We weren't there and we don't know. I have documents showing that one of my direct ancestors, was related to the Monroes. These are court records, not hearsay, or oral recountings. So what? Anita >From: Jurretta Heckscher <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history > <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Madison's slaves (and black descendants?) >Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:28:21 -0400 > >Dear colleagues: > >Today's Washington Post contains at article at >http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/ >AR2007061001404.html on this past weekend's Montpelier Slave >Descendants Reunion at Madison's Montpelier in Orange County. >Unfortunately, it tells little about the reunion, the people who >attended, or their ancestors, choosing to focus instead on the >intriguing claim of one family, based on oral history, to be direct >descendants of Madison himself. > >At the same time Matthew Reeves, director of archeology at Montpelier, >is quoted as dismissing oral histories depicting Madison as a "good" >slaveholder because "most oral history comes back with that." (A >questionable statement, I think.) Instead, he castigates Madison >because "when it comes down to the end, his slaves are all sold." > >Reeves knows far more than I do about Madison as a slaveholder, but it >seems to me his words considerably oversimplify the situation: it's my >understanding that Madison left his slaves to his wife, and she ended >up selling them some years later in order to cover the debts incurred >by her son, an alcoholic and gambling addict, which was an outcome >Madison did not foresee. Madison's struggles to decide the fate of his >slaves are discussed with great sensitivity by Drew McCoy in his >remarkable study The Last of the Fathers: James Madison and the >Republican Legacy. > >The Post article is accompanied by a photo of, among others at the >reunion, Gladys-Marie Fry: some of you may know her work as a >folklorist/historian. > >--Jurretta Heckscher _________________________________________________________________ Get a preview of Live Earth, the hottest event this summer - only on MSN http://liveearth.msn.com?source=msntaglineliveearthhm