Jefferson did some manumission - “dropping the ball”, if you will, intentionally with some slaves and “letting them fall through the cracks”. That is manumission. Freeing on the sly with no one knowing. But, supposedly he did free a few slaves in his will. Probably his favored people.
He was in debt so he couldn’t have freed all of his slaves. The ones he freed were Sally Hemings’ children—but Sally herself was not freed. One of her sons, Madison Hemings, was living in Ohio in 1870. The census taker wrote in the margin next to his name “This man is the son of Thomas Jefferson”—obviously that is what Madison had told him.
He was in debt so he couldn’t have freed all of his slaves. The ones he freed were Sally Hemings’ children—but Sally herself was not freed. One of her sons, Madison Hemings, was living in Ohio in 1870. The census taker wrote in the margin next to his name “This man is the son of Thomas Jefferson”—obviously that is what Madison had told him.
Of the ten slaves Jefferson freed, eight were blood relatives of Sally Hemmings. In the case of two of Sally Hemmings daughters, they were told the could leave Monticello and would not be pursued. They left, never to be heard of again. Since they were very light skinned, some historians believed that they were able to pass for “white” and disappeared into white society somewhere outside of Virginia.