses. Jefferson's mother, Mary Field Jefferson, died when he was eight years of age. During his childhood, he learned about plantation management from his father. When he was 18 years of age, he managed his father's plantations. His father died when he was 24 years of age. He did not receive any formal education while young, but according to his son Thomas Jefferson, he nevertheless "read much and improved himself" and provided for education for his children. He was the fourth child of six children.