More evidence has been discovered in the Sally Hemings-Thomas Jefferson saga, this time casting doubt on the claims of the descendants of Monticello slave Tom Woodson, who assert Woodson was the product of the Hemings-Jefferson affair.
A DNA test on the Rev. Thomas Woodson of Dayton, Ohio, a descendant of Tom Woodson's third son, William, failed to link the man to Thomas Jefferson, according to a retired Charlottesville pathologist who performed the test.
Eugene A. Foster, a former pathologist at the University of Virginia and Tufts University, said the test does not support the assertion that Jefferson was Tom Woodson's father.
In 1997, Foster tested male descendants of Tom Woodson's two other sons, and these tests also produced negative results.
Foster's other previous tests linked the Jefferson family's Y-chromosome to descendants of Eston Hemings, Sally Hemings' youngest son. His findings were announced November 1998.
Jefferson's records do not mention Woodson, but according to Tom Woodson's descendants, the slave was secretly taken away from Jefferson's historic Monticello plantation at the age of 12, after rumors began to circulate about an illicit relationship between Jefferson and Sally Hemings.
Woodson took the surname of the family with whom he was living after leaving Monticello.
The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, which owns and operates Monticello, announced January that a panel of scholars used extensive historical and scientific evidence to conclude that Jefferson likely fathered at least one, and possibly all, of Hemings' children. The announcement came after a year-long study.
"We also concluded that we could not document any tie with the Woodson family," Foundation President Daniel P. Jordan said. "Foster's study confirms our conclusion."
Foster said retired University Assoc. Biology Prof. Rolf Benzinger called his attention to using the Y-chromosome approach to DNA testing. The Y chromosome passes unchanged from father to son.
"Our study is based on the assumption that Thomas Jefferson had the same Y chromosome as his paternal uncle," Foster said.
For this to be the case, Jefferson's father and paternal uncle must have had the same father - an assumption difficult to prove.
"Illegitimacy happens," he said.
Meanwhile, the Woodsons and descendants of Eston Hemings are waiting to see whether they will be granted membership to the Monticello Association. The Association now is open only to descendants of Jefferson's daughters, Martha Randolph and Maria Eppes.
Only association members can be buried in the Monticello cemetery.
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