This 1825 painting, "The Plantation," is a fitting summary of the Virginia gentry's self-conception. Source: Wikimedia commons.

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?

[Music]

Emily: ​Welcome to our podcast where we will be talking about one forgotten scandal in American history. Today we will be discussing the infamous Randolph scandal that would stain the reputation of the Randolph family and haunt many of its members for the rest of their lives. The scandal not only would alter the course of their lives, but it also shed some light on the importance of reputation in the 18th and 19th century, and how it differed for men and women of the time.

The source for this podcast is from Cynthia Kierner’s Book ​Scandal at Bizarre: Rumor and Reputation in Jefferson’s America. ​I’m Emily Mallard–

Ava: ​And I’m Ava Brookshier.

Emily​: Before we launch into the scandal, it is important to understand a little bit about the Randolph family. The Randolph family was one of the first settlers in the colony of Virginia; some Randolphs were even prominent politicians. The family would enjoy wealth and power for about a century until their status would diminish.

After the revolutionary war in 1776, those wealthy families like the Randolphs that were used to wielding power found themselves working with newcomers and lower class citizens. Richard’s and Nancy’s parents were among the first of this revolutionary generation to deal with the fall from wealth and power.

So, let’s focus more on the scandal. In 1772, Judith Randolph was born. In 1789 she married the dashing and young Richard Randolph, who was a distant cousin, and they soon went to go live at Bizarre together.

A few years later, Judith’s younger sister, Nancy, who was unhappy living at home with her father and his new wife, Gabriella, moved to Bizarre to live with Richard and Judith. This move allowed Nancy to step out of the reach of her father and his new wife but also allowed her to keep her reputation and virtue because she was now under the care of Richard’s household. Nancy soon became close with Richard’s stepfather, St. George Tucker, who would defend both their reputations in the coming years after the scandal.

One of the reasons that Richard’s reputation was so important to him is that after the Revolution, the elite of Virginia- including his own family- were decaying in status. Many of these families were in debt. As Kierner explained in her book, quote, ​“political revolution had fractured the traditionally organic society of the colonial era, undermining the gentry’s power and influence in their communities,” e​ nd quote (​Scandal at Bizarre​). Reputation was highly valued in the 18th and 19th centuries, and this fact would lead Richard to later appear in court to defend himself.

So Ava, what happened that night that would lead Richard to eventually appear in court?

Ava: ​So, the scandal happened at the plantation of Glentivar, the home of Mary and Randolph Harrison. Nancy Randolph, her older sister Judith, and Judith’s husband Richard, along with a few other members of the Randolph family were staying at Glentivar. The day they came to Glentivar, Nancy fell ill and went to bed, and as explained earlier, Mary Harrison heard screams. The only people she found in Nancy’s room were Richard Randolph, Nancy’s younger sister, Virginia, who was staying at Glentivar, and a young enslaved girl. Judith told Mary that Nancy was having a “hysteric fit.”

Later in the night, the Harrisons heard someone come down the stairs, then later walk back up, as if they had left the house. The heavy footsteps indicated to them that it had been Richard who had walked down the stairs. Soon after, a black woman on the plantation told the Harrisons that enslaved people had found a baby’s body on the plantation, but they did not believe the story. A rumor spread that Richard had committed adultery and fathered a child with Nancy and then had murdered the child to cover up his crimes.

Months later, when the rumors started to become serious, Randolph Harrison investigated these rumors and found nothing but a single stained shingle where the body was supposedly found. The story, which had at first contained within Glentivar, soon spread to the public, including those who could credibly accuse Richard of the crime of murdering his child.

Cynthia Kierner traces gossip in ​Scandal at Bizarre​ from the enslaved population at Glentivar to their contacts including to free black people and white people, to all levels of Virginian society, even the elite. Gossip was a very effective method for spreading scandal because it could spread quickly and there was no real source for it so it was difficult for anyone to be punished.

Under the culture of honor that existed in the South at the time, slaves did not have honor and could not accuse white people of such crimes as they were accusing Richard of; however, they could spread the story, so the accusations came from all sides.

Now, interestingly, this story of a young woman who is seduced by a man who is not her husband and becomes pregnant, was actually very familiar to people of the time. It was the narrative of what was called the “sentimental novel,” where generally a young woman is seduced, becomes pregnant, loses her reputation, and often dies. So this story was easily understood from the rumors, and its characters were easily cast as villains and victims. Richard was seen as the villain, and Nancy as the victim, though this would change over time.

And for a man like Richard, being seen as a villain in such a scandal compromised his honor.

Emily: ​After the scandal erupted Richard attempted to regain his honor. Honor was extremely important for men at the time especially for wealthy men like Richard Randolph. Quote,​ “honor was a precious commodity that men defended with their lives”​ end quote. Many people believed that Richard had committed adultery, and in a state of panic, had murdered his own child. In addition to this, his reputation suffered because many thought he failed to protect Judith and Nancy while under his protection in his household at Bizarre. Although the rumor was damaging to Nancy, it was much more critical of Richard, who was being accused of being both the father and a murderer.

In the aftermath of the scandal, Richard began to see William Randolph as the source of the rumor that he had seduced Nancy and fathered her child. This promoted Richard to challenge William to a duel. This type of challenge would likely have ended in a statement from William retracting the insult, which would result in some amount of “public vindication” for Richard; however, William refused to answer the challenge at all. This meant that Richard had to seek his “public vindication” elsewhere. This led him to go to court in 1793, where he would end up on trial for the accused murder of his child.

Following the scandal, Richard proclaimed publicly that he wanted to take his case to trial. However, he waited until he was actually taken to jail and charged with, quote, ​“murdering a child delivered of the body of Nancy Rudolph or [being] an accessory to the same,”​ end quote. The charge of murder was difficult to prosecute as there was no evidence, and black people were

not allowed to testify in trials of white people at the time, so none of the slaves present during the rumored murder could testify. At the conclusion of the ​Commonwealth v. Randolph​ trial, Richard was found not guilty. But, would this help him gain his reputation and honor back?

Unfortunately, not really. He was still seen as a murderer by the public, despite the verdict in his trial and St. George Tucker’s defense of him in the newspapers. So why was it so difficult for Richard to regain his honor?

In the Revolutionary era, men would often challenge those who attacked their honor in duels. Though Richard did challenge William Randolph to a duel, the rumors had originally arisen from enslaved people and spread to white Virginians, who were both wealthy and poor. The attacks on Richard’s reputation came from the public- not from one specific person- so that made it extremely difficult for Richard to regain his honor. Though Richard risked his life (somewhat I might add) by going to court, he was not able to restore his reputation.

Three years after the trial, Richard died at the age of 26, leaving Judith without a husband, and his brother, Jack Randolph, to manage the household and to attempt to restore honor to his family. Unfortunately for Nancy, following Richard’s death, many began to view Nancy as the villain of the Bizarre scandal.

Ava: ​After Richard’s death, Nancy’s relationships with those remaining at Bizarre began to deteriorate. She fought with Judith and ended up spending as little time with her as possible. She spent much time at Monticello, away from Bizarre. Eventually, she began to stay with family members, but with her damaged reputation, she was unable to find work. She struggled financially, while many of the family members she stayed with were also struggling. As mentioned before, many members of the Virginia elite were in debt, and Nancy was essentially a financial burden for them. She ended up in New York in 1808, and she found work in the household of a politician named Gouverneur Morris.

Now, Gouverneur Morris was not exactly a conventional man, he was well known as a politician, and was a writer of the Constitution, however, he was very different from the men who had played a prominent role in Nancy’s life up ‘til then. He was not as concerned with honor, which is made fairly clear in his life. One instance of this is shown by the fact that he kept a diary of his sexual affairs while abroad in France. So, unlike Richard, and as we will eventually see, Jack Randolph, Gouverneur Morris was somewhat indifferent towards the conventional idea of honor which perhaps led him to take in Nancy as many others refused to. She was at first his housekeeper, but in 1809 the two were married, which did provoke some outcry due to Nancy’s scandalous past, but she was able to put her past behind her following her marriage to Gouverneur Morris. She attempted to establish herself as a virtuous woman. She went by Ann

Cary Morris, rather than Nancy Randolph, and in 1813 she gave birth to her son, Gouverneur Morris Jr.

This was a new, stable, happy time of her life, however, she was still vulnerable to attacks on her reputation due to her past. Jack Randolph, now in charge of the plantation of Bizarre, was determined to damage Nancy’s reputation, and he even sent a letter to Gouverneur saying that she was a dangerous and immoral woman, and even accused her of poisoning Richard and causing his death at such a young age. Gouverneur Morris did not believe this, and he showed the letter to Nancy, who responded to Jack’s attack on her honor. She was unable to publish her response, but it still affected Jack’s ongoing political campaign.

Honor for women at the time was very different from honor for men. Women also could not defend their honor as men could, and women’s honor was actually seen as being protected by the men in their lives. This was shown by how the scandal was made particularly scandalous to Richard Randolph, who was unable to protect the women in his household. However, Nancy, particularly while Gouverneur Morris was alive, again, because women’s honor was protected by men, was able to defend her reputation as, as Kierner says, a virtuous wife and mother. Kierner also writes that ​“virtue was the surest road to security and happiness for women,”​ which in Nancy’s life, seemed to be true, as this was a very stable time in her life for her and she managed to have a son and find a husband and live a very happy life.

However, three years after their son was born, Gouvernor Morris died, and Kierner writes that his death ended the happiest, safest, and most conventional chapter of Nancy’s adult life. After his death, she continued to care for her son, and take care of Morris’s estate of Morrisania. However, they were both threatened by Morris’s relatives, who wished to take his inheritance and disinherit Gouverneur Morris, Jr. The leader of these relatives was David Ogden, a New York lawyer and a nephew of Gouverneur Morris. He actually attempted to convince the public that Nancy was unchaste and that Gouverneur Morris, Jr. was not truly Gouverneur Morris’s son. If he was declared illegitimate, the inheritance would be split among Morris’s relatives, and, as such, Ogden would get some of Gouverneur Morris’s money. This attack on Nancy’s virtue was facilitated by the Bizarre scandal, which made her vulnerable to attacks on her character. And so, even after she had had to defend herself against Jack Randolph, she again found herself being attacked because of this scandal in her past that she had tried so hard to put behind her.

Interestingly, during this time Nancy became more dependent on the South and the connections she still had there. She saw the corruption in New York City as shown by David Ogden as the opposite of the southern ideal of honor, despite the southern ideal of honor having truly harmed her in the past.

Fortunately, Nancy was able to defend herself against David Ogden and protect both herself and her son by using Gouverneur Morris’s letters that made it clear how much he had loved and trusted Nancy. So in the end, the scandal followed Nancy throughout her entire life, but by the time of her death in 1837, many viewed the scandal as “a tale of redemption”, in which Nancy overcame the scandal in her youth to become a virtuous woman. Unlike the characters of sentimental novels who lost their reputations and could do nothing but die in despair, Nancy managed to take her life back and build something new for herself.

Her son, Gouverneur Morris Jr., married Patty Jefferson, a relative of Thomas Jefferson, and their daughter was able to finish Nancy’s project by publishing her grandfather, Gouverneur Morris’s letters. These letters further showed just how much Morris loved and trusted Nancy. And her son even built a church in her name, named St. Ann’s Episcopal Church where both she and Gouverneur Morris are buried.

Despite the scandal and the unhappiness it would cause in Nancy’s life she managed to regain her reputation, defend herself and her family, and live a full life.

[Music]

Ava:​ So why does this scandal even matter? What’s its importance in American history? What does it show us about the time period that Nancy Randolph and her relatives lived in?

Emily: ​So first off Ava, it really shows how honor and the honor culture was really destructive. It was super tied to the life of men in this century. It would end in duels and sometimes death. But, it was also relevant to women. It was used to hurt women and even though we saw it was critical of Richard, it followed Nancy.

Ava: ​Yeah, it really did. And the men in Nancy’s life, particularly later on when she was more of the villain of the scandal than Richard, they used her damaged reputation to attack her and they felt that they needed to regain their honor by making sure Nancy never lived a happy life. And by constantly attacking her honor, sort of to prove they were not associated with them. That the Randolph family still had a good reputation.

Emily: ​Yeah and I think also a big reason why these men were so concerned with their honor is that the wealthy gentry of the 18th century was being broken down after the Revolution and they weren’t experiencing the same power that they had been used to.

Ava​: They felt vulnerable.

Emily​: Exactly! And you know, just how Nancy felt towards the end of her life too.

Ava​: Though Nancy still felt attached to the Southern culture of honor, as I mentioned earlier. She actually managed to find a better life in a place where honor was not as important and particularly with a person, Gouverneur Morris, for who honor was not as important. Who would still marry Nancy, and clearly he really loved her despite her past.

Emily: ​And yeah for that reason, the story of Nancy Randolph and the scandal at Bizarre is truly a story of redemption.

Ava: ​Well, thank you for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed and that you learned a new thing about a forgotten scandal in American history.

[Music]

Emily: ​I’m Emily Mallard and that’s Ava Brookshier and thanks for listening. [Closing Music]

Works Cited

Kierner, Cynthia A. ​Scandal at Bizarre: Rumor and Reputation in Jefferson’s America.​ University of Virginia Press, 2006.