Founded in 1913, the Monticello Association is a non-profit organization of the lineal descendants of 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...

, 3rd president of the United States. Jefferson was the designer, builder, owner and principal resident 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...

 in Charlottesville, Virginia

Charlottesville, Virginia

Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...

. Historically the Association has included only descendants of his marriage to Martha Wayles Skelton

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...

. 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

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...

' 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

Paternity testing

Parental testing is the use of genetic fingerprinting to determine whether two individuals have a biological parent-child relationship. A paternity test establishes genetic proof as to whether a man is the biological father of an individual, and a maternity test establishes whether a woman is the...

 publicized in late 1998 confirmed a match between the Jefferson male family line and descendants of Hemings' youngest son, Eston Hemings Jefferson. 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

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...

 graveyard, to protect and perpetuate the reputation and fame of 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 to encourage association and friendship among Mr. Jefferson's descendants;

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

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

Background to controversy

The Association has traditionally been composed of European-Americans, descendants of 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 his wife Martha Wayles Skelton

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...

. In 1998 a DNA study showed that descendants of Eston Hemings Jefferson, the youngest son of 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...

, a slave of Thomas Jefferson, had Y-DNA that matched that of Jefferson's male line. 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. The DNA study, together with historical evidence, convinced former skeptics and Jefferson biographers, such as Joseph Ellis

Joseph Ellis

Joseph John Ellis is a Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College who has written histories on the founding generation of American presidents. His book Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation received the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2001.-Background and teaching:He received his B.A...

 and Andrew Burstein, that the president had a long relationship with Hemings and likely fathered all her children. The Carr nephews, identified by Jefferson's grandchildren as the father(s), were shown to have no genetic connection to the Hemings descendant.

Strongly influenced also by Annette Gordon-Reed

Annette Gordon-Reed

Annette Gordon-Reed is an American historian and law professor noted for changing scholarship on Thomas Jefferson. Gordon-Reed was educated at Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. She is Professor of Law and History at Harvard, and the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe...

's 1997 book, which analyzed errors in historiography, the course of academic Jeffersonian scholarship has changed. 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. 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."

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. 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

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

 and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. A majority of the Association members voted to require additional studies before deciding on membership of Hemings descendants. 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.

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

In the fall of 2001, the National Genealogical Society

National Genealogical Society

The National Genealogical Society is a genealogical interest group founded in 1903 in Washington, D.C.. Its headquarters are in Arlington, Virginia....

 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." In a 2002 lecture at the Library of Congress

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...

, 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."

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. 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. 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.”

Four years later, 250 Americans descended from Thomas Jefferson through 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...

 or 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...

 met again at Monticello. Organized by descendants of both sides of the family, the reunion was reported as "a small step towards healing". The private Monticello Association denied the crowd's access to the cemetery that weekend out of concern for the grass.

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." They are Shay Banks-Young, who identifies as African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

, and Julie Jefferson Westerinen, who identifies as European American

European American

A European American is a citizen or resident of the United States who has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe...

, both descendants of Sally Hemings; and David Works, a Monticello Association member who is descended from Martha Wayles. They have been featured on NPR

NPR

NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

 and in numerous venues across the country in talks about race and the larger Jefferson family.

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." 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."

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