Thomas jefferson early life biography schools

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, at Shadwell plantation in western Virginia. His first childhood memory, at age three, was of the fifty-mile horseback ride he took with his father's slave into the Virginia wilderness.

This journey was undertaken with his family as they moved to a plantation that Jefferson's father was to manage, acting as executor of a friend's estate. Along with his parents and three siblings—three other sisters and one brother were later born to the family—Jefferson spent the next six years roaming the woods and studying his books.

Intellectual Beginnings

At age nine, Jefferson began his formal studies, boarding with a minister-teacher nine months out of the year.

Thomas jefferson early life biography schools

He continued boarding school until age sixteen, excelling in classical languages. In 1760, Jefferson enrolled at the College of William and Mary, taking classes in science, mathematics, rhetoric, philosophy, and literature. The precocious Jef