New DNA Analysis Adds Evidence Jefferson Fathered Children with Sally Hemings
Researchers say new DNA analysis and descendant testing strengthen evidence that Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemings.
- On Tuesday, Smithsonian scholar Richard Kurin released a study confirming a 99.9% probability that President Thomas Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman he held at his Monticello estate.
- Decades of debate prompted the genomic investigation, as previous studies relied on Y-chromosome markers which could not definitively rule out other male relatives, such as Jefferson's brother, Randolph Jefferson.
- Researchers utilized an innovative technique to extract DNA from rootless hair samples found in the Jefferson Bible, allowing scientists to analyze autosomal DNA rather than the limited male-line lineage used previously.
- Genetic evidence definitively links the descendants of Madison Hemings and Eston Hemings to Jefferson, with odds of less than one in 1,000 that he was not the biological father.
- Kurin described the findings as a "capstone" to years of research, potentially allowing descendants of both Martha Wayles Jefferson and Hemings to view themselves as part of one complex American family.
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14 Articles
Paternity Results Are In for Jefferson-Hemings Case
A centuries-old lock of hair has now done what rumors, records, and earlier DNA tests couldn't: firmly tie Thomas Jefferson to the children of Sally Hemings. Writing for Smithsonian , Richard Kurin details a 15-year effort that began with hairs found in Jefferson's custom-made "Jefferson Bible" and expanded to multiple historic...
The Independent
The Independent (US)DNA study confirms Thomas Jefferson fathered children with enslaved Sally Hemings
America’s third president and one of its founding fathers kept more than 600 slaves
New DNA analysis adds evidence Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemings
A lock of hair, 15 years of sleuthing and a 200-year-old question. In History by a Hair, Smithsonian Institution scholar Richard Kurin follows the DNA trail back to Thomas Jefferson.
DNA extracted from Thomas Jefferson's hair provided strong evidence that he fathered children with Sally Hemings.
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