Thomas Jefferson

Fun Facts about Thomas Jefferson

• Jefferson loved science, technology and innovation.
• He had 12 grandchildren, and many of them lived with him at the same time. He would organize races for the kids on the enormous lawn of Monticello.
• As a boy, the freckle-faced Jefferson played with his friends on the land where he would eventually build Monticello. He would explore the woods, creeks and streams.
• He had the bones of a mastodon, an animal from 40 million years ago that looked a bit like an elephant, sent to him at the White House.
• Jefferson wrote about 19,000 letters during his lifetime. He also used a machine called a polygraph that made copies as he wrote.
• He LOVED books. In 1814, the original Library of Congress was attacked by British troops and all the books were burned. Jefferson offered his personal library as a replacement. In 1815, the Library of Congress was restocked — with Jefferson’s 6,487 books.