Until Hemings descendants began applying, membership was confirmed or denied through a loosely run honor system. Why are these stipulations so lax? The constitution and bylaws were amended by a ballot of all regular members in to entitle spouses of lineal descendants to burial in the Monticello graveyard.
This was a year when black citizens of Virginia were excluded not only from private organizations like country clubs or the Monticello Association but from hotels, motels, and restaurants. In it would have been inconceivable that a day would come when Hemings descendants might apply for membership. Perhaps this explains why the executive committee felt confident enough to seek a legal opinion on membership of Hemings descendants in advance of the DNA results.
In November the journal Nature printed those results. The Y chromosome is passed down virtually unchanged from father to son and so is an almost certain indicator of paternity. Descendants of Field Jefferson had been sought out because Thomas Jefferson and his wife, Martha, had no sons who survived to adulthood, and Thomas and Field shared the same Y chromosome from their common ancestors.
That test came back negative. By the time more than 30 Hemings descendants walked through the gates of the Monticello graveyard in May , an American history Rubicon had been reached, if not crossed: Now it was impossible to consider the towering figure of Jefferson without also considering Sally Hemings.
The reunion that year was covered by a throng of reporters that rivaled the media mob outside the O. Simpson trial. Having Hemings descendants at the reunion alarmed many members, and the presence of so many TV cameras and reporters added tension. Most Association members on the lawn were clustered tightly, warily glancing at the invaders.
There were several regrettable incidents of outright hostility, when members made racist comments to Hemings descendants. Several members rose to oppose the motion. One of us pointed out that nobody had yet finished lunch, and it would be unseemly to banish people, including our own husbands and wives, not to mention the Hemingses, in the middle of a meal. The motion was defeated by a comfortable margin, surprising me and most probably the outgoing president of the Association, Mr.
GiIlespie, who the afternoon before had told the press he was certain that many members opposed allowing Hemingses into the Association. Several Hemings descendants then rose to address the Association. Near the end of the meeting, Mr. Gillespie announced that the executive committee had met earlier and appointed a membership advisory committee to consider the criteria for membership and the issue of whether or not descendants of Sally Hemings were also descendants of Thomas Jefferson; the new committee would issue its report before the next May and the reunion.
James Truscott, my uncle, was elected the new president of the Association, and he gaveled the meeting to a close as the media hordes descended to feed on its corpse. Shortly afterward, the membership advisory committee hastily convened and decided it needed more time to issue its report.
My uncle James announced that the committee would issue an interim report that year but that both the committee and the Association would wait until to consider a final report. The Foundation report had not been researched and prepared by historians unknown to the Association. The current president of the Memorial Foundation, Dan Jordan, was made an honorary Association member some time ago, and the Foundation hosts the annual reunion reception at Monticello with the friendly cooperation of the Association.
Between invitations issued by the association and me, about 50 Hemings descendants and family members attended the annual reunion in , along with more than Association members and their families. The scene at the Saturday-evening reception at Monticello was remarkably different from that of the year before. There were no television cameras and only a few print journalists. Members and guests circulated through the house and grounds, chatting together and gathering near several bars that served, appropriately, wine from France and the state of Virginia.
Jefferson was among the first enthusiasts of French wine in this country, setting an example by having his slaves plant a small vineyard of his own along the south-facing hillside just below Mulberry Row. I looked across the lawn and saw a perfectly ordinary Monticello reunion. Michie Tavern, just down the road from Monticello, has been the site of recent annual reunion dinners.
In most members wolfed down a piece of fried chicken and a few bites of salad and then bolted for the door. It made me wonder what lay in store for the annual business meeting the next day. I had expected that the publication of the Memorial Foundation report would set off a flurry of countervailing arguments, but I was wrong.
Only one member of the Monticello Association protested. John Works held a closed, invitation-only press conference to announce the formation of a separate foundation of his own, the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society, which was founded, I gathered from the reports of those who were allowed entry I was excluded along with several Hemings cousins , to take issue with the report of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation. Works had signed on to his foundation board several Jefferson scholars as well as a coterie of what can only be called anti-Hemings activists, and he had invited several of them to attend the business meeting of the Monticello Association.
My uncle James and the executive committee asked two of the authors of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation report to address us on how its findings had been reached. February 14, Cooper, Cary Ann Randolph d. January 12, Crump, John Wesley d. January 16, Kean, Sarah Rice Elliott d. February 11, Kirk, Edwin Kirk, Mrs.
Edwin, nee Page Taylor d. May 1, Kotz, Edith Richards Randall d. October 14, Kotz, John J. December 25, Leschot, Louis A. May 15, Loving, Carolin Frances Eppes d. Martha Wayles Jefferson - Wife 8. Thomas Mann Randoph - Son-in-Law 9. Mary Buchanan Randolph - Great-Granddaughter Mary Jefferson Randolph - Granddaughter Cornelia Jefferson Randolph - Granddaughter James Madison Randolph - Grandson Martha Jefferson Carr - Sister Dabney Carr - Friend, Brother-in-Law Samuel Carr - Nephew Jane Randolph Jefferson - Mother William Jefferson Cary - Great-Nephew William Mortimer Harrison - Cousin, Drowned Mary Adams , Wife of Gen.
George W. Randolph Born Died She was born January 16, and died January 18,
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