Posted on 08/31/2017 7:28:58 AM PDT by 11th_VA
...In late 1998, the prestigious scientific journal Nature announced that it had conducted DNA testings which proved that Thomas Jefferson had fathered a child with Sally Hemings. According to Nature:
Almost two hundred years ago, Thomas Jefferson was alleged to have fathered children by his slave Sally Hemings. The charges have remained controversial. Now, DNA analysis confirms that Jefferson was indeed the father of at least one of Hemings’ children.1
(snip)
These authors, however, deliberately ignored the non-paternity results of the DNA testing. In fact, the original Nature article had reported that Thomas Woodson–the child that oral traditions claim was born of Sally when she was fifteen or so–the child born shortly after her return from France–was not sired by Jefferson
(snip)
Yet, only eight weeks after releasing this story, Nature issued a retraction, admitting, “The title assigned to our study was misleading.” 7Why? Because after proving that Jefferson had not fathered Woodson, it was revealed that their paternity conclusions about Jefferson fathering Eston were based on inaccurate and incomplete information, both scientifically and historically.
While the researchers did find Jefferson genes present in the descendants of Eston Hemings, the researchers could not say that they were the genes of Thomas Jefferson, for they had not tested the DNA of any of Thomas’ descendants. They tested only the genes of the descendants of Thomas’ uncle, Field Jefferson, and of his nephews, Samuel and Peter Carr! Significantly, there were twenty-six Jefferson males living in the central Virginia vicinity at that time. Quite simply, the researchers failed to eliminate the other lines. As one report accurately observed, “Experts have noted the total absence of accurate Jefferson ancestry charts in the study.” 8
(Excerpt) Read more at wallbuilders.com ...
That bit of information didn’t just pop into existence “ex nihilo”, it came from surviving letters\diaries of the local gentry. I guess TJ could be the father. I wouldn’t care much except the way it was “surfaced” back in the Clinton years, to give Slick “cover” for his behavior. Given that, I’ll push back until there irrefutable evidence TJ did it.
Ed
Ed
Ed
Thomas Jefferson kept meticulous records of the events at Monticello. One of the records he kept was a record of the slave births at the estate. The record lists date of birth, name of the woman, name of her baby, sex of the baby and name of the father of the baby. There is only one exception in those birth records. In the case of Sally Hemming’s five births, all of the information is recorded, except there is no name listed for the father of those babies. Hers are the only entries that do not name the father. Why would that be that way?
And how would a drunk that was never at Monticello, know anything about Jefferson, his slaves or any children he may have had with a slave?
And why does my idiot IPad not recognize the word ''slave'?
All I'm saying is there has to be more proof than a drunken reporter that hated Jefferson. A maybe story that one of the sons was told his father was Jefferson, because he was named Thomas. And a faulty DNA test.
Two hundred years and we're dragging a great mans name through the mud to try and prove that all white men are evil? Not me! But I'm white.
Ed
I guess Randolph or one of his sons could have been the father -- it may even be likely -- but the way TJ's defenders just wheeled around and decided it had to be RJ when the other possibility was finally excluded makes me at least a little suspicious of the new version.
Sally had 6 children. She was pregnant when she returned from France at the age of 16. That baby was still born.
One other of her children died shortly after being born.
Two daughters and two sons lived to adulthood. Both daughters left Monticello in their early 20s and disappeared into white society. They probably didn’t want the fact that their mother was a slave be known in the society they lived in as adults. Plus they would have been subject to re-enslavement because of the Fugitive Slave Act. Madison Heming’s is the one that claimed TJ was his father, but not until after the Civil War ended. Easton never publically claimed to be the son of TJ, but did change his last name to Jefferson later in life. Neither of the Heming sons was named Thomas.
There is no irrefutable proof that TJ was the father of the Hemings children. Jefferson did not confirm or deny the rumors of his relationship with Hemings during his lifetime. Sally told her son of his father, but left nothing to substantiate the statement.
The issue of the a biological relationship to TJ is circumstantial. I doubt seriously that it will ever be positively proven or positively disproven, that TJ was the father of Sally Hemings’ children. Personally I don’t see the issue in any way damaging the stature or reputation of Thomas Jefferson as one our countries founding fathers.
All of the males in Jefferson’s lineage had testicles, as far as I know. It is pure speculation to assume that it was Thomas. Did Thomas ever write affectionately about Sally? If not, it is dumb, disgusting conjecture. If he did, it still proves NOTHING.
It would have been socially unacceptable for a slave master to write affectionately about slave woman, other than maybe fond recollections of his wet nurse or the slave woman that raised him as a child.
The records at Monticello show that none of the other Jefferson related males were at Monticello when Hemings became pregnant. The records do show that TJ was at Monticello each and every time that Hemings got pregnant.
Plus none of the other Jefferson male relatives were in France when Hemings became pregnant the first time, TJ was in France and living in the same household with her at the time. Not proof admissible in a court of law, but interesting circumstances none the less.
Interesting perhaps, but that’s about it.
IF you would read the historical report posted at Monticello you would discover that historians took that possibility into consideration in their study. They conducted a very detailed survey of Jefferson’s plantation diary, which recorded all Jefferson male visits to his property over the years; as well as Mr. Jefferson’s comings and goings. The other Jefferson men were not on the property when Sally Hemmings conceived - only Thomas was there for each of them. Mr. Jefferson recorded all of the births of Sally Hemmings children by name. No other slave children received that distinction in his records; nor were any other slaves granted freedom on his death.
I had the same opinion as you have expressed until I read the actual historical research report.
P.S. In case you might not realize, Sally Hemmings was Jefferson’s wife half-sister. Her father and grandfather were Mrs. Jefferson’s father and grandfather. Sally Hemmings grew up with Mrs. Jefferson and was given to Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson by Mrs. Jefferson’s father when they married.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.