Ms. Zolkover,

I'm not sure why I am being thus addressed, but finding that you have written me such a long involved message, it would be ill-mannered to decline to respond.

I've reading both of those Jefferson defenses, thank you for mentioning them.  They are not very good sources for historical understanding, however, because of the manner in which they approach the questions (just for one example, the historical question of Jefferson and Sally Hemings is not a modern paternity suit with its particular rules of legal evidence) I suggest that you check out some other books on the subject that handle the evidence from a historical position.

Your compilation of evidence is interesting -- I'm struck by how much of it is entirely irrelevant.   It seems that much of your evidence is, in fact, a diversion from relevant material.  A few examples:

1) Sally lived at Monticello from childhood through many child bearing 
years, and didn't become pregnant until Sally was 22 years old, 13 years 
after Martha died.  

Are you suggesting that because Sally did not become pregnant soon after Martha's death, Jefferson could not be the father of her children?

4) The rumor that Sally was Thomas Jefferson's wife Martha's half sister is 
just that, a rumor. Sally is said to have been a light mulatto and pretty. 
The various myths disagree with Martha Jefferson's father's business 
dealings, ports, etc., and there is no DNA evidence that she is a blood 
relative to Martha.

Although this may be interesting in terms of Sally's identity, are you saying that Jefferson only would have fathered children with a woman who was his deceased wife's half-sister?

6) Thomas Jefferson arrived in Paris 1784, as the U.S. Ambassador to France, 
and was accompanied by his oldest daughter Martha who was 12 years old, and 
James Hemings. 1787, three years later, Jefferson's other daughter Mary 
accompanied by Sally Hemings arrived in Paris. Thomas Jefferson and his 
family returned from Paris December 1789. Sally's first child Harriet was 
born on October 5, 1795 when Thomas Jefferson was 52 years old; he was 65 
years old when Eston, Sally's last child, was born. In those days life 
expectancy was much shorter and people aged earlier, and had the ailments 
that may arrive with age. Thomas Jefferson had severe arthritis for many 
long years, and other ailments that appear with aging.

Are you suggesting that because Jefferson was old and arthritic he could not have fathered children with Sally Hemings?  I'm struck that you suggest elsewhere that Randolph might have been the father at age 52, but seem to be resisting the idea that Thomas should be a father at 52.

10) In archives is a letter dated August 12, 1807 where Thomas Jefferson 
writes to his brother Randolph that Randolph's twin sister was then visiting 
Monticello and that he and his family were invited to visit, and also that 
Randolph was expected to deliver grass seed to Monticello. This was slightly 
more than 9 months before Eston's birth. Randolph and his family likely 
visited at that time.

Since Thomas Jefferson was evidently writing this letter from Monticello, I assume he was still there when Randolph visited.  Are you saying that because his siblings were visiting he could not have been the father of Sally Hemings' children?


I could go on, but I think that these make the point sufficiently.   I understand your regard for Jefferson.  I am an admirer of him myself, but I have seen little evidence that satisfied me that Jefferson could _not_ be the father.  Please note that I am not saying that he was, merely that I have seen no satisfactory proof to the contrary.  As I wrote in my original post to which you responded, the historical profession has guidelines for the handling of evidence, and the books that you dismiss as attacks on Jefferson's character generally follow those guidelines.  You, I, and anyone else are free to question the interpretations, but it is unkind to mkae accusations of conspriacies and imply ulterior motives for people who are only trying their best to understand the past and the lives of soem of the people who inhabited that past.

David Kiracofe

David Kiracofe
History
Tidewater Community College
Chesapeake Campus
1428 Cedar Road
Chesapeake, Virginia 23322
757-822-5136

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