Take Me To Your Leader

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The Pursuit of Happiness

Thomas Jefferson was a frequent target of dirt in the political struggles of the early American republic. A vengeful former political ally, James Callender, made some of the dirtier charges of miscengenation: Thomas Jefferson had fathered children with slave Sally Hemings. The charges stuck and plagued Jefferson in the Presidential campaign of 1802. It continued to circulate as bit of salacious historical gossip over the decades.

Documented: Thomas Jefferson made whoopee with his slave Sally Hemings.

Sally Hemings was the daughter of Betty Hemings, a slave, and John Wayles. Thomas Jefferson married Martha Wayles, John Wayles's daughter. Upon John Wayles's death, Thomas Jefferson assumed ownership of Sally Hemings, then 2 years old.

Over the years Sally Hemings bore six children of which four grew to adulthood - Beverly, Harriet, Madison and Eston. All were obviously fathered by a white man and all were acknowledged to have a strong physical resemblance to Thomas Jefferson.

Though Jefferson never publicly replied to the allegations, though his descendants did. They acknowledged the Jefferson family resemblance of Hemings's children, saying the Madison Hemings was often mistaken for Thomas Jefferson, but named Samuel and Peter Carr, Jefferson's nephews, as the fathers of her children.

There matters stood until 1999 when Dr. Eugene Foster published a genetic study of Jefferson and Hemings descendants in the journal "Nature". Foster compared certain genetic markers in the descendants of Thomas Jefferson, Eston Hemings and the Carr brothers.

The study revealed two facts. The Carr brothers could not have fathered Eston Hemings and only Thomas Jefferson or one of his direct descendants could have fathered Eston Hemings.

A report by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation notes:

The DNA study, combined with multiple strands of currently available documentary and statistical evidence, indicates a high probability that Thomas Jefferson fathered Eston Hemings, and that he most likely was the father of all six of Sally Hemings's children appearing in Jefferson's records. Those children are Harriet, who died in infancy; Beverly; an unnamed daughter who died in infancy; Harriet; Madison; and Eston.

Report of the Research Committee on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings

References:

• The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation: Report of the Research Committee on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings
• The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation: The Hemings-Jefferson Controversy
• The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation: Sally Hemings
• PBS's 'Frontline': Jefferson's Blood