[[Category:US Presidents Project]] Page created to assist in helping with the US Presidential special project. Easy to find the profiles ----

'''This page is meant to address the relationship between [[Jefferson-1|President Thomas Jefferson]] and [[Hemings-8|Sally Hemings]], who is believed to have had six children with Jefferson. Please do not post arguments regarding this relationship on this page. They will not be addressed.''' == What We Know == *Sally Hemings became enslaved by Thomas Jefferson through his wife's inheritance as a toddler. *Sally was a slave used for sexual purposes, possibly as young as the age of 14. This was a very common practice during the time of slavery and the age or maturity of the girl didn't matter. Consent should never be a part of this conversation. Slaves had no power of consent. Her first known child was born at the age of 17 which placed conception when she was 16. *Oral history from the time of Sally's life is strong that Thomas Jefferson was the father of her six children. **Madison Hemings' personal accounts. **Madison Hemings' 1870 census entry states "This man is the son of Thomas Jefferson." *"Jefferson's records of his travels and the birthdays of Sally Hemings’s children reveal that he was present at Monticello during the estimated dates of conception for all six of Hemings's documented offspring."https://www.monticello.org/thomas-jefferson/jefferson-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-sally-hemings-a-brief-account/monticello-affirms-thomas-jefferson-fathered-children-with-sally-hemings The same cannot be said for his brother Randolph. *Jefferson freed all four surviving Hemings children. He did not grant similar freedom to any other family group he had enslaved. == The DNA Story == Y DNA is passed down directly from father to son. Because the Y chromosome is passed down mostly intact (unlike autosomal DNA), Y DNA tests can confirm paternity. However, Thomas Jefferson did not have a son with descendants for comparison. So in this case, a Y DNA test can only determine if a Jefferson from his Y line was the father (Y line means anyone directly descended from the Jefferson male line progenitor. ie: Thomas Jefferson, his father, a brother, or a son). Y DNA was compared between the following descendants: *5 male line descendants of 2 sons of Thomas Jefferson's paternal uncle, Field Jefferson. *5 male line descendants of 2 sons of Thomas Woodson, including Thomas, Sally Hemings' first child (1790-1879). *1 male line descendant of Eston, Sally Hemings' last child (1808-1852) *3 male line descendants of 3 sons of John Carr (grandfather of Samuel and Peter Carr, Jefferson's nephews) since the Thomas Jefferson descendants believed them to be the father of Sally's children. *A panel of additional white descendants of Monticello's neighbors were also tested in case their forefathers might have contributed to Sally Heming's offspring. Findings: *Eston Hemings' descendant shared the same Y-chromosome haplotype as Field Jefferson. *There were no matches between Eston Hemings' descendant and Woodson, Carr, or any other testers. *Therefore, it is conclusive that someone sharing Thomas Jefferson's Y-DNA was the father of Eston Heming and by reasoning, his five siblings. ==Conclusions== Can we say with 100% certainty that Thomas Jefferson is the father of Sally's six children? No. However, the preponderance of evidence is strongest in favor of this being true. In plain English this means the evidence that it's true is stronger than the evidence that someone else is the father of her children. '''The Thomas Jefferson Foundation has stated the following:''' '''"While there are some who disagree, the Foundation’s scholarly advisors and the larger community of academic historians who specialize in early American history have concurred for many years that the evidence is sufficiently strong to state that Thomas Jefferson fathered at least six children with Sally Hemings."''' This conclusion was reached after scholars on both sides of the argument have sufficiently discussed their interpretations of the evidence. With this in mind, relationships on WikiTree will reflect this conclusion until/unless brand new evidence that strongly sways the conclusion in a new direction comes to light. WikiTree's [[Project:US_Presidents|US Presidents Project]] and [[Project:US_Black_Heritage|US Black Heritage Project]] are in agreement that they will not engage in any arguments or discussion regarding these relationships without new evidence. Any debate will only result in going around and around the same circles already well-traveled by a wide variety of scholars. == Sources == *[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/true/primer.html A Primer on Jefferson DNA] *[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson%E2%80%93Hemings_controversy#New_evidence_in_DNA_study Wikipedia article with a summary of some of the debate on the paternity question]