Monticello Association - Jefferson--Hemings Controversy

Jefferson--Hemings Controversy

See also: Jefferson-Hemings controversy and Annette Gordon-Reed

The Association has traditionally been composed of European-American descendants of Thomas Jefferson and his wife Martha Wayles Skelton. He was long rumored to have had a liaison with his slave Sally Hemings, beginning years after his wife died, and six children with her. In 1998 a Y-DNA study showed that a descendant of Eston Hemings Jefferson, the youngest son of Hemings, had Y-DNA that matched that of the Jefferson male line. The same study showed there was no match between the Hemings descendant and the Carrs, named by Jefferson descendants as the fathers of Hemings' children. The study team noted that the body of historical evidence made it most likely that Thomas Jefferson was the father of Eston and all of Hemings' children. Together with existing historical evidence, the DNA study convinced former skeptics and Jefferson biographers, such as Joseph Ellis and Andrew Burstein, that the president had a long relationship with Hemings and likely fathered all her children. The Carr nephews, identified by Jefferson's grandchildren as the father(s), were shown to have no genetic connection to the Hemings descendant.

The DNA study was done after Annette Gordon-Reed published her analysis of the historiography in 1997, in which she showed how historians had shown bias and overlooked evidence. The course of Jeffersonian scholarship has changed. It is widely accepted that Jefferson had a long liaison with Hemings and fathered all her children. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which operates Monticello, has incorporated the material into its training for guides, published new studies related to this conclusion, and expanded its research agenda. In 2003 Susan Stein, curator of Monticello, said, "more than 90 percent of professional historians who've looked at this are persuaded that Jefferson and Hemings had a sustained relationship." Some historians disagree with the findings and have offered Randolph Jefferson and other candidates for paternity.

After the DNA study was made public, Association member Lucian K. Truscott IV met some of his Hemings cousins on The Oprah Winfrey Show and invited them as guests to the Associations' 1999 annual meeting. The president of the Association did not allow a vote on whether to include the descendants as honorary members, saying this status was reserved for persons at the University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. A majority of the Association members voted to require additional studies before deciding on membership of Hemings descendants. Members such as Lucian K. Truscott IV and some others publicly disagreed with this decision. The Association's decision precluded Hemings' descendants from burial at the privately owned Jefferson family cemetery at Monticello, a privilege reserved to members.

Some Hemings descendants filed applications for membership, which officials said had to satisfy the association's criteria for genealogical documentation. Truscott has continued strongly to support approval of the Hemings' descendants as members of the Association.

In the fall of 2001, the National Genealogical Society Quarterly reported that the "weight of historical evidence" and the DNA study were sufficient to conclude that Jefferson had a long relationship with Hemings and fathered all her children. They strongly criticized a report issued that year by the newly formed Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society (TJHS); they said it failed to follow best practices in historical and genealogical analysis. Helen F.M. Leary, a certified genealogist, concluded: "the chain of evidence securely fastens Sally Hemings's children to their father, Thomas Jefferson." In a 2002 lecture at the Library of Congress, Leary said: "uch of the evidence marshaled against the Hemings-Jefferson relationship has proved to be flawed by reason of bias, inaccuracy or inconsistent reporting. Too many coincidences must be accounted for and too many unique circumstances "explained away" if a competing theory is to be accepted. The sum of the evidence points to Jefferson as the father of Hemings' children."