Henry,

John C. Miller died in 1991 well before the DNA controversy. I think
most of his response in _Wolf by the Ears_ was in reaction to Win Jordan
(perhaps Brodie, but I think that may have come after?) in _White Over
Black_.

Jim Hershman

Henry Wiencek wrote:

> I have what I hope is a straightforward question for the list.  For my
> book on GW and slavery I have made use of Prof. John Chester Miller's
> "The Wolf By the Ears: TJ and Slavery."  Prof. Miller wrote forcefully
> against the thesis that TJ fathered children with Hemings.  My question:
> does anyone know if he stated a new position after the DNA announcement
> or is he not persuaded by the DNA findings and historical evidence?  I
> don't think he participated in the research and writings of the TJ
> Heritage group, but I may be wrong.  I'm not asking for commentary on
> his position and I don't want to re-open the rumpus on this.  If anyone
> could point me to any recent writings by Prof. Miller I would be
> grateful.
>
> I also ask the list's help on a related topic.  I am having trouble
> tracking a GW-related Jefferson document that is supposedly in the
> Library of Congress.  The editors of both the Jefferson Papers and the
> Washington Papers have tried to help me with this and have come up
> empty.  There is a widely quoted statement supposedly made by George
> Washington to Edmund Randolph, and supposedly written down by Jefferson,
> that if the Union ever broke up along northern and southern lines, "he
> had made up his mind to move and be of the northern."  James Thomas
> Flexner quotes this in his GW biography (vol 4, --_George Washington:
> Anguish and Farewell_--p. 482), citing "Jefferson, Heads of Information
> given me by E. Randolph, n.d., LC" Flexner further cites: "M, III,
> 297n."  The Jefferson experts tell me that "M" stands for the Dumas
> Malone biography of Jefferson, but they checked Malone and find no such
> statement.  So we are thrown back on the citation to the LC.  The people
> at the TJ Papers and the GW Papers all ran computer searches on the
> American Memory site and couldn't find any "Heads of Information" in the
> undated material.  The specialists at LC Manuscripts have also come up
> empty so far.  This is a widely quoted saying and yet the original
> source seems elusive.  Any help will be very greatly appreciated.
> Henry Wiencek
> Charlottesville
>
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