This is just another biased opinion. I am sure that we can all go back and find statements to support our beliefs. These people are no more expert in Thomas Jefferson than Henry Weincek (who has written at least two well researched and excellent books).
Anita
> Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 16:38:22 -0400
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: The Wayles/Hemings miscegenation "rumor" Authors of Anatomy of A Scandal Speak
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> I have been requested by the authors of, "Anatomy of A Scandal, Thomas
> Jefferson and the Sally Story", available from Amazon and elsewhere, to
> forward the following comments:
> Herb Barger
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Becky [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 6:28 PM
> To: Herbert Barger
> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] The Wayles/Hemings miscegenation "rumor"
>
> Mr. Weinceck is correct in naming those four "sources" of the
> Sally-half-sister rumor. A rumor ("Oxford Shorter") is "Hearsay not
> based on definite knowledge. An unverified or unconfirmed statement or
> report."
> (1) The 1802 letter of Thomas Gibbons was written as he arrived "home"
> for the winter. Mr. Gibbons, an ardent Federalist for several years, had
> been named as one of the "midnight judges" and was stopped by the new
> Jefferson administration from taking that office. The infamous letter
> was written following his travel between Elizabeth, New Jersey,
> Philadelphia, Frederick, Maryland and Staunton, Virginia and thence to
> Savannah. He wrote ugly descriptions of Sally's children and as an
> attorney-added, "I have no doubt, tho' I never saw any one of them."
> This is rumor. (His angry feelings toward Thomas Jefferson continued for
> many years-when his son was considering joining the army during the war
> of 1812, he suggested his son should instead "go to Monticello and hold
> the piss-pot for Sally.")
> (2) The May 31, 1805 publication of a letter regarding Thomas Jefferson
> written by "Thomas Turner" (apparently a pseudonym) of Virginia to that
> Boston newspaper brought forth multiple responses from the press in
> Richmond over the ensuing summer. A letter to the "Richmond Virginia
> Gazette and Advertiser" claimed responsiblity for the letter to the
> Boston editor. This October 1805 letter was signed as "T. Turner,
> Wheatland., Jefferson County" and again expresses no personal knowledge
> of the charges, saying they occurred before his birth. Young Thomas
> Turner of Wheatland, Jefferson County was about 12 at the time. This is
> rumor or an outright lie.
> (3) Isaac Jefferson gave his oral reminiscences to Charles Campbell of
> Petersburg in 1847. Isaac is quoted in clear terms describing many
> people at Monticello where he lived as a boy and young man. However, he
> made an exception to his usual forthright language:, saying "Folks said"
> when he spoke of "old Mr. Wayles." (Isaac had not been a Wayles family
> slave and he was born about the same time John Wayles died.) This is
> rumor and Isaac made that distinction.
> (4) Madison Hemings interview of 1873 cannot describe any knowledge of
> John Wayles and only a small recollection of his grandmother, Betty
> Hemings. His story qualifies as hearsay.
> In answering Fawn Brodie, Virginius Dabney accepted the Madison Hemings
> charge that John Wayles was his grandfather. But Dabney also claimed
> that Callender travelled to Albermarle County and that is only based on
> what Callender wrote in his newspaper. This was not even rumor but an
> unsupported statement most likely invented for rhetorical flourish.
> The Sally-half-sister concept is rumor and we found nothing more
> substantive confirming what Mr. Weincek has cited as these four
> "sources."
> Best,
> Becky and Jim McMurry
>
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