In September 1802, a newspaper in Richmond, Virginia, published an article that shook the entire American nation. The President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, the man who had written the words, "All men are created equal," was keeping one of his slaves as a concubine. Her name was Sally, and he had fathered several children with her.
The scandal erupted in the middle of Jefferson's presidency. His political enemies used the story to destroy him. Newspapers published obscene caricatures. Sermons in churches condemned him. But Jefferson never answered, never denied, never confirmed; he simply remained silent. And that silence lasted 200 years.
What the newspaper did not publish was even worse. Sally Hemings was not just his slave; she was the half-sister of his deceased wife. The two women shared the same father. When Jefferson's wife died, he inherited Sally. She was 9 years old. Eighteen years later, Sally had six children.
All by the same man, all the children of the president, all born into slavery. All with skin light enough to be taken for white, all with the face of Thomas Jefferson. The author of the Declaration of Independence ended up with a secret family with his deceased wife's sister.
How did a 16-year-old girl get pregnant by the most powerful man in America? Why did Sally agree to return from Paris when she could have been free? And how did they live under the same roof for 38 years without anyone doing anything to stop it?
The answer lies in what began in 1787 when Thomas Jefferson took Sally Hemings to Paris. When she arrived in Paris at 14 and he was 44, when she was still legally his property, and he made her a promise that would change both of their destinies forever.
This is the story that America tried to bury for two centuries. The story that only DNA could confirm. The story of the president and the slave who was his deceased wife's sister. Virginia, United States, 1782. Thomas Jefferson was 39 years old. He was a lawyer, a politician, an architect, a philosopher. He had written the Declaration of Independence 6 years earlier. He was respected throughout the nation.
He owned a plantation called Monticello, hundreds of acres, where hundreds of slaves worked for him. He was a man of principles. Or at least, he claimed to be. In September of that same year, his wife, Martha, died after giving birth to their sixth child. Jefferson was devastated. He spent three weeks locked in his room.
When he finally emerged, he made a promise. He would never remarry. He would never replace Martha. He kept that promise, but found another way not to be alone. Martha Wales Jefferson had brought a considerable dowry to the marriage: land, money, and slaves. Among those slaves was the Hemings family, Elizabeth Hemings and her children.
One of those children was Sally. She was 9 years old when Martha died. She was small, delicate, light-skinned, with long, straight hair. She did not look like an African slave, because she was not entirely. Her father was John Wales, Martha's father, Jefferson's father-in-law. Sally Hemings was the half-sister of Jefferson's deceased wife and was now his property.
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Now, back to 1782, to Monticello, to the plantation where Thomas Jefferson had just inherited his deceased wife's 9-year-old sister, and where, 5 years later, he would make a decision that would change both lives forever. When Martha Jefferson died, Thomas inherited everything she had brought to the marriage.
This included the Hemings family. Elizabeth Hemings was the matriarch. She was 57 years old. She had been a slave of John Wales, Martha's father. She had had 12 children. Six of them were by John Wales. They were Martha's siblings—half-siblings, slaves with their own father's blood. One of those children was Sally.
She was 9 years old when she arrived at Monticello. Sally did not work in the fields, which was unusual. Slave children began working in the fields at 7 or 8. But Sally was assigned to the main house. She worked as a maid, helped in the kitchen, served at the table, cleaned the rooms; she was near Jefferson's white family all the time. This was also unusual.
Jefferson had strict rules about which slaves could be in the house, but Sally and her siblings were different. They were Martha's family, Wales blood. This gave them certain privileges that other slaves did not have. The years passed. Sally grew up. Jefferson spent most of his time in politics. He traveled constantly, serving as Governor of Virginia.
After that, he was sent to France as a minister. In 1784, Jefferson left for Paris. He took his eldest daughter, Patsy, who was 11. He left his two younger daughters with relatives in Virginia. His plan was to stay in France for only 2 years. He stayed five. During those years, Jefferson lived as a diplomat in Paris. He had an elegant house on the Champs-Élysées.
He attended dinners with French nobles, met philosophers and artists, enjoyed European culture, but missed his daughters. In 1787, he decided it was time to bring Polly, his 9-year-old daughter, to Paris. He wrote to his brother-in-law in Virginia. He needed the girl's passage by ship, and he needed a chaperone, a responsible adult woman who could care for her during the six-week journey.
But when the ship arrived in London in June 1787, the one who disembarked with Polly was not an adult woman; it was Sally Hemings. She was 14 years old. The ship's captain wrote a letter to Jefferson explaining the situation. The woman who was supposed to accompany Polly had fallen ill at the last minute. The family decided to send Sally in her place.
The President who fathered six children with his wife’s sister.
The President who fathered six children with his wife’s sister.
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Chronicles Thomas Woodson's life as Jefferson's first child with Sally Hemings, his banishment from Monticello, and his family's subsequent achievements and quest to validate their presidential heritage. Click Here To View
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They lived as a family in Georgia, contrary to custom and law. Harrell took on all comers to safeguard his children. His children were not accepted as white; they lived a difficult life being neither white nor black, but were conditioned culturally as black.
Mister Burrell loved his family but toward the end, he willed all of his belongings to a nephew, the son of a profligate brother, leaving his family without land or legal means to prosper. The holdings of Mister Burrell were about 2000 acres, 500 hundred head of cattle, and a whole creek.
Probate of the will disclosed the probability of another will, allowing his heirs and Burrell Harrell's children to challenge it.
While the challenges were successfully fought off by the nephew, he lived in fear of having to give up land. Two of Burrell's daughters still live with hopes that they will be awarded something before they pass on.
MY COMMENTARY: The Article and Book Above 'We Call My Daddy Mister' Is A The Story Surrounding My Distant Relatives Who Were Slaves and Related To This Family.
I Don't Too Much About All The Details. What I Do Know Is The Land In Question Is Located Virginia about 10 Years Ago Lawyers Reached Out To Our Family In Regard To The Land. The Land Is Humongous and Some Company Wanted To Purchase It To Build On The Property.
I Didn't Keep Track Of What Happened Because I Had No Real Interest In Stuff Like That Because It Leads To Other Issues That I Care Not To Be Involved In.
Sen-I
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