Harriet Hemings facts for kids

Harriet Hemings (born May 1801 – died after 1822) was born into slavery at Monticello. This was the home of Thomas Jefferson, who was the third President of the United States. Harriet was born in the first year of his presidency. Many historians believe her father was Jefferson. He is thought to have had four children with Sally Hemings who grew up to be adults.

Even though Jefferson did not legally free Harriet, he helped her leave Monticello in 1822 when she was 21. He made sure she got on a stagecoach and had $50 for her trip. Her brother Madison Hemings later said she went to Washington, D.C. There, she joined their older brother Beverley Hemings, who had also left Monticello earlier that year. Both Harriet and Beverley started new lives in white society and married white partners. At that time, all the Hemings children were legally slaves under Virginia law. This was because they inherited the status of their enslaved mother.

Beverley and Harriet stayed in touch with their brother Madison Hemings for some time. Then, Harriet stopped writing.

Harriet's Early Life

In 1773, Jefferson and his wife Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson inherited Sally Hemings, her mother Betty Hemings, and ten siblings. They also inherited over 100 other enslaved people from Martha's father's estate. Sally Hemings' father, John Wayles, had a long relationship with Betty Hemings. They had six children together who were of mixed heritage. These children were half-siblings to Jefferson's wife, Martha. Sally was the youngest of these children. Historians have noted that there were many mixed-heritage families in the Monticello area.

Harriet is believed to be the daughter of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. It is widely thought that Jefferson and Hemings had a close relationship for 38 years. This relationship began in Paris a few years after Jefferson's wife died. Harriet was one of four children of Sally Hemings who lived to adulthood. Her older brother was William Beverley, called Beverley. Her younger brothers were James Madison and Thomas Eston Hemings.

Like the other Hemings children, Harriet had light duties when she was young. She spent most of her time with her mother. When she was 14, she began training to learn weaving. Later, she worked at the cotton factory on the plantation.

Gaining Freedom

In 1822, when she was 21, Harriet left Monticello. Jefferson told his overseer, Edmund Bacon, to give her $50 to help her journey. Even though she was legally considered to have "escaped," Jefferson never tried to make her come back. He also never posted a notice that she had run away. Harriet Hemings was the only enslaved woman he helped to become free during his lifetime.

Edmund Bacon, who was the chief overseer at Monticello for about twenty years, talked about Harriet leaving. He said that Jefferson helped her leave. Bacon mentioned that she was very light-skinned and beautiful. He also said that from the time she was old enough, she always worked in the cotton factory and never did hard labor.

Jefferson helped all four of the Hemings children become free when they turned 21. Beverley and Harriet were allowed to leave in 1822. The two youngest sons, Madison and Eston, were freed in Jefferson's will in 1826. They were the only enslaved family at Monticello where all members gained their freedom. After Jefferson's death, his daughter Martha allowed Sally Hemings to leave Monticello. Sally lived freely with her two youngest sons in Charlottesville for the last ten years of her life.

Life After Monticello

In 1873, Harriet's brother Madison Hemings shared memories about his siblings and their lives at Monticello. He said that Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings were their parents. He also said that Jefferson had promised Sally Hemings he would free all her children. Madison's interview was published in a newspaper called the Pike County Republican in Ohio.

Madison said about his sister Harriet: "She thought it was best for her, when going to Washington, to act as a white woman." He added that he didn't think anyone ever found out she was Harriet Hemings from Monticello. He also said that both Harriet and Beverley had children. According to scholar Annette Gordon-Reed, Harriet likely moved to Washington to be with her brother Beverley, who was already there. Madison said in his memoir that they both moved there, got married, and started families. Madison later said Harriet lived in Maryland.

While Harriet and Beverley's lives after Monticello are not well known, more is known about their brothers Madison and Eston Hemings. They married in Charlottesville and started their families there. Both of them moved to Chillicothe in the free state of Ohio after their mother died in 1835.

The Jefferson-Hemings Family Connection

For a long time, there was a discussion about whether Thomas Jefferson had a close relationship with his mixed-heritage enslaved person, Sally Hemings. This discussion also included whether he was the father of her six children. This discussion started in the 1790s. In the late 1990s, historians began to look at all the evidence again.

In 1997, Annette Gordon-Reed wrote a book that looked at how historians had studied this topic. She showed that many historians had accepted old ideas and missed important facts. A general agreement started to form after a DNA study in 1998. This study showed that a male from the Jefferson family line was connected to a Hemings descendant. It did not show a connection to another family line that had been suggested as the father for over 150 years.

Since 1998 and the DNA study, most historians now agree that Thomas Jefferson had a long, close relationship with Sally Hemings. They believe he was the father of her six children, four of whom lived to adulthood. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation (TJF), which manages Monticello, did its own historical review in 2000. The National Genealogical Society also did one in 2001. Both groups of scholars concluded that Jefferson was likely the father of all of Hemings' children.

Some people, like the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society (TJHS), still disagree. They believe there isn't enough proof that Jefferson was the father of Hemings' children. The TJHS suggested that Jefferson's younger brother Randolph Jefferson could have been the father. This is because the DNA evidence only showed that a male from the Jefferson family was the father. However, the DNA study's author, Dr. Foster, said that Thomas Jefferson could not be completely ruled out or solely blamed for being the father.

Other members of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello family have accepted that Thomas Jefferson was the father of Sally Hemings' six children. For example, Eston Hemings changed his name to Jefferson during his lifetime. In 1873, Madison Hemings and Israel Gillette separately wrote down their memories of life at Monticello. Both of them said that Thomas Jefferson was the father of all of Sally Hemings’s children.

Images for kids

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  Ancestry of Harriet Hemings; her great-grandmother Susanna was black, all her other great-grandparents were white.