Herb replies at end of each statement. Sorry to continue this discussion after Brent has asked us to discontinue the controversy, but this e-mail deserves a reply. -----Original Message----- From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask] Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2008 2:02 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [VA-HIST] What we know about Sally Hemings Let us see if we can agree on some basic facts--what can we say about Sally Hemings that no one is likely to dispute. 1. She was a slave. TRUE 2. She belonged to Thomas Jefferson TRUE 3. She had several children TRUE 4. She was the half sister of Jefferson's wife NO PROOF, See book, Anatomy of a Scandal 5. She accompanied Jefferson to France FALSE, she came later with TJ's youngest daughter in place of a much older maid who was pregnant. 6. She had children by more than one man UNKNOWN but suspected. 7. The father of one of her children was descended from Thomas Jefferson's paternal grandfather--that is to say, we can narrow the list of possible fathers for this child to Thomas Jefferson, his paternal uncles, and his paternal cousins PARTLY TRUE, you left out his younger brother, Randolph, the chief suspected father. 8. Most (all?) of Heming's pregnancies correspond with times when Jefferson was at Monticello YES, however one, Beverly, has been disputed. We do not know the circumstances of the time, who else was a visitor to see TJ and WHAT do we know of Sally's whereabouts..........NOTHING? 9. During the years when Hemings was having children, Jefferson was rarely at Monticello FALSE, see your above question and my reply. Can we agree that we know these things with reasonable certitude? FAIRLY CERTAIN with my replies. Herb Barger All best, Kevin Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D. Department of History James Madison University ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html