“The Whole Affair Has Been Conducted by Amateurs”

In the November 5, 1998, piece for Nature, a group of scientists, led by pathologist Dr. Eugene Foster, had published a piece titled “Jefferson Fathered Slave’s Last Child.” Utilizing what was at the time state-of-the-art Y-chromosome DNA analysis—the Y-chromosome is identical in a particular line of males (e.g., Jefferson’s Y-chromosome is the same as this father’s, his grandfather’s, his brother’s, his brother’s sons, and would have been the same had he had male children, and so on)—the researchers came up with some startling results.

Foster was led to the study by a friend, Winifred Bennett, who asked Foster to conduct research on descendants of the children of Sally Hemings to see if they might find some biological evidence of Jefferson’s paternity of any of Hemings’ children. The two agreed that Foster would release his findings, if noteworthy, to the press while the two would then co-author a book on the results.

Foster turned to Jefferson’s foundation at Monticello. The then-called Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation—“Memorial” has subsequently been dropped that that speaks volumes about the aims of Monticello—suggested Jeffersonian familial historian Herb Barger who helped Foster and Bennett locate descendants.

The most singular finding was that a male offspring in the line of Sally Hemings’ last son, Eston, had the Jeffersonian Y-chromosome, which had been taken from a male-line descendent of Jefferson’s uncle, Field Jefferson. Field had four sons who had 15 sons, and they, other sons. That made Jefferson a possible father of Eston. No DNA was taken from any other of Sally Hemings’ children. Foster summed in his short paper:

The simplest and most probable explanation for our molecular findings are [sic] that Thomas Jefferson, rather than one of the Carr brothers, was the father of Eston Hemings.

The article in Nature had seismic implications. While few historians across the globe thought that Jefferson could have fathered any children with Sally Hemings prior to Foster’s study, after the study, nearly all were convinced of his paternity.

However, there was immediate backlash from scientists across the globe.

First, there was the title, “Jefferson Fathered Slave’s Last Child,” facinorously misleading, because it forthwith led to the conclusion that the Jefferson in the title was Thomas. Dr. Thomas Traut, an expert on DNA, said:

This title … represents an unfortunate lapse, because Foster et al. omitted any presentation of the number of adult male Jeffersons living in 1807 in that region of Virginia.

Dr. Steven Corneliussen agreed.

Next, there was scientific slothfulness. Dr. David Abbey wrote to Nature:

The authors did not consider all the data at hand in interpreting their results. No mention was made of Thomas Jefferson’s brother Randolph (1757–1815), or of his five sons. Sons of Sally Hemings conceived by Randolph (or by one of his sons) would produce a Y-chromosome analysis identical to that described by Foster. … Further collaborative data (for example, the whereabouts of any of those who might have been involved at conception) are needed to confirm that Jefferson did indeed father his slave’s last child, as claimed in the title. We know Thomas Jefferson was there, but how about Randolph Jefferson and his sons?

Herb Barger, who prior to his passing has shared many significant emails with me in 2012 on the fiasco, had cautioned Foster during his study about the possibility of Jefferson’s brother Randolph (b. 1755) as a possible father, or one of his sons, who were close in age to Sally Hemings (b. 1773), if there should be a DNA match. Nevil Thomas, Jr. (b. 1782), Robert “Lewis” (b. 1786), Peter “Field” (b. 1789), Isham Randolph (b. c. 1791), and James Lilburne (b. c. 1795). We know from letters that Randolph’s son Isham Jefferson spent much time at Monticello. Barger says in an email to Foster:

A Jefferson/Hemings match WOULD NOT NECESSARILY mean the father to be President Jefferson, but possibly Isham (or another Jefferson around that area at that time). … I believe CAUTION would be in order if a Jefferson/Hemings match is returned because President Jefferson, Isham and the Field Jefferson blood donors would have the same DNA.[1]

Foster thanked Barger:

This is exactly the kind of information that will have to be considered if it turns out that there is a Y-chromosomal match.

Foster did not heed Barger’s advice. He went on with his study and threw caution to the wind, as it were, and stated “the simplest and most probably explanation” with a degree of confidence that the data did not warrant.

Dr. Gary Davis wrote to Nature:

Any male ancestor in Thomas Jefferson’s line, white or black, could have fathered Eston Hemings…. Plantations were inbred communities, and the mixing of racial types was probably common. As slave families were passed as property to the owner’s offspring along with land and other property, it is possible that Thomas Jefferson’s father, grandfather, or paternal uncles fathered a male slave whose line later impregnated another slave, in this case, Sally Hemings.

Even the prestigious journal Science took to task Nature and Foster.

Contrary to headlines that splashed across the country in November, there is no conclusive proof that former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson fathered an illegitimate child by his slave Sally Hemings. At least five of his family members are candidates for paternity of Sally’s child, researchers admit in a letter in tomorrow’s issue of Nature.

There would consequently be the next day a retraction in Nature:

It is true that men of Randolph Jefferson’s family could have fathered Sally Hemings’ later children. Space constraints prevented us from expanding on alternative interpretations of our DNA analysis, including the interesting one proposed by Davis. The title assigned to our study was misleading in that it represented only the simplest explanation of our molecular findings: namely, that Thomas Jefferson, rather than one of the Carr brothers, was likely to have been the father of Eston Hemings Jefferson…. We know from the historical and the DNA data that Thomas Jefferson can neither be definitely excluded nor solely implicated in the paternity of illegitimate children with his slave Sally Hemings.

The journal Natural Science (19 Mar. 1999) also criticized Nature. They accused the editor of Nature of politicizing a scientific issue:

Rather than accept the authority of the editor of Nature or some other journal in the determination of scientific truth, both the media and the public at large should be skeptical about all scientific claims until they have been evaluated, not only by peer-reviewed journals but also in the open forum of scientific and public discussion. In particular, the public should be skeptical about scientific claims that support political interests.  When such claims lack intrinsic scientific significance (as in the case of those made in the Foster paper), their publication in a scientific journal should be recognized for what it is: an abuse of the scientific press.

With all the information readily available on Monticello’s webpage concerning the avowed liaison between Jefferson and Hemings—it is the best global source of information concerning Thomas Jefferson—why is this data overpassed?

Even Foster, in time, would grudgingly admit his rashness, his fecklessness apropos of the study and its write-up:

This whole affair has been conducted by amateurs. I include myself.

Foster, though discredited by the scientific community, would earn a degree of global celebrity, which continues today because of Monticello’s unwillingness to admit its many mistakes on the issue of Jefferson’s paternity. The Foundation continues to disregard the many cogent arguments against Jefferson’s paternity. Its agenda, racial, is unabashedly biased. It continues in its efforts not to allow discussion of both sides of the issue. That is unethical.

You will find nothing today on Monticello’s webpage about Foster’s admission of amateurishness. Their mission statement states a “twofold mission”:

• preservation—to conserve, protect, and maintain Monticello in a manner which leaves it enhanced and unimpaired for future generations—and
• education—to interpret and present Thomas Jefferson to the widest possible audiences, including scholars and the general public.

Use of “interpret” under the second goal is wishy-washy, indicative of Jefferson having been a habitual tergiversator, and liar.

Despite the flaws of Foster’s study, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation has taken further the duplicity. In 2018, Monticello, under the direction of then-president Leslie Greene-Bowman, has declared that Thomas Jefferson in fact fathered all of Sally Hemings’ children without there being any further DNA testing and with there being scant historical evidence to decide the issue! They say that the evidence for paternity—what evidence is that?—is just too overwhelming. Monticello, even though they are on their second president after Dan Jordan, a man who was willing to play along in the dishonesty, has still not admitted their absence of scientific rigor, and absence of integrity in the paternity matter. And they seem to prefer to ignore the issue than to face head on their deceitfulness. That is unacceptable, because what is said at Monticello is heard around the world.

Enjoy the video below….

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[1] Many of the quotes hereafter taken from “Scientists Denounced the 1998 Jefferson-Hemings DNA Study, But Historians and Media Paid No Attention,” Thomas Jefferson DNA, https://thomasjeffersondna.com/2021/04/19/revisiting-the-1998-thomas-jefferson-sally-hemmings-dna-study/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEQcbtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQJJ5qgkgsC9UrGqE3Zm2ep3zVE2E-YkgKl4-qHNITWhPhHHOiGyaKGieA_aem_Y0nNFMhlO4yWV9bbEabI8A, accessed 5 Sept. 2024.

M. Andrew Holowchak

M. Andrew Holowchak, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy and history, who taught at institutions such as University of Pittsburgh, University of Michigan, and Rutgers University, Camden. He is author/editor of over 70 books and over 325 published essays on topics such as ethics, ancient philosophy, science, psychoanalysis, and critical thinking. His current research is on Thomas Jefferson—he is acknowledged by many scholars to be the world’s foremost authority—and has published over 230 essays and 28 books on Jefferson. He also has numerous videos and two biweekly series with Donna Vitak, titled “One Work, Five Questions” and "The Real Thomas Jefferson," on Jefferson on YouTube. He can be reached at [email protected]

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