Thomas Jefferson Is Likely Slaves’ Father, Group Says

More than a year after a DNA test suggested that Thomas Jefferson may have had a son by his slave Sally Hemings, the foundation that owns Jefferson’s home acknowledged that he probably was the father of one, if not all six, of her children.

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, which owns Monticello, released its findings Wednesday in response to an October 1998 DNA test that concluded a Jefferson male likely fathered Hemings’ youngest son, Eston.

“Although paternity cannot be established with absolute certainty, our evaluation of the best evidence available suggests the strong likelihood that Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings had a relationship over time that led to the birth of one, and perhaps all, of the known children of Sally Hemings,” Daniel P. Jordan, the foundation’s president, said at a news conference.

Jefferson, who was president from 1801 to 1809, was accused publicly in 1802 of fathering several children by Hemings. Scholars have been divided over the issue.

“It’s about time that someone is validating what oral history has confirmed for years,” Shay Banks-Young, a Hemings descendant who lives in Columbus, Ohio, said in a telephone interview.

James Truscott, head of the Monticello Assn., a group of descendants from Jefferson’s daughters Martha Jefferson Randolph and Maria Jefferson Eppes, declined to comment because he had not seen the foundation’s report.

Truscott’s group is planning to release its own report on the issue this year. The Monticello Assn. generally has not embraced the idea that Jefferson and Hemings had a sexual relationship.