Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson, the second child in her family to bear that name, died of whooping cough at Eppington in 1784, around October 13, while her father Thomas Jefferson was in France. She was two years old and was staying with Francis and Elizabeth Eppes after her mother's death. Letters show an illness affecting several children in the household, with Dr James Currie attending them. Elizabeth Eppes described Lucy as confined to bed for about a week and suffering greatly, but remaining conscious; shortly before death she asked her aunt for water. The convulsions described in the same letter belonged to Lucy's cousin, also called Lucy, and must not be assigned to Jefferson's daughter. Both little girls died within a week of each other. News reached Jefferson through Lafayette carrying Currie's letter, while the Eppes family's earlier letters arrived much later. Lucy's burial is believed to have been at Eppington, though the grave is unmarked and claims of later removal to Monticello remain unproved. Her final illness can be reconstructed more closely than many children's deaths because of the surviving letters, but the approximate death day and the distinction between the two Lucys must be retained.