Harriet Hemings
Encyclopedia
Harriet Hemings was born into slavery
at Monticello
, the home of Thomas Jefferson
, third President
of the United States
, in the first year of his Presidency. Most historians believe her father is Jefferson, who is believed by many historians to have had a relationship with his mixed-race slave Sally Hemings
, half-sister to his late wife. Harriet is one of Sally Hemings' four children who survived to adulthood.
While Jefferson did not legally free Harriet, in 1822 when she was 21, he aided her "escape." He saw that she was put in a stage coach and given $50 for her journey. Her brother Madison Hemings
later said she had gone to Washington, DC to join their older brother Beverley Hemings, who had similarly left Monticello earlier that year. Both entered into white society and married white partners of good circumstances. Seven-eighths European in ancestry, all the Hemings children were legally white under contemporary Virginia law, although they were enslaved. Jefferson freed the two youngest brothers in his will of 1826, so they were legally free.
Beverly and Harriet stayed in touch with their brother Madison Hemings for some time, and then Harriet stopped writing. According to his 1873 account, both siblings had children.
had inherited Sally Hemings, her mother Betty Hemings
and ten siblings from the estate of her father John Wayles
, along with more than 100 other slaves. The widower Wayles had had a 12-year relationship with Betty Hemings and six mixed-race children with her. They were three-quarters European and Sally was the youngest. They were half siblings to Jefferson's wife. As the historians Philip D. Morgan
and Joshua D. Rothman have written, there were numerous interracial relationships in the Wayles-Hemings-Jefferson families, Albemarle County and Virginia, often with multiple generations repeating the pattern.
Harriet is believed to be the daughter of Sally Hemings
and the widower Thomas Jefferson. It is widely believed that Jefferson and Hemings had a 38-year secret relationship beginning in Paris several years after the early death of his wife. Hemings was said to have a child born in 1790 after she returned from Paris, but it died as an infant. Hemings' first daughter who was recorded, was born in 1795. She was named Harriet but she died in infancy. This name was prominent among women in Jefferson's family. It was customary to name the next child of the same sex after one who had died. Harriet's surviving siblings were her older brother William Beverley, called Beverley; and younger brothers James Madison
and Thomas Eston Hemings
. Like the other Hemings children, Harriet had light duties as a child, which she spent mostly with her mother. At the age of 14, she was started in training to learn weaving and later worked at the cotton factory on the plantation.
In 1822 at the age of 21, Harriet left Monticello. Jefferson instructed his overseer Edmund Bacon to give her $50 (the equivalent of three days' wages) to help on her journey. Although legally she had escaped and was a "fugitive", Jefferson never tried to persuade her to return or posted notice of escape. Harriet Hemings was the only female slave he "freed" in his lifetime.
Although Jefferson's granddaughter Ellen Randolph Coolidge wrote that he had a policy of allowing nearly white slaves to leave and she recalled four who had, this was not accurate. Jefferson had no such policy and freed few slaves. There were many mixed-race slaves at Monticello, both in the larger Hemings family and other slave families. Coolidge appeared to be trying to cover up his freeing the children of Sally Hemings.
Edmund Bacon, chief overseer at Monticello for about twenty years, described Harriet's gaining freedom:
Bacon wrote, "When she was nearly grown, by Mr. Jefferson's direction I paid her stage fare to Philadelphia and gave her fifty dollars. I have never seen her since and don't know what became of her. From the time she was large enough, she always worked in the cotton factory. She never did any hard work.”
Jefferson indirectly and directly freed all four of the Hemings children when they reached the age of 21: Beverley and Harriet were allowed to escape in 1822; the last two sons, Madison and Eston, were freed in his will of 1826. They were the only slave family from Monticello whose members all achieved freedom. Jefferson's daughter Martha Randolph gave Sally Hemings "her time" after his death; this enabled her to leave Monticello and live freely with her last two sons in Charlottesville for the last decade of her life.
In 1794 Jefferson allowed Robert Hemings, one of Sally's brothers, to buy his freedom; in 1796 he freed James Hemings
after requiring him to train his replacement chef for three years. He freed another of Sally's brothers and two of her nephews in his will of 1826; they had each served him for decades.
described his siblings and their life at Monticello and afterward, claiming Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings as their parents. He said that Jefferson had promised Hemings when she became his concubine that he would free all her children. His interview was published as a memoir in the Pike County
(Ohio
) Republican.
He said of his sister Harriet: "She thought it to her interest, on going to Washington
, [D.C.] to assume the role of a white woman, and by her dress and conduct as such I am not aware that her identity as Harriet Hemings of Monticello has ever been discovered." He said that Harriet and Beverly both had children. According to the scholar Annette Gordon-Reed
, Harriet likely chose to move to Washington in order to join her brother Beverly, who was already there. Their younger brother Madison said in his 1873 memoir that they had both moved there, where they married and had families. Madison said Harriet later lived in Maryland.
While Harriet and Beverly disappeared into history, more is known about the lives of their brothers Madison and Eston Hemings, who married in Charlottesville and began their families there. They both moved to Chillicothe in the free state of Ohio after their mother died in 1835. (See Madison Hemings
and Eston Hemings
.)
and Ellen Randolph Coolidge had contended that his nephews, either Peter Carr or Samuel Carr, had been the father(s) of Sally Hemings' children, perhaps to account for their recognized resemblance to Jefferson and to deflect attention away from him. The nineteenth-century historian Henry Randall accepted this testimony and helped strengthen it with his endorsement. In 1873 Madison Hemings published his memoir claiming descent from Jefferson and recounting many accurate details of life at Monticello, but his testimony was discounted. Israel Jefferson
, another former slave at Monticello, that year confirmed his account, but was also essentially ignored. For 180 years, most historians contended that the Carr nephews were the father(s) and held Jefferson up as a national icon, taking his family's denials at face value.
In 1998 DNA
test results from a comparative study
proved a match between descendants of Eston Hemings and the Jefferson male line. It also conclusively proved that the Carr line was not connected to the Hemings descendant. The team concluded that there was
, and prominent historians. It is supported by the fact that Jefferson was documented at Monticello each time Hemings conceived (and she conceived only when he was there), even during 15 years of his lengthy absences of months at a time (according to a well-documented timeline developed by Dumas Malone
. There is abundant evidence that Jefferson gave special treatment to the Hemings family, including freeing some by his will when he was $100,000 in debt.
Most historians who address the issue believe he had an intimate relationship with Hemings. Relationships with slave women was common among men of his class. He gave Hemings and her children privileges, of which the most important was freedom.
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
at Monticello
Monticello
Monticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...
, the home of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, third President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, in the first year of his Presidency. Most historians believe her father is Jefferson, who is believed by many historians to have had a relationship with his mixed-race slave Sally Hemings
Sally Hemings
Sarah "Sally" Hemings was a mixed-race slave owned by President Thomas Jefferson through inheritance from his wife. She was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson by their father John Wayles...
, half-sister to his late wife. Harriet is one of Sally Hemings' four children who survived to adulthood.
While Jefferson did not legally free Harriet, in 1822 when she was 21, he aided her "escape." He saw that she was put in a stage coach and given $50 for her journey. Her brother Madison Hemings
Madison Hemings
Madison Hemings, born James Madison Hemings , was born into slavery as the son of the mixed-race slave Sally Hemings; he was freed after the death of his master Thomas Jefferson. Based on historical evidence, most historians believe that Jefferson, United States president, was his father...
later said she had gone to Washington, DC to join their older brother Beverley Hemings, who had similarly left Monticello earlier that year. Both entered into white society and married white partners of good circumstances. Seven-eighths European in ancestry, all the Hemings children were legally white under contemporary Virginia law, although they were enslaved. Jefferson freed the two youngest brothers in his will of 1826, so they were legally free.
Beverly and Harriet stayed in touch with their brother Madison Hemings for some time, and then Harriet stopped writing. According to his 1873 account, both siblings had children.
Early life and education
In 1773 Jefferson and his wife Martha Wayles Skelton JeffersonMartha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, born Martha Wayles was the wife of Thomas Jefferson, who was the third President of the United States. It was her second marriage, as her first husband had died young...
had inherited Sally Hemings, her mother Betty Hemings
Betty Hemings
Elizabeth "Betty" Hemings was an American enslaved woman of mixed race, who in 1761 became the concubine of the planter John Wayles of Virginia. He had become a widower for the third time. He had six children with her over a 12-year period...
and ten siblings from the estate of her father John Wayles
John Wayles
John Wayles was a planter, slave trader and lawyer in the Virginia Colony. He is historically best known as the father-in-law of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States....
, along with more than 100 other slaves. The widower Wayles had had a 12-year relationship with Betty Hemings and six mixed-race children with her. They were three-quarters European and Sally was the youngest. They were half siblings to Jefferson's wife. As the historians Philip D. Morgan
Philip D. Morgan
Philip D. Morgan is a British-American historian. He has specialized in Early Modern colonial British America, and slavery in the Americas...
and Joshua D. Rothman have written, there were numerous interracial relationships in the Wayles-Hemings-Jefferson families, Albemarle County and Virginia, often with multiple generations repeating the pattern.
Harriet is believed to be the daughter of Sally Hemings
Sally Hemings
Sarah "Sally" Hemings was a mixed-race slave owned by President Thomas Jefferson through inheritance from his wife. She was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson by their father John Wayles...
and the widower Thomas Jefferson. It is widely believed that Jefferson and Hemings had a 38-year secret relationship beginning in Paris several years after the early death of his wife. Hemings was said to have a child born in 1790 after she returned from Paris, but it died as an infant. Hemings' first daughter who was recorded, was born in 1795. She was named Harriet but she died in infancy. This name was prominent among women in Jefferson's family. It was customary to name the next child of the same sex after one who had died. Harriet's surviving siblings were her older brother William Beverley, called Beverley; and younger brothers James Madison
Madison Hemings
Madison Hemings, born James Madison Hemings , was born into slavery as the son of the mixed-race slave Sally Hemings; he was freed after the death of his master Thomas Jefferson. Based on historical evidence, most historians believe that Jefferson, United States president, was his father...
and Thomas Eston Hemings
Eston Hemings
Eston Hemings Jefferson was born a slave at Monticello, the youngest son of Sally Hemings, a mixed-race slave. Most historians believe that his father was Thomas Jefferson, the United States president. Evidence from a 1998 DNA test showed that Eston's descendants matched those of the male...
. Like the other Hemings children, Harriet had light duties as a child, which she spent mostly with her mother. At the age of 14, she was started in training to learn weaving and later worked at the cotton factory on the plantation.
In 1822 at the age of 21, Harriet left Monticello. Jefferson instructed his overseer Edmund Bacon to give her $50 (the equivalent of three days' wages) to help on her journey. Although legally she had escaped and was a "fugitive", Jefferson never tried to persuade her to return or posted notice of escape. Harriet Hemings was the only female slave he "freed" in his lifetime.
Although Jefferson's granddaughter Ellen Randolph Coolidge wrote that he had a policy of allowing nearly white slaves to leave and she recalled four who had, this was not accurate. Jefferson had no such policy and freed few slaves. There were many mixed-race slaves at Monticello, both in the larger Hemings family and other slave families. Coolidge appeared to be trying to cover up his freeing the children of Sally Hemings.
Edmund Bacon, chief overseer at Monticello for about twenty years, described Harriet's gaining freedom:
"Mr. Jefferson freed a number of his servants in his willWill (law)A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
. . . He freed one girl some years before he died, and there was a great deal of talk about it. She was nearly as white as anybody and very beautiful. People said he freed her because she was his own daughter."
Bacon wrote, "When she was nearly grown, by Mr. Jefferson's direction I paid her stage fare to Philadelphia and gave her fifty dollars. I have never seen her since and don't know what became of her. From the time she was large enough, she always worked in the cotton factory. She never did any hard work.”
Jefferson indirectly and directly freed all four of the Hemings children when they reached the age of 21: Beverley and Harriet were allowed to escape in 1822; the last two sons, Madison and Eston, were freed in his will of 1826. They were the only slave family from Monticello whose members all achieved freedom. Jefferson's daughter Martha Randolph gave Sally Hemings "her time" after his death; this enabled her to leave Monticello and live freely with her last two sons in Charlottesville for the last decade of her life.
In 1794 Jefferson allowed Robert Hemings, one of Sally's brothers, to buy his freedom; in 1796 he freed James Hemings
James Hemings
James Hemings was an American mixed-race slave owned and freed by Thomas Jefferson. He was an older brother of Sally Hemings and is said to have been a half-sibling of Jefferson's wife Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson because their father was John Wayles...
after requiring him to train his replacement chef for three years. He freed another of Sally's brothers and two of her nephews in his will of 1826; they had each served him for decades.
Life after Monticello
In 1873 Harriet's brother Madison HemingsMadison Hemings
Madison Hemings, born James Madison Hemings , was born into slavery as the son of the mixed-race slave Sally Hemings; he was freed after the death of his master Thomas Jefferson. Based on historical evidence, most historians believe that Jefferson, United States president, was his father...
described his siblings and their life at Monticello and afterward, claiming Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings as their parents. He said that Jefferson had promised Hemings when she became his concubine that he would free all her children. His interview was published as a memoir in the Pike County
Pike County, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 27,695 people, 10,444 households, and 7,665 families residing in the county. The population density was 63 people per square mile . There were 11,602 housing units at an average density of 26 per square mile...
(Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
) Republican.
He said of his sister Harriet: "She thought it to her interest, on going to Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, [D.C.] to assume the role of a white woman, and by her dress and conduct as such I am not aware that her identity as Harriet Hemings of Monticello has ever been discovered." He said that Harriet and Beverly both had children. According to the scholar Annette Gordon-Reed
Annette Gordon-Reed
Annette Gordon-Reed is an American historian and law professor noted for changing scholarship on Thomas Jefferson. Gordon-Reed was educated at Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. She is Professor of Law and History at Harvard, and the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe...
, Harriet likely chose to move to Washington in order to join her brother Beverly, who was already there. Their younger brother Madison said in his 1873 memoir that they had both moved there, where they married and had families. Madison said Harriet later lived in Maryland.
While Harriet and Beverly disappeared into history, more is known about the lives of their brothers Madison and Eston Hemings, who married in Charlottesville and began their families there. They both moved to Chillicothe in the free state of Ohio after their mother died in 1835. (See Madison Hemings
Madison Hemings
Madison Hemings, born James Madison Hemings , was born into slavery as the son of the mixed-race slave Sally Hemings; he was freed after the death of his master Thomas Jefferson. Based on historical evidence, most historians believe that Jefferson, United States president, was his father...
and Eston Hemings
Eston Hemings
Eston Hemings Jefferson was born a slave at Monticello, the youngest son of Sally Hemings, a mixed-race slave. Most historians believe that his father was Thomas Jefferson, the United States president. Evidence from a 1998 DNA test showed that Eston's descendants matched those of the male...
.)
Question of relationship
Briefly, Jefferson's grandchildren Thomas Jefferson RandolphThomas Jefferson Randolph
Thomas Jefferson Randolph of Albemarle County was a planter and politician who served in the Virginia House of Delegates, was rector of the University of Virginia, and was a colonel in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War...
and Ellen Randolph Coolidge had contended that his nephews, either Peter Carr or Samuel Carr, had been the father(s) of Sally Hemings' children, perhaps to account for their recognized resemblance to Jefferson and to deflect attention away from him. The nineteenth-century historian Henry Randall accepted this testimony and helped strengthen it with his endorsement. In 1873 Madison Hemings published his memoir claiming descent from Jefferson and recounting many accurate details of life at Monticello, but his testimony was discounted. Israel Jefferson
Israel Jefferson
Israel Jefferson, known as Israel Gillette before the 1840s , was born a slave at Monticello, the plantation estate of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States...
, another former slave at Monticello, that year confirmed his account, but was also essentially ignored. For 180 years, most historians contended that the Carr nephews were the father(s) and held Jefferson up as a national icon, taking his family's denials at face value.
In 1998 DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
test results from a comparative study
Jefferson DNA Data
The Jefferson-Hemings controversy concerns the question of whether there was an intimate relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his mixed-race slave, Sally Hemings. The controversy started as early as the 1790s...
proved a match between descendants of Eston Hemings and the Jefferson male line. It also conclusively proved that the Carr line was not connected to the Hemings descendant. The team concluded that there was
"a high probability that Thomas Jefferson was the father of Eston Hemings, and that he was perhaps the father of all six of Sally Hemings' children listed in Monticello records - Harriet 1 (born 1795; died in infancy); Beverly (1798); an unnamed daughter (born 1799; died in infancy); Harriet 2 (1801); Madison (1805); and Eston (1808)."This position is also supported by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, National Genealogical Society
National Genealogical Society
The National Genealogical Society is a genealogical interest group founded in 1903 in Washington, D.C.. Its headquarters are in Arlington, Virginia....
, and prominent historians. It is supported by the fact that Jefferson was documented at Monticello each time Hemings conceived (and she conceived only when he was there), even during 15 years of his lengthy absences of months at a time (according to a well-documented timeline developed by Dumas Malone
Dumas Malone
Dumas Malone was an American historian, biographer, and editor noted for his six-volume biography on Thomas Jefferson, for which he received the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for history...
. There is abundant evidence that Jefferson gave special treatment to the Hemings family, including freeing some by his will when he was $100,000 in debt.
Most historians who address the issue believe he had an intimate relationship with Hemings. Relationships with slave women was common among men of his class. He gave Hemings and her children privileges, of which the most important was freedom.
Critics
There has been no genetic connection established between the Jefferson male line and any of Sally Hemings' children other than Eston and DNA evidence related to Eston does not specifically indicate Thomas Jefferson. Carr paternity is not ruled out for Hemings' children other than Eston. Critics of the paternity conclusion point out that other men, such as Jefferson's younger brother Randolph, could have fathered one or more of Sally Hemings' children. Genealogists have noted there were at least 25 adult male Jeffersons in Virginia, eight of whom lived within 20 miles of Monticello.In popular culture
- William Wells Brown, Clotel; or, The President's Daughter, 1853, Project Gutenberg Etext, University of Vermont
- Wolf by the EarsWolf by the EarsWolf by the Ears is a young adult novel by Ann Rinaldi, first published in 1991. It is about a young girl, Harriet Hemings, who is a slave belonging to Thomas Jefferson. She tries to decide if she wants to stay and be a slave or leave and take her freedom...
(1991) by Ann RinaldiAnn RinaldiAnn Rinaldi is an American young-adult fiction author. She is best known for her historical fiction, including In My Father's House, The Last Silk Dress, An Acquaintance with Darkness, A Break with Charity, and Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons...
External links
- Thomas Jefferson's Monticello
- Sally Hemings and Her Children
- The Memoirs of Madison Hemings
- The Memoirs of Israel Jefferson
- Edmund Bacon, Mr. Jefferson's Servants, memoir, Thomas Jefferson, PBS Frontline