Eston Hemings

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Eston Hemings
Born	1808 Monticello, Virginia
Died	1856 Madison, Wisconsin
Nationality	American
Occupation	Slave
Parents	Sally Hemings, a man of Thomas Jefferson's family
Relatives	Harriet Hemings, Beverly Hemings, Madison Hemings

Eston Hemings (1808-1856) was born a slave at Monticello, the youngest child of Sarah (Sally) Hemings. It is probable that his full given name at birth was Thomas Eston Hemings. In his later years, he changed his name to Eston Jefferson. Family tradition and oral history hold that he was the son of President Thomas Jefferson. Evidence from a 1998 DNA test show that Eston's descendants are also descendants of the Jefferson family, but the tests can not show conclusively that they are descended from Thomas Jefferson himself.

What is known of Eston's life is derived from his brother Madison's 1873 memoir, a few entries in Thomas Jefferson's Farm book, a handful of newspaper accounts, and the stories of his descendants.

Eston was manumitted at the age of 21, in accordance with President Jefferson’s will. In his 1873 memoir, Eston's older brother Madison states that this was in keeping with an agreement between the future president and his slave Sally, prior to their return to the United States from France in 1789; Jefferson had been appointed ambassador to France in 1785.

Like his brother Madison, Eston trained in woodworking with his uncle, John. Upon gaining freedom, Eston initially pursued a career in wood working and carpentry in the Charlottesville, Virginia area. In 1830, he purchased property and built a house on Main street, where his mother lived with him until her death in 1835. In 1832, he married a free woman of color, Julia Ann Isaacs (1814-1889), daughter of Jewish merchant David Isaacs and Ann (Nancy) West, a former slave. About 1837 he moved with his family to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he became a professional musician, playing the violin and leading a successful dance band.

In a 1902 newspaper article, an observer wrote that while Eston lived in Ohio in the 1840s it was widely rumored that he was the son of Jefferson; the correspondent also recollected: “Eston Hemings, being a master of the violin, and an accomplished "caller" of dances, always officiated at the "swell" entertainments of Chillicothe; and they were more frequent then than now, I think.”^[1]

Eston and Julia Ann Isaacs Hemings had three children: John Wayles Jefferson (1835-1892), Anne Wayles Jefferson (1836-1866), and Beverly Frederick Jefferson (1838-1908). In 1852, the family moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where they changed their surname to Jefferson and became part of the white community. Their eldest son John served as an officer in the United States Army during the American Civil War, leading the Wisconsin 8th Infantry. He was wounded twice in battle, and ultimately promoted to Colonel in 1864. The entire Eston Hemings family is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Madison, Wisconsin.

In the 1970s, two of his descendants, unaware of their connection to the Hemings family, encountered Fawn Brodie's Jefferson: An Intimate Portrait and recognized his name in the book. With Brodie's help, they soon started putting the pieces of their family history back together, eventually discovering that the family had decided in the 1940s not to share the Jefferson-Hemings story with their children out of fear of racial discrimination.^[2]