THE SLAVE CHILDREN OF THOMAS JEFFERSON

THE SLAVE CHILDREN OF THOMAS JEFFERSON

by Samuel H. Sloan, 320 pp., published by Kiseido, $18.00 Thomas Jefferson had 187 slaves. We know that because he kept meticulous hand-written records, which we still have. On January 14, 1774, after he inherited slaves from first his mother and then his father-in-law, Thomas Jefferson wrote his inventory of 187 slaves. In his last inventory, taken 50 years later in 1824, Thomas Jefferson also had 187 slaves. Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 at the age of 83.

A page from Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book, which was hand written by Thomas Jefferson himself. Sally is listed as having three children. Harriet 1, Madison 5 and Eston 8. Harriet Hemings was born in 1801. Madison Hemings was born in 1805. Eston Hemings was born in 1808. Sally's eldest son was Beverley, was born in 1798 and because of his age had a separate listing in the Farm Book. An earlier child also named Harriet had died in infancy. Note that according to Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book, Sally never had a son by the name of Tom.

In October, 1802, while he was president, the story was published in the newspapers that Thomas Jefferson, whose wife had died in 1782, was keeping his wife's slave half-sister, Sally Hemings, as a concubine and was producing children from her. Jefferson, who lived for 44 years after the death of his wife and who never remarried, never denied the story, but he never admitted it either. Sally Hemings was at his bedside when he died. All five children of Sally Hemings were freed by Thomas Jefferson either before his death or in his will. Thomas Jefferson made provisions for Sally Hemings in his will. These were almost the only slaves which Thomas Jefferson ever freed.

Thomas Jefferson

What do the retired Chairman of the Board of DuPont Chemical Corporation, the first black assemblyman in the history of the State of California, one of the co-founders of the NAACP, the first black tenured faculty member of any college in America, the first black woman ever to graduate from Vassar College, and a judge appointed by President George Bush, all have in common? They are all direct descendants of the slave children of Thomas Jefferson. Many people have heard the story that President Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, produced children from his slaves. Is this story really true, and what happened to the children? Is former Governor Douglas Wilder of Virginia one of those descendants? How about President William Jefferson Clinton? These questions and many others are addressed in The Slave Children of Thomas Jefferson.

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Here are links:

• Order Now: The Slave Children of Thomas Jefferson
• Thomas Jefferson Papers in the Library of Congress
• William & Mary Quarterly: Review of the Woodson Family

RE: [FIRST FLEET ON. Williams/Nash, Pioneers Australia.] New comment on THE SLAVE CHILDREN OF THOMAS JEFFERSON.‏

From:	Hector Williams (cwok66@hotmail.com)
Sent:	July 9, 2009 6:47:38 PM
To:	noreply-comment@blogger.com

Thanks for your comment Patrick. I am no expert and I am not prepared to argue genealogies so far back. However it was remarked by various writers that the "House Negro", who waited on Thomas J, looked remarkably like his master.Then there was the trip to France and the evidence from there concerning Thomas' 14 year old female servant.

This reminds me of my own family. There is a photo of my own grandmother, Lucy Ann Williams (nee Pike) somewhere in my blog. There has been a lot of denials concerning her in the last generations. Ric Williams.

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Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 10:24:28 -0700 From: noreply-comment@blogger.com To: cwok66@hotmail.com Subject: [FIRST FLEET ON. Williams/Nash, Pioneers Australia.] New comment on THE SLAVE CHILDREN OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. Patrick Lee has left a new comment on your post "THE SLAVE CHILDREN OF THOMAS JEFFERSON": I'm glad your final link above, "DNA proof that ..." doesn't work! DNA does not prove anything of the sort. DNA just narrows the paternity of one of Sally Hemings'children to a circle of Jefferson males, of whom Thomas was one. That circle has been described as small as seven men, over two dozen, and several numbers inbetween. I've portrayed Jefferson professionally for almost 20 years for audiences from Boston to Honolulu. I'm an authority on Jefferson, and there is no proof he fathered Heming's children, just assumption and speculation. Posted by Patrick Lee to FIRST FLEET ON. Williams/Nash, Pioneers Australia. at 10:24 AM, July 09, 2009

1. DNA Evidence Proves that Thomas Jefferson fathered at least one ...

   The DNA evidence proves that Thomas Jefferson was the father of Sally's ... Thomas Jefferson credited Sally with five children: Harriet (who died in ... www.anusha.com/dnaproof.htm - Cached - Similar -

2. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings

   The claim that Thomas Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemings, ... finding that the weight of all known evidence - from the DNA study, original documents, ... community believed that he was the father of Sally Hemings' children. ... www.jeffersonpapers.org/.../hemings-jefferson_contro.html - Cached - Similar -

U.S presidents were slave owners.

How many presidents owned slaves? It ought to be a simple question but a search on the web produces a lot of contradictory answers. One reason is that there are really two questions: 1. How many presidents owned slaves during their lives? 2. How many presidents owned slaves while they were president? In the table below I attempt to answer both questions. I have also included selected quotations from the presidents and relevant actions they took. Anything inthis font refers to something the president did while serving as president. Anything in this font refers to an activity of a member of the president’s family, rather than the president himself. I would appreciate hearing of any mistakes or omissions so that I can correct them. revised 9/08 (thanks to Damon Cannon for catching an error.) Rob Lopresti

Of the first five presidents, four owned slaves. All four of these owned slaves while they were president.

Of the next five presidents (#6-10), four owned slaves. Only two of them owned slaves while they were president.

Of the next five presidents (#11-15), two owned slaves. Both of these two owned slaves while they were president.

Of the next three presidents (#16-18) two owned slaves. neither of them owned slaves while serving as president.

The last president to own slaves while in office was the twelfth president, Zachary Taylor (1849-1850).

The last president to own slaves at all was the eighteenth president, Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877).

So twelve of our presidents owned slaves and eight of them owned slaves while serving as president.

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George Washington's slave child.

http://hnn.us/articles/10827.html