Where is the proof that Thomas Jefferson had fathered any children of Sally Hemings?

Answer 1

Very little actually. One of her sons claimed she had told him Jefferson was his father. When this hit the papers when he was president there was a major scandal. Newpapers in those days made no pretense of objectivity but were openly partisan and willing to get savagely personal. Jefferson seemed to show a particular regard for the Hemings family. He freed some of them while he was alive and others in his will. He did not do that for his other slaves. Hemings' descendants have always maintained the tradition that Jefferson was their ancestor. A few years ago some descendants of *one* of Sally's sons allowed DNA tests to be done. The tests proved that they were, in fact, descended from somebody in the Jefferson family but it could not be narrowed down to Thomas or any other single individual of his generation. There were several other male relatives who were living on or near Monticelo at the time who could have also been the ancestor. Jefferson family letters from the time point to one of his cousins as the culprit. It is important to understand that descendants of Hemings' other children have not consented to be tested so we can not know if they all had the same father or not. Michael Montagne

There is no real conclusive evidence of Jefferson fathering Sally Hemming's children, even though the DNA proves it was a member of the Jefferson clan who fathered at least the youngest of Sally's children, Eston Hemmings.

An important point: Eston is some kind of Jefferson relation, whether it be from the president's cousin or brother or nephew or uncle or some other Jefferson. From what I have read, this DNA evidence cannot disclude all the available males in the Jefferson family (who may have been near the Jefferson home at the time of conception).

Experts seem to believe that Jefferson's brother, Randolph, is highly suspected of being the father. I would tend to disagree with this answer for many reasons.

The Carr brothers, more Jeffersons, have been accused by the family but disproved by DNA. This does not allow T. Jefferson off the hook.

I think Jefferson was capable of fathering these Hemmings children. To back up my argument, for one, a male descendant of Eston Hemmings, that was eligible for testing, had DNA that matched with the Jefferson family DNA. Remember, Eston was the last of the Hemmings' children, born in 1808, I think. By the time he was born (if Jefferson was not in it for good with Sally)this DNA should have differed from the Jefferson line.

If it did differ, the argument would be over.

Even a skeptic could possibly accept that Jefferson could have made a mistake early on with Sally, when the first sexual encounter supposedly occurred. But over 10 years later? With the birth of Eston? Would any Jefferson, Thomas or not, be still fooling around with Sally? My point: Knowing that Sally had been with a Jefferson, years after the first accusation, seems to point the way that this must have been a serious relationship for the man involved with her. If Eston was the only Jefferson child, and the rest of the children were not, as some suspect, then the guilty Jefferson man (whoever he was) would even be more foolish to get involved with Sally--at this stage--for she was already the subject of so many suspicions.

Question by question, this all builds the case for me that Jefferson had retained these relations with Sally, for she was HIS slave. Not just "another Jefferson" in the county should be engaging in sex with his "property".

Eston was the only one of the Hemmings children who had a male heir who could provide proof for this DNA test. The other children either slipped into White life, gone for good and into obscuity, or the other candidates were not acceptable. DNA testing required one to be a male descending from a male, from another male, and so on--all the way back to Jefferson himself. Since Jefferson had no sons, his male relatives had to provide DNA.

Madison Hemmings, another Hemming's son, had no eligible heirs for testing. Thomas Woodson, who claimed to be the firstborn child of Sally and Thomas, was proven in the DNA test NOT be a descendent of the Jefferson family. This finding does not contradict Madison Hemming's memoirs, published in an 1800s newspaper, that the first baby of Sally's died in infancy. If Woodson proved to be a Jefferson descendent, Madison would be erroneous in his information.

Jefferson was well aware of the scandalous slander about himself after he came back from France with Sally. He was well aware of the continued rumors throughout his lifetime.

Why then, if Jefferson's brother was the culprit, would Jefferson not sell off Sally and her children? If he knew he was not the father, then why not get rid of his troubles by sending them elsewhere? I mean, after all, Sally and her kids would mean little to him if he was not even Sally's lover, or the father of her children. The cold reality would be that those children would not be valid nieces and nephews of our third president--if the brother fathered them--but mulatto bastard slaves.

If they were Jefferson's children, they would still be bastard slave children, by law, but, if Sally meant something to him, he would most likely provide for them from a cautious distance.

And Jefferson was not stupid. Some of the children reportedly looked like him (or his family). They had only a fraction of African American blood, some with reddish hair and white skin. One would think that he would want to get to the bottom of the matter--if he was not responsible- for he was being accused of a very controversial matter. I certainly would not take the matter lightly if I was accused of something that I did not do. Would he not try to solve the issue if he were not to blame?

Say he was not the father, but he chose NOT to sell these slaves. He could, after all, look even more suspicious-- like a guilty man trying to cover his tracks-- than if he chose to do nothing. But to sell them could be an opportunity for him to end the trouble, to prevent any more embarassment--if, in fact, he was simply trying to combat lies against him.

Either way, if the children were only slave nieces and nephews, or some other relation other than his children, why wouldn't he be angry at his brother (or another Jefferson) for the trouble he caused? Surely, he would demand that an end be put to the very thing that was ruining his reputation-- Sally sleeping with his brother or family member.

You mean he would or could not prevent his brother from being involved with one of his slaves? I can't believe that he would turn a blind eye to his brother, or anyone else, all the way up to the very end--which shows up in Eston's birth that some Jefferson male could not keep his hands off of Sally. Eston was, after all, the proof, the last product of a scandalous mystery that began so many years before he was born. And why would Thomas Jefferson's relative get the sexual control over HIS slave? It does not add up.

CONTINUED

Why would his brother- who must have been well aware of the talk about town- want to keep sleeping with Sally and producing more "Jefferson-like" babies? Didn't he respect his brother enough to end this affair? Would the brother not care that he was causing his brother to be put up to scrutiny?

I think the answer to this is--and it certainly is not fact--is that the brother was not the father. I believe that Thomas Jefferson,himself, grew fond of Sally- perhaps love, perhaps just someone to turn to--had a sexual relationship with her, and the children came because of this union. They certainly could not be stopped, for there were no valid Birth Control methods at the time. Maybe even Jefferson wanted to cut his ties with Sally--when he knew he was exposed--but he was merely a man, with emotions that we can only imagine about.

After his wife died, I hear that he vowed never to remarry. Sally was supposed to be related to his wife, a half sister, so the story goes. And she looked nearly white. Jefferson may not have viewed her as merely a slave, even though she was one by law.

There is abundant evidence that Thomas Jefferson had an affair with Sally Hemings. Readers should be directed to www.Monticello.org to read the Thomas Jefferson Foundation's compilation and assessment of that evidence. The foundation, with the aid of a number of scholars of slavery and Jefferson's life at Monticello, came to the conclusion that Jefferson was the father of Hemings'children. There is also the National Genealogical Society's comprehensive report, done separately from the TJ Foundation, which also examines all the evidence and comes to the conclusion that Jefferson and Hemings had six children together, four of whom lived to adulthood. It's not the kind of question that can be answered without looking at the totality of what is known about the circumstances at Monticello. These reports do that.

There is NO proof that Thomas Jefferson had an affair with Sally Hemings. I assisted Dr. Eugene Foster with the DNA Study and NOTHING PROVES this.

The media grabbed false statements in the British Nature Journal and "ran with it" because it was profitable and sensational. Monticello (owned by The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, but now they have eleminated the "Memorial" part, a different mission. Dan Jordan, Monticello President, always open to new research (he says), will NOT request that the Hemings permit a match of a NEW source of DNA from a son of Madison Hemings (so much for his brand of research).......the Hemings will NOT permit a match......oral history is good enough for them .......THEY say. They make money from appearing at various functions, writing books, etc.

Various agendas surround this fiasco and the public is confused by historical revisionist, political correctness.

For many details please go to: www.angelfire.com/va/TJTruth and www.tjheritage.org

A new organization was formed to counter the Monticello brand of "research" which was charged as biased, one sided, and with a preconceived outcome (see Dr. Wallenborn's Minority Report on the web pages. His Minority Report was NOT included in the original Monticello Report (even though he was a long time Monticello employee who saw their "study" as a preconceived outcome....Chaired by an African-American who was originally hired to do slavery and oral history at Monticello.

My statement to Dr. Daniel Jordan, Monticello President, "I don't know how you can sleep at night for your actions." I had long complained to him of HIS brand of research and when informed of the grave of William Hemings (Madison's son) and my suggestion to contact the Hemings for permission to test his DNA.......HE REPLIED....."YOU CONTACT THEM......DON'T PUT TOO MUCH PRESSURE ON THEM!" This from the TOP man at Monticello and who serves as President of The Thomas Jefferson Foundation (TV personality, Katie Curic, is also on their board.) Julian Bond, NAACP Chairman is on the Monticello Getting Word Board, as is the Chairman of Mr. Jordan's DNA Study Report.

Madison Hemings's statement in the Pike Co. newspaper written by abolitionist, Samuel Wetmore, is pointed out in the Scholars Commission Report (13 prominent scholars), as being incorrect on several points. Read their full report (much of it critical of the Monticello in-house report). On a link from the above web pages, get the book mentioned also, "The Jefferson-Hemings Myth, An American Travesty."

The statement in Madison Hemings story that he was named for James Madiuson on the date of his birth at Monticello by Dolly Madison is UNCORRECT. On this cold January 19, 1805 date, she was in Washington with her husband and friend, Thomas Jefferson, acting as his official hostess in the White House. The Madisons NEVER visited back to Virginia during the winter months. Can you just imagine Dolly Madison telling her husband, James Madison, Sec. of State and Mr. Jefferson, whom she was acting as his hostess,and stating that she is sorry to have to rush off to Monticello to be present at the birth of a slave child of Sally Hemings.

Of course maybe they may have known about the sex of a child bneforehand OR was that a recent invention).......we know don't we?

Of course the slick, icy roads, merely ruts in winter, the streams out of banks and all the winter hazards would not deter our Dolly from her commitment and yet to be charged by Madison as going back on her word to give Sally a promised gift. Of course Madison clairified it for us by stating that white folks always did this.

Read the Scholars Commission Report good and you can see who is manipulating YOUR Country's history and move on to the book mentioned for INSIDE information on this outrageous FIASCO. ASK MONTICELLO why they don't have the very detailed Scholars Commission Report on the web pages.......why they do not stock the cited book on their book shelves.....ask them why they revised their web page in February 2004 as reported on web page: www.angelfire.com/va/TJTruth.

They no longer state that not only Thomas Jefferson fathered possibly ONE but ALL (all....only one tested), of Sally's children, but now they leave it for you to decide.....YES, YOU decide.....DON'T TRUST others replies. DON"T ever accept ONE opinion of anything important......investigate yourself. Just because "authorities" come out of the woodwork on these occasions, have unlimited media access, movie and TV productions but in the end.......their bias and manipulation is uncovered.

Two media outlets, PBS Frontline and A&E Biography denied you MY "other side of the story" because it would not side with the Sally Hemings programs they were giving you. I was interview for about an hour by both and not one word was used. Freedom of the press.......BEWARE......they control the cameras and mikes.

Herb Barger Jefferson Family Historian

Sally Hemings was one quarter African, therefore she was not mulatto but quadroon.Thomas Jefferson had an affair and at least one child with one of his slaves. Carefully researched DNA evidence points "within the limits of scientific certainty" to the fact that Jefferson has descendants through his slave Sally Hemings, who was 29 years younger than Jefferson, was herself the mulatto half-sister of Jefferson's wife.

There is no evidence that Jefferson had a child by his white servant, Hemings.

Anti-white racists have jumped on a poorly-researched DNA study that only demonstrated that a male of the extended Jefferson family may have fathered one of Hemings's children.

Silly bigots puff the "evidence" into "proof" that Thomas Jefferson had a child with Hemings.

Meanwhile, these racist claims have been conclusively disproved.

I only have one thing to say. Why is it so important to know if he had an affair with a slave. Would the same attention be given to the matter if she were a white woman? Think about it. Why is there so much attention given to such trivial matters. I feel we should just focus on Jefferson's contribution to our government and society.

I've always been highly suspicious of the claim that Jefferson had a child with one of his slaves. The motivation behind such an unproven claim could only be to cast Jefferson in the light of being a hypocritical man who wrote and spoke of liberty for people, but obviously excluded the black slave. And to heap insult upon injury, the cad sexually abused his female slave by the name of Sally Hemming. In summary: America is bad because one of it's founders and presidents was bad. Worse than bad, he mistreated his female slave by forcing her to have sex with him.

If this scenario gives you a warm and fuzzy, so be it. Frankly I choose not to accept the speculation until someone can provide real proof that Thomas Jefferson, not a member of his family, actually sired a child with Sally Hemming. To make the claim without proof is slanderous and mean spirited and is of questionable motivation.

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Sally Hemmings would be me, Jefferson, acting upon my true belief, that all people are created equal. Why is it so hard to believe? I left Maria Cosway for her and she is my wife's sister. I never did believe in romantic love (and still do not) as love is about sharing the experience of life. Why wouldn't I choose to be with Sally Hemmings after being in Paris with her especially with my daughter? A daughter I did not know? I never hid the proof from anyone and if John Adams is going to be crazy enough to see it but then write to me and ask if he saw what he saw with his own two eyes then I am under no obligation to tell him anything that will endanger anybody's life. A lie is not a lie if told in self defense or in defense of others; I cannot be compelled to testify against myself or to deliberately place another in what I know to be a life threatening sitaution for something only you believe is a crime. You gave me no choice. It is not what I believed but what you believed and apparently you still believe it to this day.

BTW: Miscegenation? How do you know as fact - own the knowledge - unless you go there? I, Jefferson, went to a lot of places you did not. Search all you want: DNA, fingerprints and paper prove nothing as life is proof.

Answer 2

The proof that Thomas Jefferson had fathered any children with Sally Hemings is the result of a DNA test that tested descendants of both people.