There was so much mixing and matching going on back then, nothing would surprise me. There was a man on Oprah many years ago whose father was passing for white, until he went bankrupt. That is when they found out their grandmother was African American. Many of those able to pass went as far north as Canada (and all states in between), and passed as white. Entire lines of my family have changed their racial identity over the generations. The only time the powers that be become involved is when they wanted to declare someone Mulatto, Colored, Negro or black.
In Jefferson's days a lot of assumptions were made, including about race. Many of the genealogies of our leaders are incomplete. If you read them carefully you will see that their are gaps, and many dead end lines. This is not just with Jefferson, but Washington, Monroe, and several others from that ilk. This is not a new discussion it has been going on in the African American community for quite a while. Remember we went places, and heard things, that the average white person did not. After all no one was going to believe anything coming out of a black servants mouth. That is why it is best too keep an open mind when looking into these family histories.
Happy Hunting!!
Anita
> Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 14:56:36 -0400
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Presidents with black blood: Thomas Jefferson
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> As a Jefferson Family Historian who has researched ALL
> Jeaffresons/Jeffersons from Pettistree, Suffolk Co., England since the
> late 1500s, I can say that I have found no recording of any black blood
> in Thomas Jefferson's family history.
>
> Herb Barger
> Jefferson Family Historian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Laura Fortune
> Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 4:44 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [VA-HIST] Presidents wth black blood
>
> I have just read an article in the Arcade@Home that claims that Thomas
> Jefferson was our first president with black blood. Do any of the
> historians on this list have any information on this allegation? The
> artcle
> also states that Andrew Jackson was the son of an Irish wonan who
> married a
> black man, that Abraham Lincoln was the illegitimate son of an African
> man
> and allegedly an Ethiopian woman, that Warren Hardng had black ancestors
> on
> both sets of parents, and that Calvin Coolidge claimed his mother was
> dark
> because of mixed Indian ancestry. I have never heard of any of these
> before. Is there any truth here?
>
> Laura Catherine
>
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