Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> > It would be a stretch to call Thomas Jefferson a homesteader.
>
> Would it?  I might have thought that too until a few years ago when I got 
> (at the library, alas, I don't own it) the book publishing all of Thomas
> Jefferson's farming and gardening notes.  In the essentials of trying to 
> run his plantation on a self-sufficient basis, he was very much the 
> essential homesteader.

My vision of homesteader is one who lives a simpler life. I am a great 
admirer of the sage of Monticello even knowing his weaknesses and 
contradictions. At age fourteen his father died and TJ inherited 1,900 
acres and 30 slaves. He was given a splendid education. A year after he 
married Martha her father died and left her substantial fortune, doubling 
the Jefferson estate and adding many slaves to his work force. In spite of 
all this, he was in debt for essentially all his adult life.

Historically, the homesteader is one who by necessity acts in a prudent and 
modest manner regarding finances, producing what modest needs and selling 
the surplus to pay taxes and buy what cannot be produced. We moderns who 
seduce ourselves with the term have most in common our desire for space, 
freedom and self-reliance. A few hundred acres and one hired hand, maybe. 
Jefferson had thousands of acres and 187 slaves.

As for his gardening and farming interests and efforts, they are apparent 
from his careful and voluminous records. His love of the rural life and his 
curious mind caused him to collect, study and improve many varieties of 
plants. He designed extensive gardens; the main garden is nearly two acres 
in size. One of his slaves noted that the master even occasionally, in the 
cool of late day, got his hands dirty for a half hour or so.

These are my considerations for writing, "It would be a stretch to call 
Thomas Jefferson a homesteader."