Betty Hemings
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth "Betty" Hemings (circa 1735 – 1807) was an American enslaved
woman of mixed race, who in 1761 became the concubine of the planter John Wayles
of Virginia. He had become a widower for the third time. He had six children with her over a 12-year period. After Wayles died, the Hemings family and more than 100 other slaves were inherited as part of his estate by his daughter Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
and her husband Thomas Jefferson
.
Eventually more than 75 of Betty's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were born into slavery and worked at Jefferson's plantation
of Monticello
. They were skilled chefs, butlers, seamstresses, weavers, carpenters, blacksmiths, gardeners, and musicians. Jefferson gave others to his sister and daughters as wedding presents, and they lived at other Virginia plantations. Her oldest daughter Mary Hemings
became the common-law wife of wealthy merchant Thomas Bell, who purchased her and their two children in 1792 and informally freed them. Mary was the first of several Hemingses to gain freedom before the Civil War
. Her daughter Sally Hemings
is believed by historians to have had several children by Thomas Jefferson.
Betty's grandson, Madison Hemings
, related the story that Betty was born into slavery as the property of "John Wales" (meaning he owned her mother.) The family said that Captain John Hemings tried to buy his mixed-race daughter from Wayles, but the planter refused to sell them. Captain Hemings plotted to kidnap his daughter, which Wayles got word of and took measures against. It is possible that Wayles could have sold Betty to Francis Eppes and later regained ownership of her when he married Eppes' daughter Martha as his first wife, or her grandson Madison may have confused some of the chronology.
After John Wayles
married Martha Eppes, the daughter of Francis Eppes IV, in 1746, her father gave Susannah and Elizabeth/Betty to the couple as part of the wedding settlement, with the stipulation that they would always belong to Martha and her heirs. The two became domestic servants at one of Wayles' plantations.
In the 1750s, Betty Hemings gave birth to the first four of her twelve children, whose father was a slave. The children were:
John Wayles was widowed three times. In 1761, after the death of his third wife, Wayles took Betty Hemings as his concubine. According to her descendants, she had six children with Wayles. They were each half-siblings to his daughter Martha Wayles, who married Thomas Jefferson
. As the historians Philip D. Morgan
and Joshua D. Rothman have written, there were numerous such interracial relationships in the Wayles-Hemings-Jefferson families, Albemarle County and Virginia, often with multiple generations repeating the pattern. Her children by Wayles were:
After Wayles died in 1773, all eleven members of the Hemings family and 124 other slaves were inherited by his daughter Martha Wayles and her husband Thomas Jefferson. The Jeffersons had the Hemings children trained as skilled artisans and domestic servants, giving them privileged positions at the plantation. No member of the Hemings family worked in the fields.
While resident at Monticello, Betty Hemings had two more children:
In the last decade of her life, Betty Hemings had her own cabin at Monticello, from 1795 to 1807. She raised produce and sold it to the Jefferson household: items such as cabbages, strawberries, and chickens. Her former cabin site is being investigated as an archeological site. It is expected to yield new information about the daily lives of the enslaved African Americans at Monticello.
The slave community at Monticello was well aware of the relationship. In 1873 Betty's grandson Madison Hemings
and Israel Jefferson
, both former slaves at Monticello, published newspaper interviews which said Wayles was the father of Sally Hemings and other of Betty's children. They also both attested that her daughter Sally Hemings
lived as the concubine of the widower Thomas Jefferson
, and had six children with him. The surviving four were Beverley, Harriet, Madison and Eston Hemings, of seven-eighths European ancestry. At that time under Virginia law, Sally Hemings' children were legally "white".
From the family line of daughter Sally Hemings
From the family line of daughter Mary Hemings
From the family line of great-granddaughter Anna Hemings Jefferson
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
woman of mixed race, who in 1761 became the concubine of the planter John Wayles
John Wayles
John Wayles was a planter, slave trader and lawyer in the Virginia Colony. He is historically best known as the father-in-law of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States....
of Virginia. He had become a widower for the third time. He had six children with her over a 12-year period. After Wayles died, the Hemings family and more than 100 other slaves were inherited as part of his estate by his daughter Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, born Martha Wayles was the wife of Thomas Jefferson, who was the third President of the United States. It was her second marriage, as her first husband had died young...
and her husband Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
.
Eventually more than 75 of Betty's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were born into slavery and worked at Jefferson's plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
of Monticello
Monticello
Monticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...
. They were skilled chefs, butlers, seamstresses, weavers, carpenters, blacksmiths, gardeners, and musicians. Jefferson gave others to his sister and daughters as wedding presents, and they lived at other Virginia plantations. Her oldest daughter Mary Hemings
Mary Hemings
Mary Hemings, also known as Mary Hemings Bell , was born into slavery, most likely in Charles City County, Virginia, as the oldest child of Elizabeth Hemings, a mixed-race slave held by John Wayles...
became the common-law wife of wealthy merchant Thomas Bell, who purchased her and their two children in 1792 and informally freed them. Mary was the first of several Hemingses to gain freedom before the Civil War
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
. Her daughter Sally Hemings
Sally Hemings
Sarah "Sally" Hemings was a mixed-race slave owned by President Thomas Jefferson through inheritance from his wife. She was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson by their father John Wayles...
is believed by historians to have had several children by Thomas Jefferson.
Biography
According to the oral history of her descendants, Betty was the daughter of an enslaved African woman, named Susannah, and a slave-ship captain named John Hemings. The place of her birth is uncertain, but by 1746, Susannah (then known as Susannah Eppes) and Betty were recorded as the property of Francis Eppes IV of the Bermuda Hundred plantation.Betty's grandson, Madison Hemings
Madison Hemings
Madison Hemings, born James Madison Hemings , was born into slavery as the son of the mixed-race slave Sally Hemings; he was freed after the death of his master Thomas Jefferson. Based on historical evidence, most historians believe that Jefferson, United States president, was his father...
, related the story that Betty was born into slavery as the property of "John Wales" (meaning he owned her mother.) The family said that Captain John Hemings tried to buy his mixed-race daughter from Wayles, but the planter refused to sell them. Captain Hemings plotted to kidnap his daughter, which Wayles got word of and took measures against. It is possible that Wayles could have sold Betty to Francis Eppes and later regained ownership of her when he married Eppes' daughter Martha as his first wife, or her grandson Madison may have confused some of the chronology.
After John Wayles
John Wayles
John Wayles was a planter, slave trader and lawyer in the Virginia Colony. He is historically best known as the father-in-law of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States....
married Martha Eppes, the daughter of Francis Eppes IV, in 1746, her father gave Susannah and Elizabeth/Betty to the couple as part of the wedding settlement, with the stipulation that they would always belong to Martha and her heirs. The two became domestic servants at one of Wayles' plantations.
In the 1750s, Betty Hemings gave birth to the first four of her twelve children, whose father was a slave. The children were:
- MaryMary HemingsMary Hemings, also known as Mary Hemings Bell , was born into slavery, most likely in Charles City County, Virginia, as the oldest child of Elizabeth Hemings, a mixed-race slave held by John Wayles...
(1753-after 1834), recognized as a seamstress, she was hired and then purchased by Thomas Bell in 1792, with whom she had a common-law marriage and two children. He informally freed her and their two children, and willed them his estate in Charlottesville. Her older children stayed at Monticello as slaves (see her page); - Martin Hemings, he became the butler at Monticello;
- Bett or Betsey, called Betty Brown (1759-after 1831). Already serving as the personal servant to Martha Wayles SkeltonMartha Wayles Skelton JeffersonMartha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, born Martha Wayles was the wife of Thomas Jefferson, who was the third President of the United States. It was her second marriage, as her first husband had died young...
, Betty accompanied her to Monticello after Skelton's marriage to Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
. Betty's two sons were Wormley Hughes (1781-1858) and Burwell Colbert (1783-c. 1862). Colbert later served for decades as the butler and personal valet to Jefferson, who freed him by his will of 1826.) - Nance Hemings (1761-1827+), in 1785 Jefferson gave her to his sister as a wedding gift. Ten years later he bought her back, as she was a skilled weaverWeaverThe Ploceidae, or weavers, are small passerine birds related to the finches.These are seed-eating birds with rounded conical bills, most of which are from Sub-Saharan Africa, with fewer species in tropical Asia. A few species have been introduced outside their native range. The weaver group is...
and he had started a cotton factory at Monticello.
John Wayles was widowed three times. In 1761, after the death of his third wife, Wayles took Betty Hemings as his concubine. According to her descendants, she had six children with Wayles. They were each half-siblings to his daughter Martha Wayles, who married Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
. As the historians Philip D. Morgan
Philip D. Morgan
Philip D. Morgan is a British-American historian. He has specialized in Early Modern colonial British America, and slavery in the Americas...
and Joshua D. Rothman have written, there were numerous such interracial relationships in the Wayles-Hemings-Jefferson families, Albemarle County and Virginia, often with multiple generations repeating the pattern. Her children by Wayles were:
- Robert Hemings (1762-1819), purchased his freedom from Thomas Jefferson in 1794;
- James HemingsJames HemingsJames Hemings was an American mixed-race slave owned and freed by Thomas Jefferson. He was an older brother of Sally Hemings and is said to have been a half-sibling of Jefferson's wife Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson because their father was John Wayles...
(1765-1801), freed by Jefferson in 1796 after training his brother Peter for three years to replace him as a chef; - Thenia Hemings (1767-1795);
- Critta Hemings Bowles (1769-1850), married Zachariah Bowles, a free man of colorFree people of colorA free person of color in the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, is a person of full or partial African descent who was not enslaved...
. In 1827 she was purchased and freed by Francis W. EppesFrancis W. EppesFrancis Wayles Eppes VII was the grandson of President Thomas Jefferson. After moving from Virginia with his family to near Tallahassee, Florida in 1829, he established a cotton plantation. In 1856 Eppes donated land and money to gain the location in Tallahassee of one of the first two...
, whom she had cared for as a nurse when he was young, starting in 1802. (His mother was Mary Jefferson Eppes, Jefferson's second daughter). - Peter Hemings (1770-after 1834), served as chef to Jefferson after being trained by his brother James; and
- Sally HemingsSally HemingsSarah "Sally" Hemings was a mixed-race slave owned by President Thomas Jefferson through inheritance from his wife. She was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson by their father John Wayles...
(c. 1773-1835), concubine to Jefferson from about 1789. She had six children by him, four of whom survived. She was with him to his death in 1826, after which she was "given her time" (informal freedom) by his surviving daughter Martha.
After Wayles died in 1773, all eleven members of the Hemings family and 124 other slaves were inherited by his daughter Martha Wayles and her husband Thomas Jefferson. The Jeffersons had the Hemings children trained as skilled artisans and domestic servants, giving them privileged positions at the plantation. No member of the Hemings family worked in the fields.
While resident at Monticello, Betty Hemings had two more children:
- John HemingsJohn HemingsJohn Hemings was born into slavery at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello as part of the large mixed-race Hemings family...
(1776-1833), whose father was an Irish workman Joseph Neilson; John was freed in Jefferson's will after decades of service as a skilled ironworker; and - Lucy Hemings (1777-1786), whose father was believed to be a slave.
In the last decade of her life, Betty Hemings had her own cabin at Monticello, from 1795 to 1807. She raised produce and sold it to the Jefferson household: items such as cabbages, strawberries, and chickens. Her former cabin site is being investigated as an archeological site. It is expected to yield new information about the daily lives of the enslaved African Americans at Monticello.
Relationship with John Wayles
Historians have tended to accept the account that Betty Hemings and John Wayles had children together. Her last six children were multiracial and very light-skinned, evidence of a European father. They were three-quarters European. As is the case of many relationships between slaveholders and slaves, documentary evidence is slight. Betty was mentioned in John Wayles' will, which some take as an indication of a relationship. According to contemporary accounts, some of Betty's children were nearly white in appearance. Other support is found in private letters from the first decade of the 19th century, which later became public.The slave community at Monticello was well aware of the relationship. In 1873 Betty's grandson Madison Hemings
Madison Hemings
Madison Hemings, born James Madison Hemings , was born into slavery as the son of the mixed-race slave Sally Hemings; he was freed after the death of his master Thomas Jefferson. Based on historical evidence, most historians believe that Jefferson, United States president, was his father...
and Israel Jefferson
Israel Jefferson
Israel Jefferson, known as Israel Gillette before the 1840s , was born a slave at Monticello, the plantation estate of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States...
, both former slaves at Monticello, published newspaper interviews which said Wayles was the father of Sally Hemings and other of Betty's children. They also both attested that her daughter Sally Hemings
Sally Hemings
Sarah "Sally" Hemings was a mixed-race slave owned by President Thomas Jefferson through inheritance from his wife. She was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson by their father John Wayles...
lived as the concubine of the widower Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, and had six children with him. The surviving four were Beverley, Harriet, Madison and Eston Hemings, of seven-eighths European ancestry. At that time under Virginia law, Sally Hemings' children were legally "white".
Descendants
Betty Hemings has numerous descendants. Some of note are:From the family line of daughter Sally Hemings
- Madison HemingsMadison HemingsMadison Hemings, born James Madison Hemings , was born into slavery as the son of the mixed-race slave Sally Hemings; he was freed after the death of his master Thomas Jefferson. Based on historical evidence, most historians believe that Jefferson, United States president, was his father...
, 2xgreat-grandson Frederick Madison RobertsFrederick Madison RobertsFrederick Madison Roberts was an American newspaper owner and editor, educator and business owner who was the first known man of African American descent elected to the California State Assembly...
, state politician in California; Eston HemingsEston HemingsEston Hemings Jefferson was born a slave at Monticello, the youngest son of Sally Hemings, a mixed-race slave. Most historians believe that his father was Thomas Jefferson, the United States president. Evidence from a 1998 DNA test showed that Eston's descendants matched those of the male...
Jefferson, great-grandson John Wayles JeffersonJohn Wayles JeffersonJohn Wayles Jefferson, born John Wayles Hemings , was the son of a former slave who served as a colonel in the Union Army and was a businessman, becoming a wealthy cotton broker in Memphis, Tennessee...
, colonel in Civil War and wealthy cotton broker
From the family line of daughter Mary Hemings
- James Monroe TrotterJames Monroe TrotterJames Monroe Trotter was born into slavery in Grand Gulf, Mississippi to a slave named Letitia and her master Richard S. Trotter. Letitia, along with her two sons, James Monroe and Charles Trotter, escaped on the Underground Railroad to Cincinnati, Ohio...
- William Monroe TrotterWilliam Monroe TrotterWilliam Monroe Trotter was a newspaper editor and real estate business man, and an activist for African-American civil rights. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Harvard University, and was the first man of color to earn a Phi Beta Kappa key...
From the family line of great-granddaughter Anna Hemings Jefferson
- Walter Beverly PearsonWalter Beverly PearsonWalter Beverly Pearson was an American industrialist and president of the Standard Screw Company. As of 2008, it is still in operation as Stanadyne Automotive....
, industrialist
Further reading
- Lucia Stanton, Preface by David Brion DavisDavid Brion DavisDavid Brion Davis is an American historian and authority on slavery and abolition in the Western world. He is the Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University and founder and Director Emeritus of Yale’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition. He is a...
, Free Some Day: The African-American Families of Monticello, Monticello Monograph Series, Charlottesville, VA: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2000
External links
- Monticello Explorer: Elizabeth Hemings
- François Furstenberg, "Jefferson's Other Family: His concubine was also his wife's half-sister", review of Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello, Slate, 23 September 2008
- Digital Archeological Archive of Comparative Slavery
- Roll of the slaves of John Wayles which were allotted to T. J. in right of his wife on a division or the estate, Farm Book, 1774-1824, page 11, by Thomas Jefferson [electronic edition]. Thomas Jefferson Papers: An Electronic Archive. Boston, Mass.: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2003
- Eppington Plantation Heritage Site