DNA and Hemings

Fall 2010
The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: A New, Critical Look

Drumbeat

In a detailed review of the Jefferson-Hemings controversy, John Works, former President of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society and former President of the Monticello Association, brings a unique understanding to the chain of events that led the media to assert Jefferson's paternity of slave children. The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: A New, Critical Look appeared in Drumbeat, the quarterly publication of the Sons of the American Revolution.

2/29/08
A Civil Action: Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings

by William G. Hyland, Jr. and William G. Hyland

Allegations that Thomas Jefferson had an affair and fathered at least one child with slave Sally Hemings have been discussed for two centuries. In this article, published by American Journal of Trial Advocacy, the authors summarize a "mock" trial defense of Jefferson, and conclude that the allegations are unproved by the greater weight of the evidence.
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Fall 2007
Anatomy of a Mystery

The University of Virginia Magazine

In no other place is the presence of Thomas Jefferson more alive than the University he founded. Whether he fathered slave children with Sally Hemings is an issue that has divided the alumni community. In the Fall 2007 issue of The University of Virginia Magazine, writer Maura Singleton arranges the evidence in "Anatomy of a Mystery." 

4/13/2004
Biohistory Guidelines Urged

The Scientist

After examining professional codes from 23 other organizations, including the American Anthropological Association, the American Historical Association, and the American College of Forensic Examiners, Lori Andrews and colleagues from the Chicago Historical Society and the Illinois Institute of Technology review the state of biohistory research and suggest that ethical guidelines may benefit researchers as well as relatives and descendants of the celebrated figures under scrutiny. Andrews’ group found that none of these organizations contained guidelines for conducting biohistorical research and analysis.
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4/12/2004
Biohistory Analysis Unearths Debate

Richmond Times Dispatch

The curious are applying DNA testing and related lab tools to the study of historical figures without guidelines specific to this kind of analysis--"Biohistory". As medical technology reveals more about the intimate details of our lives, those who would uncover them grapple with increasingly complex ethical issues.
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4/9/2004
Constructing Ethical Guidelines for Biohistory

Science

Should technologies of bioanalysis, such as DNA testing, be used to try to answer questions about historical figures? If so, what social, legal, and scientific standards should be used? Currently there are no professional guidelines specifically addressing biohistorical analysis. Often, investigators fail to pose an investigative question capable of resolution by genetic testing. For example, Eugene Foster's 1998 comparative Y-chromosomal study of the descendants of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings was intended to establish whether Thomas Jefferson had fathered Sally Hemings' children. Yet the study protocol was inappropriate for determining the paternity of Hemings' children--the only possible conclusion was that some of Jefferson and Hemings male-line descendants had common relatives.
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March 6, 2003
Surname DNA Testing Helps Families Find Ancestral Roots

Wall Street Journal

Since the Y-chromosome element of DNA passes from father to son unchanged over the generations, is serves as a highly accurate marker of paternity (or the lack thereof).
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May 5, 2003
Who's Your Daddy?

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Genealogists look inside their cells for clues to their ancestors.
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3/1/2003
Genealogy and Genetics: Marital Bliss or Shotgun Wedding?

Family Chronicle

Edwin M. Knights, M.D. describes some of the opportunities, problems, and myths relating to DNA and genealogy. DNA data is most productive when molecular genetic analysis is combined with existing reliable genealogical documentation. DNA results provide evidence credible enough to be accepted in court, a level which exceeds all prior genealogical standards. Oral tradition, however fascinating, is "hearsay evidence" which is often of dubious value in assessing the truth. DNA analysis is going to unravel many a carefully constructed pedigree, yet create very interesting new ones. The results are not going to be biased by political or social correctness.
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2/3/2003
DNA Connects African-Americans to Roots

The Baltimore Sun

Genetic samples can place descendants of slavery in a tribe or region of their homeland.
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1/13/2003
Ownership and Identity

The Scientist

The drive to manipulate DNA has changed the economy and the law. Daniel J. Kevles examines the history of the use of DNA.
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11/1/2001
Jefferson Unbound

Preservation Magazine

When conservators disassembled the manuscript of Thomas Jefferson's only book, Notes on the State of Virginia, they uncovered new clues to the evolution of his thinking.
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3/3/1999
Tom and Sally and Joe and Fawn

Chronicles Magazine

Chronicles Magazine discusses the misleading DNA headline in Nature and Joe Ellis' ethical lapses.
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February 1999
Jefferson Was Falsely Accused

Accuracy in Media Online

Reed Irvine examines the circumstances in which Nature magazine sacraficed accuracy for sensationalism in it headline on the DNA tests.

1/8/1999
Which Jefferson Was the Father?

Science

The authors of the original DNA report in Nature say the evidence for Thomas Jefferson's paternity is less than conclusive. In responding to letters to Nature, the authors make it clear that the data establish only that Thomas Jefferson was one of several candidates for the paternity of Eston Hemings, Sally Hemings' 5th child.
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11/15/1998
Paternity Hype Visits Monticello

Washington Post

Much of the original DNA coverage demonstrated a remarkable flight from careful and skeptical reporting. All too often the news stories, commentary, and analysis transformed an intriguing but inconclusive scientific finding into a dead certainty. Several journalists went on to turn the DNA results into some sort of referendum on the current state of race relations and presidential politics.
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9/21/1976
Eston Oral History Changed

The Washington Post

Julia Jefferson has long said that "she did now know she was descended directly from Thomas Jefferson, particularly in view of the family story that they were related to Jefferson's uncle." But when Fawn Brodie's book captioned "Thomas Jefferson, An Intimate History", came out on Sept 21, 1976, Julia's "oral history" suddenly became corrected, and she now says she is a lineal descendant of Thomas Jefferson.
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A Primer on Jefferson DNA
Frontline

"Primer on Jefferson DNA" was written by John Works and is featured prominently on Frontline's website. Mr. Works is a direct lineal descendant of Thomas Jefferson, a former Monticello Association president, and a Monticello Association life member.

The DNA tests indicated that any one of two dozen Jeffersons , 8 of whom were within a day's drive of Monticello, could have been the father of one of Sally Heming's children, and there was nothing to indicate it was Thomas. The same Y-chromosome existed in Mr. Jefferson's brother Randolph, who lived 20 miles from Monticello , and in 5 of Randolph 's sons, who were in their teens or 20s when Sally Hemings was having children.

The current members of The Monticello Association were acknowledged by Thomas Jefferson as his offspring (and by their subsequent offspring) as descendants of Thomas Jefferson so no acknowledged descendant of Thomas Jefferson need be tested for a DNA match under currently acknowledged paternity standards. If the acknowledged descendants of Thomas Jefferson submitted to DNA testing the test would be futile because the only genetic test would be of the Y-chromosome. The acknowledged descendants of Thomas Jefferson are all descended through Thomas Jefferson's daughters, not the male line. Thus they would have the Y-chromosome from their male lines, not the same Y-chromosome as any Jefferson . Since all of the descendants of Thomas Jefferson's daughters had Y-chromosomes from male lines other than the Jeffersons , nothing could be more futile than to test the acknowledged descendants of Thomas Jefferson.

If Thomas Jefferson were exhumed for Y chromosome DNA testing it would only confirm that he carried the same Y chromosome as the other 8 Jeffersons in question. The only way this would not be true is if Thomas Jefferson were illegitimate. Besides being futile, it is very unlikely that there would be usable DNA that could be tested after so many years.

A Trial Analysis on the Evidence of Paternity

Richard E. Dixon examines from a legal perspective the results of the DNA tests and any relevant historical evidence to establish whether Thomas Jefferson was the father of one or more of the children of Sally Hemings.
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An Innocent Man

A challenge often made by the paternity believers is that Thomas Jefferson did not deny the allegations he had fathered slave children. Jefferson did not issue a public denial but did so in a private letter. In these videos, Part One and Part Two, of "An Innocent Man," by Light and Liberty, Jefferson's public silence is explained.