The Randolphs

[fin john]

All,

   In the fourth last paragraph of chapter one of Moby-Dick, Melville makes a passing reference to the Randolphs: "It touches one's sense of honor, particularly if you come of an old established family in the land, the Van Rensslaers, or Randolphs, or Hardicanutes." Likewise in Pierre, he writes in book one, part three of "the English planter families of Virginia and the South; the Randolphs for example." These have always seemed like harmless enough references to a Virginia dynasty, and perhaps that is all that they really are. On the other hand, he may have known of Henry Patterson Randolph and his wife, (Jane) Louise Randolph, nee Dempsey, who would become the second wife of Allan Melville in 1860. The roots of Henry P Randolph are in this very dynasty.

 

   Henry Patterson Randolph was one of nine children by Thomas Mann Randolph, II (1791-1851) and his second wife, Lucinda Anne Patterson of New Jersey. Thomas had six children by a previous marriage. Of these 15 children, five died in childhood. Henry was a descendant of the Tuckahoe Randolphs, junior line, and of William Randolph, the progenitor of the Virginia Randolphs. Tuckahoe was a family estate of 25,000 acres. Formerly in Henrico County, now what remains of the estate is in Goochland County along the James River, west of Richmond. But Thomas was forced to sell this abbreviated estate in 1830.

 

  Two sons by Thomas Mann Randolph, Senior, bore his full name. The first was Junior who married Martha, the daughter of President Thomas Jefferson. The second son by a second marriage was designated II. The rights to Tuckahoe passed through him.

 

  What is Melville's intent when in Moby-Dick he cites the Randolphs along with the Hardicanutes? The latter is a Melville joke because the Hardicanutes were not a dynasty at all and certainly not hardy. In fact there were no Hardicanutes except for one. Hardicanute was king of Denmark and England in 1042 and died without wife or child and was hardly established in England. There were no more Hardicanutes. Might Melville have had a certain Randolph in mind when he made this reference to the Hardicanutes? Jane Louise Randolph had lost her child in March 1851 while Melville was writing Moby-Dick. She never had another child and perhaps never could.

 

   Then the question is why would Herman Melville be interested in the Randolphs?

 

John Gretchko  

[Stephen Hoy]

"It touches one's sense of
honor, particularly if you come of an old established family in the
land,
the Van Rensslaers, or Randolphs, or Hardicanutes."

Since the theme of the book is somewhat related to rebellion, we might
wonder whether there is a common "rebellion" thread linking the
Renssalaers, Randolphs, and Hardicanutes. Might I suggest: "Tax
Rebellion"?

During the 1830s, tenant/owners revolted against the Patroon's heirs
in the anti-rent wars Short work for the Renssalaers. Hardicanute re-
activated the danegelt, and in his short reign rather infamously
burned the town of Worcester after they killed a pair of tax
collectors. Clear links here.

With the Randolphs we find something less precise. Nevertheless, I
submit John Randolph as chair of the Ways and Means committee rather
famously describing the Whiskey excise (cause of the Whiskey
Rebellion) as vexatious, oppressive, and peculiarly obnoxious; "an
excise which is hostile to the genius of a free people."