Obituary of Thomas Jefferson
Occasionally we run across interesting articles that we would like to pass on. On further refection we realize that what interests one person may not excite another. But this time we will make an exception because we are very interested in Jefferson, and so should you.
Barton Family Funeral Service is a family run funeral service in Kirkland Washington, which happens to be almost ground zero for the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. The press reported that some of the early deaths from coronavirus occurred at the Life Care Center in Kirkland. So out of curiosity, we started to search on coronavirus in Kirkland WA and we ran into the Barton web site. Assuming that obituaries would be the place to look, we encountered an interesting chain of pages that ended in the Obituary of Thomas Jefferson, almost 200 years late. (Date of death: July 4, 1826)
Chain of Pages
The chain of pages that led us to the obituary involved showing people how to upload pictures to put in an online obituary.
- https://bartonfuneral.com/how-to-submit-an-obituary/
This page describes how to submit an obituary to Barton Family Funeral Service - https://bartonfuneral.com/how-to-submit-a-photo-if-you-dont-have-a-scanner/
Many people do not have scanners, This page shows how a smartphone can make an excellent image of a photograph that can be emailed directly from the smartphone. - https://bartonfuneral.com/2008/07/02/thomas_jefferson/
This page isn’t written like a real obituary but it is an interesting commentary. The previous link refers to it as a commentary in the last link on the page but as an obituary at the halfway point in the page.
The second of the above three links had links to information about Jefferson, and since he is one of our favorite founding fathers, we followed the link to the last page, which was the obituary. We called Barton Family Funeral Service. They were a bit surprised we found the page. It has been on their site for a long time and no one has commented on it before.
Permission Granted
We asked permission to post the article in its entirety and they were more than please to let us do so, asking only that we include their credits and copyright. So here is the Obituary of Thomas Jefferson 200 years late. It has the advantage of historical perspective to make an important point. As stated in their article about the American Revolutionary War against England, “Their revolution was to be free from England. Ending slavery would have required another revolution and would have been the death of the union, as it almost was in 1861-1965.”
Obituary of Thomas Jefferson 200 Years Late.
Thomas Jefferson
April 13, 1743, (Shadwell, Colony of Virginia, British America)-July 4, 1826 (Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.)
Thomas Jefferson is counted among the Founding Fathers . He was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Previously, he served as vice-president under John Adams from 1797 to 1801.
Jefferson was a prolific writer. John Adams, who also made major contributions to the Declaration of Independence, asked Jefferson to edit the document because he felt Jefferson had “A peculiar felicity for expression.”
Jefferson is regarded as one of the most intelligent of U.S. presidents. President Kennedy is reported to have said to a gathering of scientists in the White House, that “I’d like to welcome you all to the greatest gathering of minds to assemble here since Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”
He was a genius by any standard but was just one among other geniuses of the day including, Washington, Adams, and Benjamin Franklin.
De mortuis nil nisi bene dicendum
(Speak not ill of the dead)
It has recently become fashionable among a self-righteous and arguably self-centered portion of the population to condemn many of the Founders of the Republic because they did not write or speak about the evils of slavery. Indeed Jefferson owned slaves. He also lived beyond his means, made bad investments, and may have had some personal relationships that used to be illegal in Utah.
Five of the Founders, Washington, Adams, Franklin, Hamilton, and Madison are on record for opposing slavery. They condemned it eloquently. Some are on record for wondering why their colleague Jefferson did not use his eloquence to denounce slavery.
Their legacy as founders, and indeed their very lives, depended on uniting a nation and winning the Revolution.
Their revolution was to be free from England. Ending slavery would have required another revolution and would have been the death of the union, as it almost was in 1861-1965.
Wise people know that they cannot always achieve their objectives as quickly as they may want. The ability to delay gratification has been show to be a characteristic of successful individuals.
Jefferson, like all of us when we die, should be remembered for the incalculable good things that he accomplished. He may have wanted to do more. Perhaps he knew he could not live long enough to see it all happen.
Thomas Jefferson’s Grave Stone
Jefferson instructed that his grave stone be made of “coarse stone … that no one might be tempted hereafter to destroy it for the value of the materials.”
Nevertheless people chipped off pieces for souvenirs rendering the monument in such poor repair that it was replaced by a new one in the family cemetery at Monticello and the old one was donated by the family to University of Missouri on July 4, 1885.
Content on this page is from https://bartonfuneral.com/2008/07/02/thomas_jefferson/
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