Happy Birthday, Thomas Jefferson (b. 1743)! -- state holiday in Virginia

from Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor, American Public Media):

April 13 is the birthday of Thomas Jefferson, born in Albemarle County in Virginia in 1743, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, as well as countless pieces of legislation, reports, notes, letters, essays, and even books on farming and gardening. He was also famously well-read and a great lover of books; his personal library was the largest private collection in the United States -- 6,487 volumes on history, philosophy, and fine arts -- when he sold it to Congress after the British burned down the Library of Congress. (The lost library was less than half the size of Jefferson's.)