Reference the Reuters article on Slave Graves at Monticello. Note the use of
"confirmed" and the later hedging back to
"likely", a favorite trick of some of the media to misinform the public. If Sally
Hemings was so "well known" why no newspaper tributes to her or markers for her
burial site (NOT CONFIRMED)?

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation (previously known as Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Foundation, owners of Monticello), have taken the name of the earlier name of the
present Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society (www.tjheritage.org) after a court
hearing, concluded in their report that Thomas Jefferson was "likely the father of
one, and perhaps all" of the children of  Hemings, according to Reuters. Might not
any careful observer wonder about that conclusion when ALL DNA proved was NO
Jefferson/Woodson match and just SOME Jefferson/Eston Hemings match. There was NO
test of any of Sally's other children. So why this cavalier statement that TJ
"perhaps" fathered "ALL" her children. There is NOTHING to prove he fathered ANY of
the Hemings children! This outrageous finding motivated the Thomas Jefferson
Heritage Society to commission a group of 13 well known scholars to give an
unbiased study to arrive at a conclusion and report to the public. That
announcement will soon be announced, so watch your media real soon, you may receive
an eye opening experience.

I can also report that the Monticello Assn. will NOT vote in May to accept anyone
for membership just on someone's say so. Just as in medicine, it is ALWAYS best to
have a second opinion and that takes time. It has been said that the "lie" is 10
miles down the road before "truth" can get his pants on, BUT "lookout" when he does
get them on. One opinion of Monticello employees is in, NOW let us hear from
independent professors not beholding to TJF. I am anxious to read their 500 page
report, aren't you????

Herbert Barger
Jefferson Family Historian
Member of the Board, Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society



> Slave Cemetery Found at Jefferson's Monticello
>
>                              CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (Reuters) - A long-suspected
>                            slave graveyard has been discovered in a stand of
>                            trees at Monticello, the Virginia plantation of
>                       Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president and
>                         author of the Declaration of Independence, estate
>                                  caretakers said.
>
> Crews in the past few months have excavated 20 of an estimated 40 to 110 graves
> after
> identifying rectangular depressions lying in distinctive rows........
>
>                                    SLAVE DESCENDANTS PRESS CLAIM
>
> Discovery of the cemetery came as descendants of one of Jefferson's slaves, Sally
> Hemings, press their
> campaign for rights to be buried in the Jefferson family cemetery. Genetic tests
> in 1998 confirmed                                     that at least one of
> Hemings' children was likely fathered by Jefferson.
>
> Hemings was likely buried in the backyard of that home, which now lies under a
> motel parking lot about 5 miles from
> Monticello. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which incorporates slave life into
> tours of the plantation, concluded
> last year that Jefferson was likely the father of "one, and perhaps all" of
> Hemings' children.
>
> But the Monticello Association, which consists of Jefferson's white descendants,
> has resisted granting
> Hemings' descendants membership rights.....A committee set up to study the issue
> was expected                                          at the annual family
> reunion next month to release a final report on whether to ecognize the Hemings'
> descendants as cousins.
>
>

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