Thomas Jefferson – Sally Hemings

Further Analysis of Who, In Addition To Thomas, Was At Monticello Based on Information Cited in TJMF Research Committee Report

Yes, Thomas Was There, But So Were Others Who Had Jefferson DNA and Jefferson Characteristics!

Section V of the TJMF Report, Report of the Research Committee on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, “Randolph Jefferson’s Sons,” provides information on other Jefferson males being present at Monticello. By their own records and research they found that Thomas Jefferson Jr. (son of Randolph) born 1783, was a resident at Monticello for extended periods of schooling in 1799, 1800 and possibly 1801. In order to be there for schooling he would have been there when Thomas came home. Thena (conceived April 1799) and Harriet II (conceived September 1800) were conceived when Thomas Jr. was there. The TJMF researchers conclude he is an unlikely candidate for paternity because of his youth. He was 16 years of age when Thena was conceived and 17 when Harriet II was conceived. This doesn’t make it unlikely, but absolutely possible.

Robert Lewis Jefferson, son of Randolph, born 1787, carried a letter dated July 9 for Thomas Jefferson to Monticello in July or August 1807. Mr. Jefferson arrived at Monticello August 4 and received the letter August 8th. This 20 year old nephew (with Jefferson DNA and Jefferson physical characteristics) is also placed at Monticello according to their own records. This period of time is the conception period for Eston Hemings who was conceived in late August and was born May 21, 1808. Once again the TJMF researchers conclude that even though Robert Lewis Jefferson, 20 years of age, may have been at Monticello during the 1807 conception period, he is also an unlikely candidate to be the father of Eston Hemings, because of his “youth” and his intermittent presence.

We also know about another Randolph Jefferson son, Isham Jefferson, born 1781, as being “reared” by Thomas Jefferson, who would have been about age 14 1/2 when Harriet I was conceived in January 1795, and born October 5, 1795. He would be age 26 when Eston, the last of Sally’s children, was conceived.

Why would these TJMF researchers gloss over all of this “glaring” evidence and arrive at such an inappropriate conclusion? If an unbiased researcher looked at this entire study with an eye toward a “level playing field” or believing Thomas Jefferson innocent until proven guilty, we would see that a much different conclusion by Dan Jordan and the TJMF should have been reached.

Why didn’t Dan Jordan give this greater weight? Yes, Thomas was there, but so were these three nephews at the time periods in question. If indeed these two male Jeffersons, Thomas, Jr. and Robert L., were to be implicated and another male in France implicated for fathering Thomas Woodson, it would show three different fathers for Sally’s children, a pattern that closely follows that of her mother and her sister. The TJMF did not want to give this appearance since they portray her as being monogamous and having a long-time affair with Thomas Jefferson.

Herbert Barger
Jefferson Family Historian