While I do not respond to all posters regarding the Jefferson-Hemings
controversy I do find that Mr. Wiencek's remarks are worthy of reply. He
is doing much serious research for his new Jefferson book and has
actually "researched" the matter. He has studied the claims of Madison
Hemings in the Pike County article and has found them to be lacking in
truth on many of his statements. This was the same article that was
"greatly" relied upon for the Monticello Research Study by an oral
family history specialist assigned the task of Chairperson by Dr. Daniel
Jordan, Monticello President. See one of my two original citing in my
original posting on this specific point of view.
I would highly suggest to Mr. Wiencek and other serious amateur or
professional genealogists to closely consider the two cited new
analysis. If you test a known person who has "always" claimed to have
Jefferson DNA, in most cases if the claims were true, THEN you will get
a match with the Jefferson DNA donors who descend from Thomas
Jefferson's uncle, Field Jefferson (the source of all tested Jefferson
DNA). This is NOT true disinterested research.........the results of a
match is expected and there was a match. But in reality, the DNA of
Field Jefferson's 5 descendants was being tested against the Jefferson
DNA of John Weeks Jefferson, an Eston Hemings descendant who had always
claimed descend from "an uncle Jefferson, NOT Thomas." Sure, the DNA
would definitely match, SO the test was predestined beforehand and
should have NEVER went forward for a test.
Mr. Wiencek and any other subscriber comments on these two points are
welcome. I agree with Mr. Wiencek's suggestion for any that wish for no
discussion of this vital topic to just "click it." Our children's future
history textbooks and our country's history is being tainted by these
false and biased articles and books.
Herb Barger
Jefferson Family Historian
-----Original Message-----
From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Henry Wiencek
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 1:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VA-ROOTS] Jefferson, Hemings, & DNA
I do hope the esteemed members of this list are NOT tired of the Hemings
story because I am writing a book about Jefferson and his slaves, which
will
have a section on the Hemings family. I have done a lot of new research
and
made some fresh discoveries about Monticello.
Let me try to summarize the story quickly, in a "non-partisan" fashion;
and
those who are not interested can just hit "Delete" right now.
Thomas Jefferson was alleged to be the father of Sally Hemings's
children in
newspaper articles in 1802 by the political journalist James Callender
(who
had a grudge against Jefferson), in oral histories, in letters, and a
diary
entry. All this evidence has been subject to dispute for two hundred
years
and continues to be debated.
In the 1850s, Jefferson's grandchildren Ellen Randolph Coolidge and
Thomas
Jefferson Randolph admitted privately that Hemings had children who
closely
resembled Thomas Jefferson, but they said the reason for the resemblance
was
that the children had been fathered by Jefferson's nephews Peter and
Samuel
Carr, the sons of his sister.
In the late 1990s Dr. Eugene Foster, with the invaluable aid of Herbert
Barger, obtained blood samples for DNA testing from male-line
descendants of
Field Jefferson, an uncle of Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson himself
had
no surviving legitimate male children. On the Hemings side, Foster
obtained
samples from a male-line descendant of Eston Hemings, the youngest son
of
Sally Hemings. These two lines of DNA matched, proving that Eston
Hemings
had been fathered not by a Carr but by some male of the Jefferson
family.
After analyzing the historical evidence, Monticello's scholars
concluded
that Thomas Jefferson was the most likely member of his family to have
fathered Eston and that Thomas Jefferson was very likely the father of
all
of Sally Hemings's children.
That would seem to be the end of the story, except that a number of
researchers, notably including Herbert Barger, Cynthia Burton, and
Rebecca
McMurry, raise the possibility that Eston's father could have been TJ's
brother Randolph or some other Jefferson. The Monticello scholars, and
others, think this is unlikely, but the debate continues.
Herbert Barger has proposed trying to get a DNA sample from the remains
of
another Hemings who is buried in Kansas, the son of Madison Hemings.
Madison was Eston's brother. The living Hemings descendants have not
granted permission.
According to Jefferson's plantation records, Sally Hemings had one
daughter
and three sons who survived (Harriet and Beverly, who were allowed to
leave
Monticello in 1822; and Madison and Eston, who were freed in Jefferson's
will). But according to oral history and other documentation, there was
another son--the first-born "President Tom," made notorious by James
Callender's articles. According to an oral history, this Tom was whisked
away from Monticello in the wake of the scandalous press reports and
given a
new identity as Thomas Woodson.
Today's Woodson family is descended from an actual Thomas Woodson, who
died
in 1879 in Ohio and whose birth date is not known. His descendants have
long claimed that he was the son of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.
They claim he was conceived when Jefferson and Hemings were in France
and
was born at Monticello in 1790. Nothing in Jefferson's Farm Book or
other
Monticello records verifies Woodson's birth or presence at Monticello.
Foster's test showed no match between the DNA of Jefferson's family and
Woodson's descendants.
In the interest of brevity I have left out a lot, but I think that's a
fair
gist of the story in a very small nutshell.
Henry Wiencek
Charlottesville
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