While Hemings was never technically a free woman, she was allowed to leave Monticello following Thomas Jefferson's death to live with sons Madison and Eston Hemings in Charlottesville.Įmma Byrd Young, third left, pictured with her her husband George and their 10 children at some time in 1915, was the great-grand daughter of Sally Hemings - whose family left Virginia in 1827 and settled in Southern Ohio ![]() Sally's son Madison recalled that one of her duties was 'to take care of chamber and wardrobe, look after us children, and do light work such as sewing.' Sally served as an attendant to Maria Jefferson, as well as Martha Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson's wife, accompanying them on various trips to Paris.Īfter her return to Virginia in 1789, Sally Hemings remained at Monticello and worked as a household servant. Sally Hemings became Thomas Jefferson's property as part of his inheritance from the Wayles estate in 1774 and came with her mother Elizabeth Hemings in 1776.Īs a child, she was probably a nursemaid to Jefferson's daughter Maria, as enslaved girls from the age of six or eight were childminders and assistants to head nurses on southern plantations. While this has been subject to debate, a 1998 DNA study genetically linked Hemings' male descendants with male descendants of the Jefferson family. There are no know portraits of Sally Hemings, and one of the few accounts of her by an enslaved blacksmith named Isaac Granger Jefferson said that Sally Hemings was 'mighty near white.very handsome, long straight hair down her back.' She had six children, who are believed to have been fathered by Thomas Jefferson after the death of his wife Martha Jefferson. Sally Hemings (1773-1835) was a slave at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate.Īccording to her son Madison Hemings, Sally Hemings' father was Thomas Jefferson's father-in-law, John Wayles. He said that Sally Hemings was 'mighty near white.very handsome, long straight hair down her back' One of the few accounts of Sally Hemings was given by an enslaved blacksmith named Isaac Granger Jefferson (pictured). Thomas Jefferson drafted the declaration of independence and went on to become the third president of the United States. It is believed that Jefferson kept his six children as slaves until they came of age, at which point he freed them one by one. While Hemings was never technically a free woman, she was allowed to leave Monticello following Jefferson's death to live with her sons Madison and Eston Hemings in Charlottesville. Jefferson's policy was to offer no public response to personal attacks, and he apparently made no explicit public or private comment on this question (although a private letter of 1805 has been interpreted by some individuals as a denial of the story). It was taken up by Jefferson's Federalist opponents and was published in many newspapers during the remainder of Jefferson's presidency. 'Her name is Sally,' Callender continued, adding that Jefferson had 'several children' by her.Īlthough there had been rumors of a sexual relationship between Jefferson and an enslaved woman before 1802, Callender's article spread the story widely. ![]() Harriet Hemings, pictured left as a young woman and right in later life, was the granddaughter of Sally Hemings Callender, a disaffected former ally of Jefferson, wrote in a Richmond newspaper that Jefferson had for many years 'kept, as his concubine, one of his own slaves.' In September 1802, political journalist James T. ![]() ![]() She had six children, who are believed to be have been fathered by Thomas Jefferson after the death of his wife Martha Jefferson including Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston Hemings. She became Thomas Jefferson's property as part of his inheritance from the Wayles estate in 1774 and came with her mother Elizabeth Hemings in 1776. Sally Hemings (1773-1835) was a slave at the estate, and according to her son Madison Hemings, Sally Hemings' father was Thomas Jefferson's father-in-law, John Wayles. The room was unearthed at Jefferson's Monticello mansion, his primary plantation home in Charlottesville, Virginia. The location of the room next to Thomas Jefferson's adds credibility to the claims the third president of the United States fathered several children with at least one of his slaves, Sally Hemings at his mansion in Virginia
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