In a report published last week, a commission of scholars cast doubt on whether Thomas Jefferson fathered children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. Instead, the commission believes the children probably were fathered by Jefferson's younger brother, Randolph.
The findings were the result of more than a year of work by a commission that included 13 scholars from institutions including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown and the University.
The report comes two years after DNA tests showed that Hemings' youngest son, Eston Hemings, was fathered by a Jefferson male.
All but one member of the commission either were "highly skeptical" that Thomas Jefferson fathered Hemings' children or thought it was "almost certainly untrue," said Commission Chairman Robert F. Turner, who is also a general faculty professor at the University.
"The evidence is so thin," Turner said. "My sense is it is very unpersuasive. As we look at every issue, one out of 25 Jefferson males could have fathered Eston."
Turner said any preferential treatment Sally Hemings may have received from Thomas Jefferson was because she was almost white in complexion and not because of any personal relationships. Her whole family "lived a much easier lifestyle as compared to field slaves" because they were the primary house slaves at Monticello, he said.
He added that he does not think Thomas Jefferson fathered Hemings' children because "she wasn't Jefferson's type."
There is "no reason to believe this woman was literate. Jefferson liked women with good minds," Turner said.
He also said Jefferson "cared tremendously about his reputation," making it unlikely he would have had an affair with a slave.
Also, "age and health make him a more unlikely suspect," he added. Jefferson was 64 when Eston Hemings was born.
Turner said he thinks Thomas Jefferson's younger brother Randolph or four or five of Randolph's sons were more likely fathers.
Among them, Randolph is the most likely because descendants of Eston Hemings passed down the story that he was fathered by Thomas Jefferson's uncle.
All of Jefferson's uncles were dead at the time Eston Hemings was conceived, but Jefferson's daughter Martha referred to his brother as Uncle Randolph.
Randolph also had a "documented propensity to socialize with Monticello slaves," Turner said. At night, he was known to dance and play the fiddle with the slaves, he said.
Monticello officials stand by their original claims that Thomas Jefferson was the most likely father of Eston Hemings and probably fathered other Hemings children.
"Some fine scholars participated in the report, and I'm sure their comments will add to the ongoing discussion of this thorny issue," said Daniel P. Jordan, president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which owns and operates Monticello. "We are confident about our findings, but we always welcome new evidence, which we will take seriously."
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