Thomas Eston Hemings

1808 - 1856  (47 years)

• Name	Thomas Eston Hemings
  Birth	21 May 1808	Monticello, Albemarle, Virginia, USA   [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Residence	1830	, Albemarle, Virginia, USA   [3]
  Residence	1840	, Pike, Ohio, USA   [4]
  Residence	1850	Chillicothe, Ross, Ohio, USA   [5]
  Death	3 Jan 1856	Madison, Dane, Wisconsin, USA   [1, 2]
  Burial	Madison, Dane, Wisconsin, USA   [1]
  Person ID	I51851	Master
  Last Modified	14 Feb 2024

  
  

  Father	Thomas Jefferson,   b. 13 Apr 1743, Shadwell, Albemarle, Virginia, USA d. 4 Jul 1826, Monticello, Albemarle, Virginia, USA (Age 83 years)
  Mother	Sarah Hemings,   b. 9 Feb 1773, , Albemarle, Virginia, USA d. 1835, Monticello, Albemarle, Virginia, USA (Age 61 years)
  Marriage	Apr 1789	Paris, Île-de-France, France   [2]
  Family ID	F11640	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Julian Ann Isaacs Hemings Jefferson,   b. 1814, Charlottesville, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA d. 22 Mar 1889, Madison, Dane, Wisconsin, USA (Age 75 years)
  Marriage	14 Jun 1832	Charlottesville, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA   [2, 6]
  Children	1. Col John Wayles Hemings Jefferson,   b. 8 May 1835, Charlottesville, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA d. 13 Jun 1892, Madison, Dane, Wisconsin, USA (Age 57 years)   2. Anna Wayles Hemings Jefferson Pearson,   b. 1836, Charlottesville, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA d. 11 Apr 1866, Burke, Dane, Wisconsin, USA (Age 30 years)   3. Beverly Frederick Jefferson,   b. 1838, Charlottesville, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA d. 11 Nov 1908, Madison, Dane, Wisconsin, USA (Age 70 years)
  Family ID	F11645	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	7 Feb 2024

  
  

• Event Map		Birth - 21 May 1808 - Monticello, Albemarle, Virginia, USA Residence - 1830 - , Albemarle, Virginia, USA Marriage - 14 Jun 1832 - Charlottesville, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA Residence - 1840 - , Pike, Ohio, USA Residence - 1850 - Chillicothe, Ross, Ohio, USA Death - 3 Jan 1856 - Madison, Dane, Wisconsin, USA Burial - - Madison, Dane, Wisconsin, USA  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Notes

  Eston Hemings Jefferson BIRTH 21 May 1808 Albemarle County, Virginia, USA DEATH 3 Jan 1856 (aged 47) Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, USA BURIAL Forest Hill Cemetery, Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, USA PLOT Section 3, Lot 018, Grave 3 Find a Grave Memorial ID: 10606815 Eston Hemings Jefferson was the son of President Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings. ∼ ESTON HEMINGS WAS BORN AN enslaved person on May 21, 1808. His mother was Sally Hemings, and his father is believed to have been, Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States. Hemings spent his early life in Monticello, Jefferson’s primary plantation just outside Charlottesville, Virginia. Eston’s mother was a mixed-race enslaved person, and he along with his siblings were all 7/8 white, “legally” white in Virginia at the time. Hemings was a trained carpenter, and because Jefferson was so fond of the violin, he and all his siblings were taught it from a very young age. When Jefferson died in 1826, his will freed Hemings and his siblings. Now a free man, Hemings married a formerly enslaved person, Julia Ann Isaacs, and they had three children. In 1837 he moved his family to Ohio. He became a professional musician there and had his children educated in integrated schools. The family left in 1852 due to the Fugitive Slave Act, which put pressure on ex-slave communities in free states bordering slave states. Hemings moved his family to Madison, Wisconsin, and changed their surname to Jefferson. He died in 1856, a well respected and loved man. Inscription E. H. Jefferson Died ~ Jan. 3, 1856. Æ 48 ys 7 ms The rest is illegible. Gravesite Details The grave is located in plot 3, near the road and right across from plot 2. Family Members Parents Thomas Jefferson 1743–1826 Sally Hemings 1773–1835 Spouse Julia Ann Isaacs Jefferson 1814–1889 Siblings Harriet Hemings 1795–1797 Beverly Hemings 1798 – unknown Unnamed Daughter Hemings 1799–1800 Harriet Hemings Heckman 1801–1870 Madison Hemings 1805–1877 Half Siblings Patsy Jefferson Randolph 1772–1836 Jane Randolph Jefferson 1774–1775 Infant Son Jefferson 1777–1777 Mary Jefferson Eppes 1778–1804 Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson 1780–1781 Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson 1782–1784 Children John Wayles Jefferson 1835–1892 Anna Wayles Jefferson Pearson 1837–1866 Beverly Frederick Jefferson 1839–1908 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 study of male-line descendants of the Jefferson and Hemings families suggests that if Jefferson sired any of the Hemings children, Eston is the one most likely, as he had the Jefferson “Y” chromosome. Since it is true that some male relatives of Jefferson also had the chromosome, it has been suggested that Randolph Jefferson, the president’s younger brother, may have fathered Eston and/or other Hemings children. 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. Madison, whose probable birth name was James Madison Hemings, stated that “…during that time my mother became Mr. Jefferson's concubine, and when he was called back home she was enciente by him. He desired to bring my mother back to Virginia with him but she demurred. She was just beginning to understand the French language well, and in France she was free, while if she returned to Virginia she would be re-enslaved. So she refused to return with him. To induce her to do so he promised her extraordinary privileges, and made a solemn pledge that her children should be freed at the age of twenty-one years. In consequence of his promise, on which she implicitly relied, she returned with him to Virginia.” 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: “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.” 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. From the memoir of Madison Hemings, 1873: “She (Sally) gave birth to four others, and Jefferson was the father of all of them. Their names were Beverly, Harriet, Madison (myself), and Eston--three sons and one daughter.” “We all became free agreeably to the treaty entered into by our parents before we were born. We all married and have raised families.” From the Scioto Gazette, 1902: “…on one occasion the writer of this sketch, in company with the late Addison Poarson, Edward Adams, Gen. James Ryan and Seneca W. Ely, while going from Pennsylvania avenue to the White House, came upon the bronze statue of Jefferson, which is located upon the broad walk leading from the avenue to the mansion. "Gentlemen, who in Chillicothe looks most like that statute?" I asked. Instantly came the unanimous answer, "Why, Eston Hemings!" Some time after my return from Washington, happening to have some business with Hemings, I told him of the incident. "Well," answered Hemings quietly, "my mother, whose name I bear, belonged to Mr. Jefferson." and after a slight pause, added, "and she never was married." On the question of race, Eston Hemings was indisputably "black" while he was a slave at Monticello. Years later, living in Ohio as a free man in 1850, Eston was described by a census taker as "mulatto." A decade later in Wisconsin, a census taker listed Eston and his wife as "white."

  
  

• Sources

  [S751] Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.). [S1162] Ancestry.com, Geneanet Community Trees Index, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.). [S252] Ancestry.com, 1830 United States Federal Census, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.), Year: 1830; Census Place: Albemarle, Virginia; Series: M19; Roll: 197; Page: 260; Family History Library Film: 0029676. [S245] Ancestry.com, 1840 United States Federal Census, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.), Year: 1840; Census Place: Pike, Ohio; Roll: 421; Page: 34; Family History Library Film: 0020174. [S227] Ancestry.com, 1850 United States Federal Census, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009.), The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: Chillicothe, Ross, Ohio; Roll: 725; Page: 40a. [S51] Ancestry.com, Virginia, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1740-1850, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.), Dodd, Jordan R., Et Al.; Early American Marriages: Virginia to 1850; Publication Place: Bountiful, UT, USA; Publisher: Precision Indexing Publishers.