OK--in light of the recent conversation, let's post the revised list and see if we need to make any further changes.

*****

Things that can we say about Sally Hemings that no one is likely to dispute:

1.  She was a slave.
2.  She belonged to Thomas Jefferson
3.  She had several children
4.  She lived for a while in Jefferson's household in France
5.  The father of one of her 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
6.  All of Heming's recorded pregnancies correspond with times when Jefferson was at Monticello
7.  During the years when Hemings was having children, Jefferson was frequently not at Monticello

Can we agree that we know these things with reasonable certainty?

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

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