Centerfield

Science, gotta love it...

Ultimately, however, whether President Jefferson, his brother, or another fathered Ms. Hemings' children, he took as much responsibility for them as a man of his station and time could.

He might not have biologically fathered them, or again, he might, BUT in his actions regarding them, he accepted for posterity's sake, the assumption that he had.

On a semi-related note, one of all-time favorite books is James Loewen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me" in which he examines high school history texts. It's obviously a liberal take on things, but very informative.

When I was at Monticello in May, the tour guide awknowledged that Thomas Jefferson may have fathered at least one of the children of Sally Hemmings.

It would seem that the official Jefferson estate line is..."probably".

The certainty of other males' decendance from Thomas Jefferson is probably not much greater. One, by way of DNA testing, could only be certain, or as certain as it gets in such cases, that a male was decended from a Jefferson male, and not Thomas Jefferson himself. So, under conditions of other male Jeffersons being around near a calculated time of conception of a given male, that male's paternity would be just as questionable as Eston Hemmings'. So, where does that leave TJ's supposed white decendants?

TJ's "white descendants" are through his two daughters by Martha (Martha and Maria) and to say that the Jefferson line has been kept track of in that regard is an understatement. The official position of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (the owenrs and operators of Monticello) is:

Although paternity cannot be established with absolute certainty, our evaluation of the best evidence available suggests the strong likelihood that Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings had a relationship over time that led to the birth of one, and perhaps all, of the known children of Sally Hemings. We recognize that honorable people can disagree on this subject, as indeed they have for over two hundred years. Further, we know that the historical record has gaps that perhaps can never be filled and mysteries that can never be fully resolved.

Seems reasonable to me.

Ah, daughters. Enter the mitochondrial DNA test.

Oh, and that's "supposed white decendants."

Musing further on this one, because I can help myself from engaging in such goofy asides, that Eston Hemmings was descended from a male Jefferson is not "certain." What we do know is that someone who is supposed to be descended from Eston Hemmings shares the same paternal lineage as somone who is supposed to be descended from a Jefferson male (meaning someone with the same Y-chromosome as Thomas Jefferson). Since we can't test Thomas Jefferson's Y-chromosome, we don't know that the Y-chromosome shared by the two supposed descendants is in fact a Jefferson Y-chromosome in the first place. It's silly, I know, but like I said, I can't help myself.

The descendants of Thomas Woodson have a tougher road. His 1790 birth was never documented, and he was born five years before Heming's next child.

Mitochondrial DNA could only show that Jefferson's daughter's descendants were indeed descended from the line of Martha W.S. Jefferson, which has never been in doubt. Mitochondrial DNA does not transmit through the male line, it is inherited from the mother. Since Sally and Martha had different mothers and Martha had no sons that lived, the chain for either male or female links through the John Wayles DNA line breaks in the first generation.

The other "hole" in the genetic lineup is that any male slave fathered by a Jefferson could also have been the father of Eston--though Jefferson's treatment of Sally, her siblings, and her children cast enormous doubt on that.

I have no trouble at all believing that TJ found comfort with his wife's half-sister after his wife's death. Nor that, given the times and Sally's status as a slave, that he and his family concealed it. But that's not the same as proving it. Madison Hemings probably had the correct story. Sally Hemings was 3/4 "white," and any children by TJ would have been 7/8 white. We know that three of the four cited by Madison as being TJ's children later passed as white. Madison himself was the exception.

Harriet and Beverly (yes, it was a boy's name) were both allowed by Jefferson to "run away" when they reached 21. According to Madison Hemings, they (seperately) moved to Washington DC and joined white society without any problems, changing their names, marrying white spouses of good families, and starting their own famiies. At that point they fade totally into historical obscurity. The only child known of Beverly before he faded out was a daughter, so the "Y" link breaks there as well unless he later had a son.

Madison and Eston were both freed on their 21st birthdays, as provided in Jefferson's will. Also on Jefferson's death, Martha Jefferson Randolph manumitted Sally Hemings. Sally and her son Madison moved to Charlottesville, VA. On his 21st birthday, Eston joined them. He married a mullato woman and had a daughter. After Sally's death, Madison and Eston and their families moved to Ohio. Eston later moved to Wisconsin, where he and his wife and daughter passed as white, Eston taking the name of "E.H. Jefferson." He was rumored by the community to be a "natural child" (out of wedlock, bastard) of TJ because of the striking resemblance but no one seems to have made the conncetion with the scurillous rumors of forty years previous. Madison Hemings, having married a black woman and himself unable to "pass," remained in the Ohio free black community.

Eston's descendants lost track of their ancestry at some point, and were totally unaware of the Jefferson link and their black ancestry until they traced Madison's descendant's as relatives.

If not for Madison Hemings the entire story would have pased into untraceable obscurity, just another political rumor from yesteryear.

Now if they'd only prove that Alexander Hamilton wasn't the son of President Washington...

That's some interesting stuff, to be sure, or at least as sure as we can be. I only mentioned the mitochondrial DNA as an option for proving, or at least not disproving, maternal lines coming from TJ's "supposed" daughters. (I have my suspicions.)

The five male descendants of Field Jefferson tested for the study came from more than one first-generation line, i.e., the lines of more than one son of Field Jefferson, and their DNA markers were consistent. If that "Y" marker set isn't Jefferson DNA, then Field's wife was getting around--but getting around with the same man consistently. Who was also getting around Monticello later, a considerable distance and time away. Technically possible, but not very likely. BUT--the "Y" marker set of other known descendants of Thomas Jefferson's grandfather through other lines is consistent. QED--the "Y" marker set is verifiable Jefferson DNA, and a Jefferson fathered either Eston, or Eston's father. The descendants of Eston Hemings are Jeffersons, no matter how you slice it.

For the rest, it's down to oral and written history and circumstantial evidence.

What, WHQ, you think Martha Jefferson faked pregnancies and smuggled in girl babies? LMAO.

Oh, Tully, you're so naive. Do you really trust the Y-chromosome of Thomas Jefferson's "supposed" grandfather?

You border on trollery, sir! Where's my slapping glove?

I'm insulted. I'll have you know I'm deep in troll territory. And Martha Jefferson may actually have given birth to those girls, but who got her pregnant?! (Cue dramatic and exclamatory music.)

Okay, I'll stop now.

Everything You Thought You Know Is Wrong:

Odds are President Washington neither chopped down a cherry tree, or went through his life without telling a lie...

but I can't back that up with data, sorry..