Episode 2: The Randolph Family and the Fall of the Virginia Gentry

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Creators: This podcast was created by Smith College students Annika J., Ava B., Savannah B., and Emily M.

Transcript

Ava: ​One night in October 1792, Mary Harrison woke to hear screams. The screams came from her cousin Nancy’s room. She went to investigate and found several people in the room, including Nancy’s older sister Judith and Judith’s husband Richard Randolph. Judith assured Mary that Nancy was only having what she called a “hysteric fit”.

The next day, Nancy stayed in bed, but Mary noticed blood on the stairs and on Nancy’s bedsheets. And not long after, a rumor spread that Richard Randolph had fathered a child with Nancy and then murdered it. Mary and her husband, Randolph, did not believe the rumors, but these rumors would soon spread to all levels of Virginian society and threaten the reputations of members of Virginia’s elite. What would this rumor cost Richard, Nancy, and the rest of their family?

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