Madison Hemings | |
|---|---|
 1870 federal census of Ross County, Ohio; enumerator broke protocol to note of Madison Hemings, "This man is the son of Thomas Jefferson." | |
| Born | Madison Hemings January 19, 1805 |
| Died | November 28, 1877 (aged 72) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Fine woodworker; farmer |
| Known for | Son of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings |
| Spouse |
Mary Hughes McCoy
(m. 1831; died 1876) |
| Children | 10 |
| Parent(s) | Sally Hemings Thomas Jefferson |
| Relatives | Beverly Hemings (brother), Harriet Hemings (sister), Eston Hemings (brother), Betty Hemings (grandmother) |
Madison Hemings (January 19, 1805 – November 28, 1877) was the son of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. He was the third of Sally Hemings’ four children to survive to adulthood.[1] Born into slavery, according to partus sequitur ventrem, Hemings grew up on Jefferson's Monticello plantation, where his mother was also enslaved. After some light duties as a young boy, Hemings became a carpenter and fine woodwork apprentice at around age 14 and worked in the joiner's shop until he was about 21. He learned to play the violin and was able to earn money by growing cabbages. Jefferson died in 1826, after which Sally Hemings was "given her time" by Jefferson's surviving daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph.
The historical question of whether Jefferson was the father of Sally Hemings' children is the subject of the Jefferson–Hemings controversy. At the age of 68, Hemings claimed the connection in an 1873 Ohio newspaper interview, titled, "Life Among the Lowly," which attracted national and international attention. Following renewed historical analysis in the late 20th century, and a 1998 DNA study (completed in 1999 and published as a report in 2000)[2] that found a match between the Jefferson male line and a descendant of Sally Hemings' youngest son, Eston Hemings, the Monticello Foundation asserted that Jefferson fathered Eston and likely her other five children as well.[3]
After Hemings and his younger brother Eston were freed, they each worked and married free women of color; they lived with their families and mother Sally in Charlottesville until her death in 1835. Both brothers moved with their young families to Chillicothe, Ohio to live in a free state. Hemings and his wife Mary lived there the remainder of their lives; he worked as a farmer and highly skilled carpenter. Among their ten children were two sons who served the Union Army in the Civil War: one in the United States Colored Troops and one who enlisted as a white man in the regular army.
Among Madison and Mary Hemings' grandchildren was Frederick Madison Roberts, the first African American elected to office on the West Coast. He served in the California legislature for nearly two decades. In 2010, their descendant Shay Banks-Young, who identifies as African American, together with one Wayles and one Hemings descendant, who each identify as European American, received the international "Search for Common Ground" award for work among the Jefferson descendants and the public to bridge gaps and heal "the legacy of slavery." They founded "The Monticello Community" for descendants of all the people who lived and worked there in Jefferson's lifetime.
- ^ White, Deborah; Bay, Mia; Martin, Waldo E. Jr. (2012). Freedom on My Mind. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-4576-3760-5.
- ^ Jordan, Daniel P., ed. (January 26, 2000). "Report of the Research Committee on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings" (PDF). Monticello.org. Thomas Jefferson Foundation (then Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation). Archived (PDF) from the original on July 13, 2007. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
- ^ "Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: A Brief Account". Monticello.org. Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
Ten years later [referring to its 2000 report], [the Thomas Jefferson Foundation] and most historians now believe that, years after his wife's death, Thomas Jefferson was the father of the six children of Sally Hemings mentioned in Jefferson's records, including Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston Hemings.