Kevin,

We aren't talking about a letter written by Madison Hemings in his own hand. We're talking about an "interview" in a newspaper. Annette Gordon-Reed discusses this issue at length in her first (and best) book on the Jefferson controversy:  _Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy_ (1997)

It seems clear enough that the reporter (can't think of his name off the top of my head) inserted a lot of his own bias into the interview. Madison uses such words as "enciente" for pregnant, for example. The business about Dolley Madison seems to be made up out of whole cloth. At least it does to me. This makes it difficult to discern how much of the interview really came from Madison himself, and how much was simply invented to suit the reporter's agenda.

Craig

On Dec 10, 2012, at 3:01 PM, Hardwick, Kevin - hardwikr wrote:

> If what Mr. Barger says is true--if the letter was composed by a third party, with his own agenda, would not that make this source similar to documents like Nat Turner's recollections or Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative?  

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