I agree that Anne is correct in stating that I have several "maybes" in my
remarks and that is ALL that anyone knows definitely about this controversy,
including Monticello. If there was "a smoking gun" definitive answer we
would not be discussing this now. What I have outlined are "possibilities"
and rough notes have come about by being the only living person who
possesses information covering MANY phases of this controversy. In my
opinion, my deep research reveals a concentrated effort by "many" to use a
defective study to "pile on TJ." Some may wish to call it a conspiracy and I
just smile and remain silent, however we all have our opinions and the
readers here also have their opinions given ALL sides of the issue.
Anne you state that I cannot prove that a slave named Sandy was inherited by
TJ from Peter. If you have TJ's Farm Book...read it! You really don't state
it in that fashion, you are careful to state, "red headed" slave. Of course
our readers here KNOW that people identified by the nickname as Sandy are
referring to a reddish-brown haired person........which is a "historical
fact of the Jefferson clan."
You are also quick to state that I jump on almost anything to excuse TJ as a
father of the Hemings children. My 35 year experience in Jefferson History
and my extensive Jefferson book inventory of hundreds, afford me much
information.....not to mention the "tons" of family personal letters and
research. My research has shown me that TJ is NOT guilty of the charges as
father of slave children. I lay it out for assessment, but if agendas
interfere it is hard to get the facts to the public. Too much trust has been
placed in much of the media, Monticello's DEFECTIVE Study, slavery experts,
"friendly authors", and "jump on the bandwagon Hemings and Woodson
relatives."
Anne what is YOUR claim to being an authority on this current controversy?
Have you read hundreds of TJ books as I have, did you participate in the
management of the DNA study as I did, did you catch Dr. Foster in
misstatements and testing a KNOWN carrier of Jefferson DNA without informing
Nature........I did? Did you speak with Prof. Joseph Ellis immediately after
the media release of the FALSE Nature headline.........I did and this "great
historian" told me he was UNAWARE of TJ's brother and I asked where he did
his research and was he aware of the Jefferson Family of Va. book which I
and my wife wrote, available at the Monticello research facilities, and
their own earlier publication, "Thomas Jefferson and His UNKNOWN Brother."
He SAID he was unaware of these (and we are supposed to give this man book
awards for historical research? We are all familiar with his later exposure
by the Boston Globe and admitted lying to his students about non-existing
Vietnam service and other lies about his personal life. HE lied also in the
Nature Journal. He was a great friend of Stephan Smith, then Editor, USNWR,
who ran a FULL 10 pages including another of his FALSE articles. Until you
have had first hand knowledge of the Jefferson-Hemings FIASCO we must all
take your remarks as comments rather than factual information.
Herb Barger
Jefferson Family Historian
>Herbert is correct in his remarks about the possibility. And Sandy is
>certainly a red-head nickname. And his final point about the DNA
>testing is the one that all should take away from this discussion.
>Without additional testing, all the analysis of existing and known
>documents will not settle the issue.
>
>Science rules, OK.
>
>Lyle Browning, RPA
>
>
>On Oct 29, 2008, at 11:57 AM, Anne Pemberton wrote:
>
>> Herb,
>>
>> You are committing the sin that you accuse others of ... lots of
>> maybes in your remark, none of which you can prove. You can't even
>> prove that there was a red-headed slave on the property. A name
>> doesn't establish any fact whatsoever. You seem anxious to jump on
>> almost anything that could be made into an excuse for Jefferson's
>> paternity.
>>
>> Anne
>>
>> Anne Pemberton
>> [log in to unmask]
>> http://www.erols.com/apembert
>> http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Herbert Barger" <[log in to unmask]
>> >
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 11:15 AM
>> Subject: Re: New Presidential Descendant Claimant
>>
>>
>> Mr Corneliussen is absolutely correct that it is "possible" that a
>> slave
>> inherited from Peter Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson's father) could have
>> carried the Jefferson DNA from past Jefferson males. This slave's
>> name was
>> "SANDY", a name that denotes reddish hair, and this man could have
>> fathered
>> a male heir who "may" have been a father to some of Sally's
>> children. Please
>> remember that only ONE Hemings family member was DNA tested.
>>
>> Herb Barger
>> Jefferson Family Historian
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steven T. Corneliussen
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 7:32 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] New Presidential Descendant Claimant
>>
>> And please forgive me if I'm misinterpreting something related from
>> Kevin
>> Hardwick's Oct. 12 revised list of the things that we can "say about
>> Sally
>> Hemings that no one is likely to dispute." Item 5 on that revised list
>> says that the "father of one of [SH's] children -- Eston Hemings --
>> was
>> descended from Thomas Jefferson's paternal grandfather; that is to
>> say, we
>> can narrow the list of possible fathers for this child to Thomas
>> Jefferson, TJ's brother, his paternal uncles, and his paternal
>> cousins."
>>
>> It seems to me that, at a minimum, this phrasing fails to make
>> completely
>> clear what is known about the radius of the circle of paternity
>> candidates. That complete clarity is important because many
>> participants
>> in Hemings-TJ discussions, and almost all participants in the media,
>> presume that the circle includes only Jeffersons who were routinely
>> acknowledged at the time as members of the extended Jefferson
>> family. In
>> my view it's important to stipulate specifically the possibility of
>> paternity by some unknown carrier of the Jefferson DNA marker within
>> the
>> enslaved population. We know that the DNA marker crossed the race
>> line. We
>> do not know whether it crossed the race line in a generation earlier
>> than
>> the one that produced Eston Hemings. Now, this may well be an
>> outlandish
>> possibility in terms of the historical evidence. But because the DNA
>> evidence says nothing whatsoever about it, as a matter of DNA
>> science the
>> circle of paternity candidates must actually be defined as wider
>> than the
>> circle of males in the known, acknowledged, extended Jefferson
>> family. As
>> a matter of DNA science, we simply do not know the radius of the
>> circle of
>> paternity candidates. (And yes, here I have repeated myself nearly
>> verbatim, but in this case it seemed necessary.)
>>
>> ______________________________________
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>> ______________________________________
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>
>______________________________________
>To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
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Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D.
Department of History
James Madison University
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