, but
being a man of strong parts he read much, and so improved himself that
he was chosen,[604:A] with Joshua Fry, professor of mathematics in
William and Mary College, to continue the boundary line between Virginia
and North Carolina, and was afterwards employed, with Mr. Fry, to make a
map of the colony. This was the first regular map of Virginia ever made,
that of Captain Smith, although remarkably well delineated, considering
the circumstances under which it was made, being, of necessity, in large
part conjectural.

Peter Jefferson was one of the first persons who settled in Goochland,
since known as Albemarle, about the year 1737. That county was formed in
1744 out of a part of Goochland, which had been carved out of Henrico in
1727.

Thomas Jefferson's earliest recollection was of his being handed up and
carried on a pillow on horseback by a servant when his father was
removing, in 1745, from Shadwell to Tuckahoe. Peter Jefferson was a man
of extraordinary physical strength; he could "head up," that is raise up
from their sides to an upright position, at once, two hogsheads of
tobacco weighing near a thousand pounds each. He was a favorite with the
Indians, and they often made his house a stopping-place, and in this way
Thomas imbibed an uncommon interest in that people.

Peter Jefferson dying in 1757, left a widow (who survived till 1776)
with six daughters and two sons, of whom Thomas, then fourteen years of
age, was the elder. He inherited the lands on which he was born, and
where he lived. When five years of age, he was placed at school at
Tuckahoe, and when nine, upon the return of the family to Shadwell, at a
Latin school, where he continued until his father's death. His teacher,
the Rev. William Douglas, a native of Scotland, taught him the rudiments
of Latin, Greek, and French. At his father's death he was put under the
care of the Rev. James Maury, of Huguenot descent, a good classical
scholar and thorough teacher, with whom he continued for two years at
the parsonage, fourteen miles from Shadwell.[605:A] The student found
recreation without in hunting on Peter's Mountain, within doors in
playing on the violin. In the spring of 1760 he went to William and Mary
College, and remained there for two years. Dr. William Small, a
Scotchman, was then professor of mathematics there: a man of engaging
manners, large views, and profound science. He shortly afterwards
filled, for a time, the chair of ethics, rhet