Henry--

I do not think it is *likely* that all of Heming's children were sired by a slave.  I think it is *possible*.  And I think it is sufficiently possible that we can never know the issue with anything approaching scientific certainty.  There is room for reasonable doubt here, your arguments not-with-standing.

There are some things we will not and can not know.  This is one of them.  The argument that we should infer from Martha Jefferson's silence that no slave with Jefferson DNA existed strikes me as circumstantial and partial.  It is suggestive, but hardly conclusive--just like everything else in this mess.

We do not have access to the information necessary to settle this matter conclusively.  That is unfortunate, but it does not strike me as likely to change much, no matter how much I really want to know the answer.  Skepticism is a healthy attitude to cultivate, in such matters.  Seems so to me, anyway.  

All best,
Kevin
Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D.
Department of History
James Madison University

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