answer:
hello, 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. at age nine, jefferson began his formal studies, boarding with a minister-teacher nine months out of the year. 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 jefferson fell under the influence of professor william small, who had brought the latest enlightenment thinking to williamsburg from his native scotland, and dined frequently with governor francis fauquier and other luminaries in the provincial capital. from 1762 to 1767, jefferson pursued legal studies under george wythe, who also taught john marshall and henry clay, two of the most outstanding figures in american history. under wythe's tutelage, jefferson emerged as perhaps the nation's best-read lawyer upon his admission to the virginia bar in april 1767. for jefferson, the study of law, as directed by wythe, was more than just a means of earning a living; jefferson felt that examining legal issues enabled one to consider many aspects of society, including its history, politics, culture, institutions, and the moral conscience of its people.
during jefferson's time, few colonial americans could afford the quality and personal education that he received. he owed his good fortune to the financial success of his father, peter jefferson, a planter of some means. by the time of his death in 1757, the elder jefferson owned 7,000 acres of land in western virginia. he had also made a name for himself as the commander of the local militia, a talented surveyor, and a country politician. his early death, when thomas was fourteen, caused his teenage son to look to his teachers for fatherly advice and direction. little is known about jefferson's mother, jane randolph jefferson, who died in 1776. as a young country lawyer, jefferson practiced law on a circuit, following the meetings of the colonial court as it traveled to various district seats throughout virginia. it was during these unsettled years that he met and fell in love with twenty-three-year-old martha wayles skelton, a wealthy widow and daughter of a prominent virginia lawyer and landowner. her first husband and infant son had died two years earlier. martha and thomas married on january 1, 1772, moving into a stark one-room brick house at jefferson's virginia plantation, which he called monticello.
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