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The Thomas Jefferson paternity case

Nature volume 397, page 32 (1999)Cite this article

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If the data of Foster et al. are accurate, then any male ancestor in Thomas Jefferson's line, white or black, could have fathered Eston Hemings. Plantations were inbred communities, and the mixing of racial types was probably common. As slave families were passed as property to the owner's offspring along with land and other property, it is possible that Thomas Jefferson's father, grandfather or paternal uncles fathered a male slave whose line later impregnated another slave, in this case Sally Hemings. Sally herself was a light mulatto, known even at that time to be Thomas Jefferson's wife's half sister3, 4.

See also David M. Abbey Reply - Foster et al.

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References

  1. Brodie, F. M. Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History (Norton, New York, 1974).

  2. Randall, W. S. Thomas Jefferson: A Life (Holt, New York, 1993).

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  1. Evanston Hospital, 2650 Ridge Avenue , Evanston, 60201, Illinois, USA

    Gary Davis

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  1. Gary Davis
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Davis, G. The Thomas Jefferson paternity case. Nature 397, 32 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/16179

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