Ann Cary Randolph Morris (1774-1837)

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This page is currently under construction. Please check back for updates. 03/14/17.


Biographical Sketch

Ann Cary Randolph Morris, also known as Nancy Randolph, was the daughter of Ann Cary (1745-1789) and Thomas Mann Randolph (1741-1793) of Tuckahoe Plantation in Henrico County, (now Goochland County) Virginia. Ann and Thomas Randolph had thirteen children, including Judith Randolph Randolph who in 1793 married her cousin Richard Randolph of Bizarre Plantation in Cumberland County, Virginia.[1]

Nancy's mother died in 1789, and in 1790 her father married Gabriella Harvie (1772-1853). Thomas Mann and Gabriella Harvie Randolph had two children. [2]

In 1791, shortly after Ann's sister Judith married Richard Randolph and moved to Bizarre, Ann Cary Randolph moved in with them. This is where the events that led to the infamous "Bizarre Scandal" developed.

On October 1, 1792, it is alleged Ann Cary Randolph, eighteen years old and unmarried, gave birth to a child fathered by her sister's husband Richard Randolph, at Glenlyvar Plantation home of her cousin and brother-in-law Harrison Randolph. Richard Randolph kept all others away from Ann, and took the child outside of the house, leaving the corpse on a pile of shingles. The circumstances surrounding that night led to rumors, purportedly solely by the enslaved members of the Glenlyvar household, that Richard Randolph murdered the infant child and ultimate disposed of the body. As a result of the social pressures put on Richard Randolph, he submitted himself for examination to the Cumberland County Courthouse on April 29, 1793. Ultimately a trial for "felonio[us]ly murdering a child said to be born of Nancy Randolph" found Richard "not guilty of the felony where with he stands charged". Representing Richard Randolph were Patrick Henry, John Marshal with advice provided Richard by his jurist step-father St. George Tucker. No charges were brought against Ann Cary Randolph, and the court of opinion believed her to be an innocent who was abused by her sister's husband.[3]

Nancy left Bizarre, lived with family, and worked her way northward and ending up in New York as a housekeeper to Gouvernor Morris (1752-1816) of Morrisina in Bronx County, New York. In 1809, she married Morris. They had one son, Gouvernor Morris (1813-1888). Ann Cary Randolph Morris died in 1836. [4]

Materials in the Special Collections Research Center

References

  1. ↑ Anderson, Jefferson Randolph, Tuckahoe and the Tuckahoe Randolphs, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 45. No. 1 (January, 1937), pp. 55-86. Published by the Historical Society, from JSTOR. www.jstor.org/stable/4244772 (accessed March 14, 2017).
  2. ↑ Sharp, Barbara. Find A Grave Memorial #57495624. Latest update August 22, 2010 (accessed march 16, 2017). Gabriella Harvie Brockenbrough.
  3. ↑ Anderson, Jefferson Randolph, Tuckahoe and the Tuckahoe Randolphs, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 45. No. 1 (January, 1937), pp. 55-86. Published by the Historical Society, from JSTOR. www.jstor.org/stable/4244772 (accessed March 14, 2017).
  4. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial #101817. Latest update December 27, 2004 (accessed March 16, 2017). Ann Cary Randolph Morris.

Further Reading


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