I believe this theory has been discredited in favor of one of his nephews. Family legends often have a factual basis but they get confabulated with the retelling over the centuries.
Exactly. Freezers know this story was debunked when BJ tried to use it to avoid successful impeachment. Unfortunately, it worked and BJ skated.
Who proved he had any children by Hemmings?
When history has to be rewritten to suit political ideology, then we’re in 1984.
Hello, Winston Smith...
IIRC, it was Jefferson DNA, but it was only proven that it was a “relative”, NOT Thomas Jefferson himself.
Actually studies have proven that his nephew was no where around when the children were fathered, but letters and other documents show that Thomas Jefferson was always at Monticello during the conception of Sally Hemmings white children.
DNA did however proved that Thomas Goodson’s descendants are not Jeffersons.
As I understand it, DNA testing only pointed to a “male in the Jefferson line,” not necessarily Thomas. He had a brother named Randolph who, apparently, was quite the lad.
The nephew story is plausible, but doesn't disprove the possibility of Thomas Jefferson's paternity of Sally Hemings's children. It just shows that there is another possibility.
As I like to say, "The existence of Hypothesis B does not disprove Hypothesis A." Contemporaneous documentary evidence supports Hypothesis A, Thomas Jefferson's paternity. John Adams believed it.
Interesting — the article says the description of Sally’s purported room comes from one of the nephews.
True but that doesn't play as well for libs looking for any excuse to whine and have heart palpitations over. A nephew isn't anything compared to a POTUS.
is believed that Jefferson kept his six children as slaves until they came of age, at which point he freed them one by one.
What was he supposed to do? Turn little kids out all on their own? Libs don't have working brain cells.
Agreed. Probably the children of a relative of Jefferson’s.
Either a nephew or his brother. They did mitochondrial DNA tests
According to Jeffersonian scholar Prof. Robert Turner (Un of Va Law School, and others), DNA tests on the Hemings show that the most likely father of Sally’s child was Thomas’s brother Robert. Apparently Sally Heming’s mentioned Robert in a more personal way that Thomas Jefferson.
Try to Google “Robert Turner, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings” and see if you come up with the article Bob wrote that summarized DNA and other findings in the past few years.
I’ll see if I can find the direct link and post it for all of you.
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It was actually his brother that managed the place for him while he was in Washington and Europe.
(s) shhhhh ancestry.com just paid them a chuck of cash to be in their tv commercial pushing that discredit story.(/s)
Even if he was the father of all the children, which is still in doubt, according to the Jefferson Society study, Sally Hemmings didn’t go to work at Monticello until 1784, two years after his wife’s death. So, what’s the big deal? Sally never said anything about it. Jefferson either. And even if they did, as she didn’t complain about it or go public about it and she outlived him by 9 years. After Jefferson’s death in 1826, Sally Hemings lived in Charlottesville with her sons Madison and Eston Hemings . She died in 1835.
rwood
Sally Hemings was Jefferson's wife's sister and was said to look almost white. After his wife died, it isn't very hard to understand a relationship could be strengthened. Sally’s mother and grandmother were involved in similar relationships that produced children. Sally lived effectively free in France which probably contributed to an intimate relationship.
I also believe the same thing happened in my family lineage. There was a very prominent Black man a few decades ago that shared my not very common surname. I was shocked to see in photographs that he looked like my Dad's Black brother. So much so, I feel we had to share some DNA.
Furthermore, my Great Great Great Great Great Grandmother was a neighbor of Thomas Jefferson and was mentioned a few times in his journals. If the Jeffersons did it for at least three generations is it far-fetched that the Higgs next door did it too?