Mr. Dixon,
This may be going over old ground, but it bears remembering that
Thomas Jefferson owned Sally Hemmings' body. By law, he also
owned all issue from her body.
What "direct evidence" would survive such a real, but now quite
anachronistic property relationship? Marriage certificate? Civil suit
for child support? Rape charges? Challenge to the filing of
Thomas Jefferson's will, in the interest of his offspring?
The recent DNA analysis proports to demonstrate that at least
one of Sally Hemmings' sons carried a chromosome carried by
males of the Jefferson lineage. Much has been made of the
number of such males living at the time of Hemmings pregnancies,
but no one has ever answered a question I posed on this list some
time ago: did Jefferson run such a household at Monticello, that
his male relatives could drop by at will and impregnate the woman
who seems to have been his closest servant/associate, who was
also half-sister to his late wife?
Harold S. Forsythe
Date sent: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 12:26:16 -0500 (EST)
From: "Richard E. Dixon" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: "high crimes and misdemeanors"
To: [log in to unmask]
Send reply to: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
<[log in to unmask]>
> In a message dated 3/28/02 11:20:05 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> << Jefferson never
> really went public in his denials, so is that any more misleading than
> any other presidential philanderer >>
>
> My goodness, Jefferson did not publish a full page denial of the third
> party hearsay that plagued him about Sally Hemings. Would that have made a
> difference in the predisposition of many academics unaffected by the
> absence of any direct evidence?
> _____________________________________________________________________
> Richard E. Dixon Attorney at Law 4122 Leonard Drive Fairfax, VA 22030
> 703-691-0770 fax 703-691-0978
> ______________________________________________________________________
>
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