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Ellen Randolph Coolidge

granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson (1796-1876)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ60536153 ↗
Source-derived summary

Eleonora Wayles "Ellen" Randolph Coolidge (October 1796 – April 21, 1876) was the granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson and daughter of Martha Jefferson Randolph and Thomas Mann Randolph. Coolidge had a close relationship with Jefferson, serving as an assistant until her marriage.

Early years

Born in October 1796, Ellen (Eleonora) Wayles Randolph was the daughter of Thomas Mann Randolph and Martha Jefferson Randolph. Coolidge was a well-educated woman, proficient in languages. She learned Latin, French, and other modern languages. Martha, a very well-educated woman for the time, taught her children. While some of the children struggled with their studies, by four years of age, Coolidge was deemed "wonderfully apt" by her mother. In November 1802, during Jefferson's first term as president, she traveled with her brother Jeff and her mother to Washington, D.C. for a six-week visit at the President's House (now called the White House). Martha left her older and younger children at Monticello. Coolidge frequently wrote to the president about her studies, what books she had been reading, and her poultry and gardening.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Ellen Randolph Coolidge” as granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson (1796-1876). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ellen, Randolph and Coolidge.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1796, 1876, 1802—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1796-01-01, 1796-10—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Ellen, Randolph and Coolidge providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ellen Randolph Coolidge”, the useful work is to connect “granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson (1796-1876)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q60536153. VIAF identifies the subject as 36666269. The Library of Congress control number is no2006029970. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1796, 1876 and 1802.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ellen Randolph Coolidge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.