Monticello Association

Monticello in 1940

Founded in 1913, the Monticello Association is a non-profit organization of the lineal descendants of Thomas Jefferson, 3rd president of the United States. Jefferson was the designer, builder, owner and principal resident of Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia. Historically the Association has included only descendants of his marriage to Martha Wayles Skelton. The Association owns and maintains the family burial ground at Monticello, where only members may be buried, and supports work to promote the reputation of the president.

A lineage society, the Association has gained publicity over its 1999 and 2002 decisions to exclude Sally Hemings' descendants from honorary or regular membership. The controversy first arose at its 86th annual meeting in 1999, where Hemings descendants were invited as guests. The results of DNA analysis publicized in late 1998 confirmed a match between the Jefferson male family line and descendants of Hemings' youngest son, Eston Hemings Jefferson.^[1] Most historians believe this and the body of historical evidence are sufficient to conclude that Jefferson was the father of all of Hemings' children. Jeffersonian scholarship now includes this relationship and children as given.

Purpose

The Association's purposes as stated in its Constitution are to:

"(A) Preserve and care for the graves and grounds of the Monticello graveyard,

(second) to protect and perpetuate the reputation and fame of Thomas Jefferson, and

(third) to encourage association and friendship among Mr. Jefferson's descendants;

(B) to defend the property rights of the lineal descendants of Col. T. J. Randolph as owners of the original Monticello graveyard; and

(C) to affirm the rights of the descendants of Thomas Jefferson to burial in the addition to the Monticello graveyard as provided in the covenant under which this property was deeded." ^[2]

Membership

There are two categories of membership:

1. Regular Membership is open to any lineal descendant of Mr. Jefferson upon receipt of a completed application and annual dues. Dues are $40 per year. Adults aged 18–25 are eligible for reduced dues of $25. There are no dues for children under age 18. Life membership (regular) is available for the lump sum of $500.

2. Associate Membership is offered to adopted and stepchildren, and to spouses of regular members if such persons show interest in the Association by attendance at meetings, by correspondence with the Secretary, or by monetary contributions. No dues are assessed ^[3]

Background to controversy

See also: Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, Jefferson DNA data, and Annette Gordon-Reed

The Association has traditionally been composed of European-Americans, descendants of Thomas Jefferson and his wife Martha Wayles Skelton. In 1998 a DNA study showed that descendants of Eston Hemings Jefferson, the youngest son of Sally Hemings, a slave of Thomas Jefferson, had Y-DNA that matched that of Jefferson's male line.^[4] It had been rumored since before 1800 that she was the concubine of Jefferson, and he had several children with her. The study team noted that the body of historical evidence made it most likely that Thomas Jefferson was the father of Eston and all of Hemings' children.^[4] The DNA study, together with historical evidence, convinced former skeptics and Jefferson biographers, such as Joseph Ellis and Andrew Burstein, that the president had a long relationship with Hemings and likely fathered all her children.^[5][6] The Carr nephews, identified by Jefferson's grandchildren as the father(s), were shown to have no genetic connection to the Hemings descendant.^[4]

Strongly influenced also by Annette Gordon-Reed's 1997 book, which analyzed errors in historiography, the course of academic Jeffersonian scholarship has changed.^[7] It is widely accepted that Jefferson had a long liaison with Hemings and fathered all her children. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which operates Monticello, has incorporated the material into its training for guides, published new studies related to this conclusion, and expanded its research agenda.^[8] In 2003 Susan Stein, curator of Monticello, said, "more than 90 percent of professional historians who've looked at this are persuaded that Jefferson and Hemings had a sustained relationship."^[9]

In 1999 after the DNA study was made public, Association member Lucian K. Truscott IV met some of his Hemings cousins on the Oprah show and invited them as guests to the Associations' annual meeting.^[10] The president of the Association did not allow a vote on whether to include the descendants as honorary members, saying this status was reserved for persons at the University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. A majority of the Association members voted to require additional studies before deciding on membership of Hemings descendants.^[1] Members such as Lucian K. Truscott IV and some others publicly disagreed with this decision. The Association's decision precluded Hemings' descendants from burial at the privately owned Jefferson family cemetery at Monticello, a privilege reserved to members.^[1]

Some Hemings descendants filed applications for membership, which officials said had to satisfy the association's criteria for genealogical documentation.^[1] Truscott has continued strongly to support approval of the Hemings' descendants as members of the Association.^[10]

In the fall of 2001, the National Genealogical Society Quarterly reported that the "weight of historical evidence" and the DNA study were sufficient to conclude that Jefferson had a long relationship with Hemings and fathered all her children. They strongly criticized a report issued that year by the newly formed Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society (TJHS); they said it failed to follow best practices in historical and genealogical analysis. Helen F.M. Leary, a certified genealogist, concluded: "the chain of evidence securely fastens Sally Hemings's children to their father, Thomas Jefferson."^[11] In a 2002 lecture at the Library of Congress, Leary said: "[M]uch of the evidence marshaled against the Hemings-Jefferson relationship has proved to be flawed by reason of bias, inaccuracy or inconsistent reporting. Too many coincidences must be accounted for and too many unique circumstances "explained away" if a competing theory is to be accepted. The sum of the evidence points to Jefferson as the father of Hemings' children."^[12]

Monticello Association study and vote

In 2002 the Monticello Association's members reviewed the report by their commissioned scholars and voted overwhelmingly against admitting the Hemings descendants or changing their criteria for evaluating membership applications of lineal descendants.^[9] These are dependent on documentary genealogical evidence, some of which is generally unavailable for descendants of slaves. The association members acknowledged that such documentation would be difficult for the Hemings descendants to gather, but thought other evidence was inconclusive.^[13] Hemings descendants continued to attend the annual meetings of the association.

New reunions

Based on earlier hostility by members of the Monticello Association, in July 2003 more than 100 Hemings descendants and 12 Association members, who had supported their applications for membership, had their own reunion at Monticello. Dan Jordan, president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation which owns and runs the estate, told them, "Welcome home." At that reunion, John Works Sr., a Monticello Association member, said he hoped other Wayles-Jefferson descendants would eventually accept the Hemingses. He said, “Nobody has proof, really, of direct descendancy to Thomas Jefferson. But look around ... everyone is exchanging information and getting to know each other. That’s what a family reunion is supposed to be about.”^[14]

Four years later, 250 Americans descended from Thomas Jefferson through Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson or Sally Hemings met again at Monticello. Organized by descendants of both sides of the family, the reunion was reported as "a small step towards healing".^[15] The private Monticello Association denied the crowd's access to the cemetery that weekend out of concern for the grass.^[15]

In 2010 the international peace-making organization "Search for Common Ground" honored three Jefferson descendants for "their work to bridge the divide within their family and heal the legacy of slavery."^[16] They are Shay Banks-Young, who identifies as African American, and Julie Jefferson Westerinen, who identifies as European American, both descendants of Sally Hemings; and David Works, a Monticello Association member who is descended from Martha Wayles. They have been featured on NPR and in numerous venues across the country in talks about race and the larger Jefferson family.^[16]

Shay Banks-Young said her family always talked about where they came from. Julie Jefferson Westerinen first found out about her full heritage after Fawn McKay Brodie's biography of Jefferson was published in 1974. Her family recognized Eston Jefferson's name and discussed the book. Her father and his brothers had stopped telling about the link to Hemings and Jefferson in the 1940s, for fear that their children would be discriminated against. Julie's brother was the Eston Hemings descendant whose DNA matched that of the Jefferson male line. After studying the facts himself, David Works said, "I agreed pretty much with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation conclusion that the simplest and most reasonable explanation was that Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemings."^[16] The three descendants have organized larger reunions and have started a new association, the "Monticello Community", "for all the descendants of workmen, artisans and slave, free, family, whatever, at Monticello."^[16][17]

See also

• Thomas Jefferson Randolph

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Leef Smith, "Jeffersons Split Over Hemings Descendants", Washington Post, 17 May 1999, accessed 28 February 2011
2. ^ "Monticello Association - General Statement of Organization". Archived from the original on 2006-04-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20060430111519/http://monticello-assoc.org/general.html. Retrieved 2006-05-29. 
3. ^ "Monticello Association - Membership". http://www.monticello-assoc.org/2.html. Retrieved 2010-06-25. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Foster, EA, et al.; Jobling, MA; Taylor, PG; Donnelly, P; De Knijff, P; Mieremet, R; Zerjal, T; Tyler-Smith, C (1998). "Jefferson fathered slave's last child". Nature 396 (6706): 27–28. doi:10.1038/23835. PMID 9817200. http://www.familytreedna.com/pdf/Jeffersons.pdf. 
5. ^ "Online Newshour: Thomas Jefferson". pbs.org. 1998-11-02. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/july-dec98/jefferson_11-2.html. Retrieved 2006-08-04.  Quote: Joseph Ellis "...[T]his is really new evidence. And it—prior to this evidence, I think it was a very difficult case to know and circumstantial on both sides, and, in part, because I got it wrong, I think I want to step forward and say this new evidence constitutes, well, evidence beyond any reasonable doubt that Jefferson had a longstanding sexual relationship with Sally Hemings."
6. ^ Richard Shenkman, "The Unknown Jefferson: An Interview with Andrew Burstein", History News Network, 25 July 2005, accessed 14 March 2011
7. ^ "Annette Gordon-Reed", MacArthur Foundation, accessed 9 February 2011. Note: The Foundation noted that her "persistent investigation into the life of an iconic American president has dramatically changed the course of Jeffersonian scholarship."
8. ^ "Extraordinary Ancestors", Getting Word, Monticello, accessed 19 March 2011
9. ^ ^{a b} Andrew Ferguson, "Jefferson Family Feud Mixes History, Race, Sex", Bloomberg News, 6 May 2003, accessed 28 February 2011
10. ^ ^{a b} Lucian K. Truscott IV, "Children of Monticello", American Heritage Magazine, February/March 2001, Vol. 52, Issue 1, accessed 24 March 2011. Quote: "...the story of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson has always been about blood and race and land.
    Once consigned to a footnote in the history books or at best a few paragraphs in Jefferson biographies, the story of Hemings and him is by now well known, the subject of talk shows, documentaries, even a mini-series. Yet as familiar as the story of the two may seem, we are only now beginning to agree on a new version of our history." Further, "There is no disagreement that Jefferson’s wife, Martha, and Sally Hemings were half-sisters; both had the same father, John Wayles. So all the members of the Monticello Association are descended from Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings’s half-sister, Martha. That means that the members of the Monticello Association are cousins of every descendant of Sally Hemings, because we share a maternal great-great-great (etc., etc.) grandfather, Mr. Wayles."
11. ^ National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 89, No. 3, September 2001, pp. 207, 214-218
12. ^ Rebecca Gates-Coon, "The Children of Sally Hemings: Genealogist Gives Annual Austin Lecture", Information Bulletin, Library of Congress, May 2002, accessed 10 Feb 2009.
13. ^ Craig Shirley, "Outside View: Issue of Jefferson's issue", UPI Outside View Commentary, 19 June 2002, on Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society site, accessed 28 February 2011
14. ^ Chris Kahn, "Reunion bridges Jefferson family rift: Snubbed descendants of black slave hold their own event", Genealogy, MSNBC, 13 July 2003, accessed 1 March 2011
15. ^ ^{a b} Barry, Dan. "Atop a hallowed mountain, small steps toward healing", New York Times, 31 March 2008, accessed 1 March 2011
16. ^ ^{a b c d} Michel Martin, "Thomas Jefferson Descendants Work To Heal Family's Past", NPR, 11 November 2010, accessed 2 March 2011.
17. ^ "The Monticello Community", Official Website

External links

• Monticello Association, Official Site, updated 2011
• "Interim Report: Membership Advisory Committee", May 2000, Monticello Association
• Collected Papers of the Monticello Association of the Descendants of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. I & II, ed. George Green Shackelford, Monticello Association, Charlottesville, 1984
• "The Monticello Community", Official Site