In 1780, David Meade Randolph married a cousin Mary Randolph and they settled in Chesterfield County near Bermuda Hundred at Presquile, a plantation just west of the Appomattox River that was part of the Randolph family's extensive property along the James River. While David Randolph saw to the cultivation of his plantation, gaining a reputation as "the best farmer in the country," as well as a noted inventor, Mary assumed a conventional role, supervising the household, entertaining their many guests and acquiring a reputation as a lively hostess who set an exquisite table. While living at Presquile, Mary bore four sons. Over time, life at Presquile, situated along the swamp lands of the lower James, proved difficult. According to a contemporary source, the swamps produced noxious fumes that brought on "frequent and dangerous diseases. Mr. Randolph is himself very sickly, and his young and amiable wife has not enjoyed one month of good health since she first came to live on this plantation." By 1798, the family had moved to Richmond, where they built a mansion, christened "Moldavia" (a combination of their two given names) by a friend. Presquile was sold out of the Randolph family three years later. Part of the plantation is now the Presquile National Wildlife Refuge)