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No doubt, but if Jefferson was doing it with Sally Hemmings, why do we have none offspring of that liaison when they were both in Paris and not subject to prying eyes and open ears. Only after they both returned to Monticello did Hemmings present with child. Exactly who was in that woodpile, Hmmmm?

Would the US ambassador to France really be all that free from prying eyes? Sally Hemmings was 14 when she went to Paris and 16 when she left. Maybe Jefferson waited until she was older.

I agree that there's no ironclad proof the children were Jefferson's, but people may have gotten tired of picking this or that one of your other relatives and putting all the blame on him so as to spare Jefferson the embarrassment of illegitimate children.

When it turned out that the neither of the Carr brothers was the father of Sally's children, people were reluctant to go on playing the same game, to pick out some other relative who hadn't previously been a suspect just to preserve Jefferson's reputation.

Not only is there no "ironclad proof" Thomas Jefferson fathered Sally Hemings' children, but the TH Heritage Society commissioned a research committee which concluded he was not.

Jefferson's brother was the likely father.

Maybe Jefferson waited until she was older.

When he was older, much older than most men are catting around. The point is that the DNA evidence shows that the father of at least some of her children was a Jefferson. But, neither the DNA evidence or the documents that survive resolve the issue.

You can chose whatever version you wish to believe, but some Liberal historian at Monticello who has a political agenda that motivates her conclusions is not the final word. I will give her credit for convincing most people to believe her story in spite of her version is, at best, one of the several viable explanations.

Any it turns out, Sally Hemmings offspring, at least some of them, are my cousins and I'm fine with that.