It is interesting that so much time has been spent on this subject that is over a hundred years old.  Mr. Jefferson's reputation/image is not tarnished but it seems that for some reason some people want to think so. He was a great man.

Finding proof in court records or journals on the relationship of a slave owner and his female slaves is near to impossible.  Very few owners acknowledge the children of slave mothers in writing.  Most acknowledge them on the farms but in public is another thing.  For that time period it was a fact of live that every slave woman/family had to live with.  Did they take care of those children?  Some did even after the civil and some didn't.  Did everyone in a town know? yes.  Did everyone in a town acknowledge it? Some did and some didn't depending on how powerful the owner was at that time.

Slave oral history is passed down to every generation.  The owners name, the fathers names, the name of the farm/plantation,  life on the farms, what they grew, the type of job they had, the migration of the owner and the auctions.  Stories of being set free then have the son renege on giving freedom to a slave.  Why because he could by law.

It is interesting to see history rewritten.  Owner generations denying that the family ever owned slaves. Even denying that father, granddaddy or even great granddaddy was half or could pass.  

You believe half of what your are told and half of what you read.  

So lets move on.  It was the era.  No one will win the debate.

Quan
No title but born in the south.