I agree with Mr Hogg's suggestion about required reading. May I please
suggest the several books reviewed on The Thomas Jefferson Heritage
Society web page, www.tjheritage.org. For those without access online 
I list a few: ""Jefferson Vindicated, Fallacies, Omissions and
Contradictions in the Hemings Genealogical Search" (this excellent book
by Charlottesville genealogist, Cynthia H. Burton, with a foreword by
none other than a Past Director of Monticello, Mr. James Adams Bear,
Jr., gets into the "nuts and bolts" of this issue. Another excellent
Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society publication, "The Jefferson-Hemings
Myth, An American Travesty", "Down from the Mountain, The Oral History
of the Hemings Family by Judith P. Justus", (an excellent oral family
record of the Hemings and Woodson Families that outlines the Eston
Hemings family beliefs that they descended from a "Jefferson uncle", a
reference to Randolph Jefferson, brother of Thomas. Mrs. Justus also
covers a New York City meeting by author, Fawn Brodie, with two of John
Weeks Jefferson's (subject of the DNA Study representing Eston Hemings),
sisters to "persuade" them to change their ORAL family claims from "an
uncle" to Thomas Jefferson himself. Here you will also find the Dr. and
Mrs. James F. McMurry, Jr. deeply researched and enlightening books,
"Anatomy of a Scandal, Thomas Jefferson and the Sally Story" (a rebuttal
to the old rumor that Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson and Sally Hemings
were half-sisters.........NOT true according to their very detailed
research. Their other book, equally deeply researched, fully covers the
original James Callender Campaign lies, "Jefferson, Callender and the
Sally Story, the Scandalmonger and the Newspaper War of 1802". There are
also many other great books at the web page.    

Herb Barger
Jefferson Family Historian
Founder, the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society 


-----Original Message-----
From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Hogg
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 8:17 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] Thomas Jefferson et alia

Maybe there should be a list of required reading before being allowed to
comment on this subject.