Virginia Randolph Cary

Virginia Randolph Cary (* January 30, 1786, † May 2, 1852 in Alexandria, Virginia) was an American writer of the 19th century, to their most influential works is Letters on Female Character, Addressed to a Young Lady, on the Death of Her Mother ( 1828).

Life and work

She was probably in Goochland County, Virginia, on Tuckahoe Plantation her parents, Thomas Mann Randolph (1741-1794) and his first wife Ann Cary Randolph was born. The Randolph family was one of the most influential families of Virginia, whose roots dating back to the early colonial period. She was a descendant of Pocahontas and her British husband, John Rolfe. Among her twelve siblings were Mary Randolph, author of the influential cookbook, The Virginia House - Wife ( 1824), and Thomas Mann Randolph ( 1768-1828 ), member of the House of Representatives ( 1803-1807 ) and Governor of Virginia ( 1819-1822 ). After her mother's death she lived in Albemarle County, Virginia, in Monticello with her brother and her sister Martha Jefferson Randolph, daughter of Thomas Jefferson.

On August 28, 1805 Virginia married in Fluvanna County, Virginia, her cousin Wilson Jefferson Cary. The couple had six children: Col. Wilson Miles Cary (1806-1877), Archibald Cary ( he married Monimia Fairfax and was the father of the famous writer Constance Cary Harrison), Jane Blair Cary, Elizabeth Randolph Cary, Mary Randolph Cary (1806 - 1882) and Martha Jefferson Cary ( she married Gouverneur Morris Jr., the son of Gouverneur Morris, one of the founding fathers of the United States).

After Virginia's husband died, she published her four major works:

  • Letters on Female Character, Addressed to a Young Lady, on the Death of Her Mother (1828 )
  • Mutius: An Historical Sketch of the Fourth Century (1828 )
  • Christian Parent 's Assistant, or Tales, for the moral and Religious Instruction of Youth (1829 )
  • Ruth Churchill; or, The True Protestant: A Tale for the Times ( 1851), a novella

After her death in Alexandria, she was buried at Saint Paul 's Episcopal Church Cemetery.

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