HATCHER website: http://hatcherfamilyassn.com
HALL DNA project: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nhatcher/hall/HDNAtest.htm
"If you can't stand the skeletons, stay out of the closet" - Val D Greenwood

Sandra wrote:
"It seems to me that the evidence so far does not prove that TJ was the father, so why should it be so seemingly accepted that he is the father, by so many scholars and genealogists on this forum?"

And I would flip that coin and say that the evidence so far does not prove he WASN'T the father. The DNA proves Eston is a blood Jefferson, nothing more, nothing less.

Some arguments are 1) family history claims Randolph is the father and 2) Randolph's wife died followed by Sally having her kids.

But if one looks at the timeline (and I will assume these dates are close to correct), these are the events as they took place.....

1) TJ born 1743
2) Randolph born 1755
3) Sally Hemings born 1773
4) TJ's wife died 1782
5) Supposedly Randolph's wife died bef 1790 
6) Sally's 1st child born 1790

First observation is that Sally, unless TJ was expecting his female slaves to have kids at extremely young ages, had her 1st kid at age 17, a most normal age in those times. I feel this is the more important fact to consider.

The fact that Randolph's wife died shortly before 1790 (and I haven't found anyone, on a limited search, giving a ddate for her other than "before 1808") is what I would call simply coincidental. In other words, no matter when wives may or may not have died, Sally was still not going to have a child until c1790.

I also wonder why it would be believed that a man owning slaves would cohabitate with a slave only if he were a widower. Got news for ya, folks :-)

Family lore, IMO, is the least reliable evidence on which to create a "fact." It's quite possible that Sally's children were told Randolph was their father simply to protect the reputation of TJ, who by then was the president. As Poldi stated, Sally was a slave owned by TJ and not of Randolph and I think that fact carries weight.

I am not at all interested in waging a bloody battle over this for I really do not care who the father was, but these are just some of the observations I've made.

IMO, either man could have been the father.
 
Nel Hatcher

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