Mary Randolph

Mary Randolph (1762–1828) was an American author, known for writing The Virginia House-Wife; Or, Methodical Cook (1824), one of the most influential housekeeping and cook books of the nineteenth century.

Biography

Randolph was born at Ampthill on August 9, 1762, the daughter of Thomas Mann Randolph (1741–1794), a member of the Virginia Convention of 1776 and descendant of Pocahontas and John Rolfe, and his first wife, Anne Cary Randolph (1745–1789). The eldest of thirteen, her siblings included Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr. (1768–1828) son-in-law of Thomas Jefferson and Governor of Virginia, and the writer Virginia Randolph Cary (1786–1852).

In December 1780 she married a cousin, David Meade Randolph (1760–1830) and they would have eight children, four survived into adulthood. Initially they lived at "Presqu'Ile," his plantation in Chesterfield County, Virginia, but built "Moldavia," a mansion in Richmond, Virginia in 1798. Due to their financial situation, the Randolphs were forced to sell their home in 1804 and by 1808 were operating a boarding house in Richmond.