Francis W. Eppes

Francis Wayles Eppes VII (September 20, 1801 – May 10, 1881) was the grandson of President Thomas Jefferson. After moving from Virginia with his family to near Tallahassee, Florida in 1829, he established a cotton plantation. In 1856 Eppes donated land and money to gain the location in Tallahassee of one of the first two state-supported seminaries, the Florida State University. He served as president of its board of trustees for eight years.

Biography

Francis Eppes was born in 1801 to Maria (née Jefferson) and John Wayles Eppes at Monticello, his maternal grandfather's plantation in Albemarle County, Virginia. After his mother died when he was three, Francis spent much time at Monticello with his maternal aunt Martha Randolph and his grandfather, the widower Thomas Jefferson. He was cared for as a child for years at his father's plantation by the slave Betsy Hemmings, later called "Mam Bess". Jefferson gave her to his parents at their wedding. She was the daughter of Mary Hemings and the granddaughter of Betty Hemings, who was held by the Jeffersons at Monticello. His first nurse was Critta Hemings Bowles, an aunt of Betsy Hemmings.