John, The first question I have is who is going to pay for the tests? Then there is the problem of digging up the son of Madison, which appropriately is a decision that rests with descendents not the merely curious. The problem with taking a sample from a current descendent is that the paternal line was broken one generation after Madison, requiring that exhumation and examination of a long dead man. And, the information yielded could show that TJ and Sally mixed it up, but if the information does not show paternity, it still does not answer the question of whether TJ got down and dirty with Sally. What I do not understand, is the animosity towards the Hemings descendents shown by the "white" descendents of TJ. No matter which Jefferson sired the children, they are still within the definition of non-direct descendents - cousins one and all. Anne Anne Pemberton [log in to unmask] http://www.erols.com/apembert http://www.educationalsynthesis.org ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html