important contribution to the paternity legend

books:


	• Jefferson Vindicated - Fallacies, Omissions, and Contradictions in the Hemings Genealogical Search Cynthia H. Burton Cynthia H. Burton, 2005 - 225 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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important contribution to the paternity legend

The submission by a "Virginia history lover" is not a review of "Jefferson Vindicated." It is a political statement. If the Virginia history lover hates Jefferson because he was a slave owner, that bias does not help one evaluate the research and content of this new book. Nor does the fact that Jefferson was a slave owner prohibit an in depth study of whether Jefferson fathered slave children by his slave Sally Hemings. Nor should one be chased away from this examination by Virginia history lover's name calling. In truth, the author Cyndi Burton, a historian and a genealogist, has presented the best detailed examination yet of the issues involved in whether Thomas Jefferson fathered children by Hemings. The argument that he did rests on three basic propositions: one, that Jefferson was always present during the conception window for each of Hemings' children; two, that the statement of one of her sons, made fifty years after he left Monticello, that he and his siblings were the children of Thomas Jefferson, should not be challenged; and three, that the DNA test from one line of Hemings' youngest son showing that he had a Jefferson ancestor means that it was Thomas Jefferson. What Burton has done is to examine each of these propositions and lays in detail the available facts for the reader to make an informed decision. Normally, that's what history lovers do and seek to follow the facts where they may lead. In this case, they do not lead to a common bedroom shared by Jefferson and Hemings. There is much more to Jefferson Vindicated and anyone interested in the legacy of Thomas Jefferson will find it a fascinating study.

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New Light on Hemings-Jefferson Controversy

I chose five stars because of the author's original research. In my view as a Hemings-Jefferson paternity agnostic who has read both sides' arguments closely, that research in a variety of new sources has enabled the author to shed a substantial amount of new light on the controversy. I read this book carefully soon after it became available in Charlottesville, and I'm not surprised that former Monticello director James A. Bear, Jr., would endorse it by contributing its foreword. Any serious student of the controversy must read this book.
Steven T. Corneliussen
Poquoson, Virginia

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JEFFERSON VINDICATED....." INDEED"

The author, Cyndi Burton, was most fortunate in securing a forward by one of the most knowledgeable Jefferson historians alive today, Mr. James Adams Bear, Jr. Emeritus Director of Monticello. On his watch many revealing Jefferson books were published, among them the little known book, Thomas Jefferson and His Unknown Brother,(brother Randolph invited to Monticello exactly 9 months prior to Eston Hemings's birth), The Hemings Family at Monticello, the Jefferson Memorandum Books, the Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson, and others. And as author Burton says, "no curatorial research at Monticello has matched Bear's in magnitude." To write the forward for Cyndi Burton's "EXPOSE" is most corageous in a climate of political correctness and historical revisionism surrounding the Jefferson-Hemings DNA "fiasco." I know this because as a Jefferson family historian and assistant to Dr. E.A. Foster with the now infamous DNA Study, you the reader, have been "CONNED" and mislead prior to the publication of this very revealing book. NOTHING proves Thomas Jefferson guilty of fathering ANY slave child.

Yes, I too am familiar with seemingly hundreds of e-mails between Dr. Foster and myself in which he was aware of OTHER Jeffersons, namely Randolph, younger brother of Thomas but according to him was unable to get permission from Nature Journal to put tham as possible suspects in the study, space limitations you know. Thus in the absence of this information Nature wrote the damning headline, Jefferson fathers slave's last child. The Carr brothers were the prime suspects in Dr. Foster's study and the "aim" of his study, when DNA eliminated them Nature knew of NO other Jefferson to suspect (they had not received any Foster information to the contrary), thus it just has to be THOMAS. A very scientific statement I must say.

Mrs. Burton has expanded on many topics in great detail, not sensationalism or bias reporting and is a thorough and careful genealogist in the Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia area and knows of what she writes. It is time that the public becomes aware that Madison Hemings interview with Samuel Wetmore in the Pike County Republican is riddled with inaccuracies and this is a prime "piece of evidence" relied upon by the "he's guilty" crowd. You can read all about this article in this exciting book, but on just one claim that Madison Hemings claims to be named for James Madison upon the occasion of Dolley Madison's visit to Monticello on January 19, 1805 let us wander back. Close inspection of this claim would lead the reader to believe that Dolley Madison announces to her husband, James Madison, Secretary of State, and to President Thomas Jefferson (she was acting as his Hostess), that she is sorry that she has heard that a slave is to give birth to a MALE and she must name him after her husband. You will note that I stress MALE here because as we all know this was well before science was able to inform us of the sex of an unborn child. Never mind the severe winter, frozen rivers and roads she must be on her way. The Madison Papers indicate that the Madisons NEVER traveled to Virginia from Washington during the winter months. Thus, how are we expected to believe ANY of the suspect statements of Samuel Wetmore/Madison Hemings. A good account of this newspaper article, Jefferson denials of the rumors, and much more in detail are in this "nuts and bolts" study under the glare of the magnifying glass of a supurb researcher and author. My hat is off in salute to Cyndi Burton and James Bear, Jr. Yours will be also after reading this interesting account of all the lies, misinformation, and biased research to arrive at preconceived agendas. By all means if you are interested in your country's truthful history and especially that of Thomas Jefferson I urge you to please read this book.

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If you thought DNA proved President Jefferson fathered a child of his slave -- think again! Fresh from Jefferson country, a local researcher sheds new light on the old legend. For the first time ever, the reader is introduced to the president's younger brother, Randolph Jefferson, and his sons. New findings that focus on the infamous, yet inconclusive DNA; Jefferson's health and his activities; accounts of witnesses; origin of the myth; and the possibility that Sally's children were fathered by other men carrying the Jefferson Y chromosome are discussed. Numerous sources are examined in an attempt to resolve ambiguities and to determine relevance and credibility. The author follows the Hemingses in their trek west revealing little-known facts about an extraordinary family in their fulfillment of the "American dream." Along with the most thorough examination of the Sally Hemings controversy to date, new discoveries and details are revealed as never before available to the general public. As the subtitle implies, this volume exposes "fallacies, omissions, and contradictions in the Hemings genealogical search." This book is a must-have reference for everyone interested in the stories behind the headlines of a unique slave family and their relationship to a great American president.

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