Saving Monticello: The Newsletter
The latest about the book, author
events, and more
Newsletter Editor - Marc Leepson
Volume XV, Number 2 February
1, 2018
“The
study of the past is a constantly evolving, never-ending journey of discovery.”
– Eric Foner
THE KITCHEN: The latest
archaeological news at Monticello came late last year when a dig in the South
Pavilion cellar discovered portions of several stoves used by Jefferson’s
enslaved French-trained chef James Hemings.
An excellent, well-illustrated article in Live Science (http://bit.ly/MontKitchen) reveals what
happened when researchers started digging in a space in the cellar that had
been used as a visitors’ bathroom for more than fifty years before the Thomas
Jefferson Foundation decided to restore the cellar to what it was in
Jefferson’s time.
The article notes that the archaeological team also found a
trove of other artifacts, including pottery and glass bottle fragments, animal
bones, and toothbrushes, along with the original brick kitchen floor, and
pieces of the fireplace and four stew stoves.
The photo above, from the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, shows
the recreated stew stoves.
James Hemings, who was born in 1765, was among the scores of
slaves owned by Thomas Jefferson’s father-in-law John Wayles. James’ mother was
Elizabeth (Betty) Hemings. It’s all but certain that John Wayles was his
father—as well as the father of all of James Hemings’ five full siblings,
including his younger sister Sally. That meant that those Hemings siblings also
were Thomas Jefferson’s wife Martha’s half brothers and sisters.
Jefferson took James (and Sally) Hemings to Paris in August
of 1784, when he served as U.S. Minister (Ambassador) to France, which is where
James learned to cook. He was freed by Jefferson in 1796, seven years after
they returned from France.
I do not mention James Hemings in Saving Monticello, as he had left Monticello well before the story
I tell begins—and he died in 1801. Nor do I mention his famed younger sister
Sally Hemings for the same reason. The only time the name “Hemings” comes up in
my book is when I discuss Thomas Jefferson’s death in 1826 and his will.
In it, Jefferson left his walking staff to James Madison. He
gave watches to each of his grandchildren, and donated his books to the
University of Virginia—although they later were sold, instead, to raise cash.
A codicil in the will granted freedom to
five of Monticello’s enslaved people who had learned trades, all of whom were
members of the Hemings family: Joe Fossett, Burwell Culbert, and John, Madison
and Eston Hemings. Burwell Culbert, who was Jefferson’s butler and main
household servant, also received $300. All five newly free men were also given
houses.
For more info on James Hemings, take a look at the
Foundation’s excellent sketch of his life at http://bit.ly/2JamesHemings
HIS THREE DAUGHTERS: Another
member of the Hemings family is one of the three women profiled in the
just-published book, Jefferson’s
Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black in a Young America (Ballantine Books, 425 pp. $28, by Katherine Kerrison, a Villanova University U.S.
History Professor.
The book is a combined biography of Thomas and Martha
Jefferson’s two daughters, Martha, whom Jefferson called “Patsy” (1772-1836),
and Maria (1778-1804), known as “Polly”—along with Kerrison’s reconstruction of
the life of Harriet Hemings, who was born in 1801, the daughter of Sally
Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation and most
historians believe that Jefferson and Sally Hemings had a total of six children
following the death of his wife Martha in 1782. Harriet was the eldest.
Harriet Hemings was given her freedom at age 21. She left
Monticello, and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1822, four years before
Jefferson’s death. She never saw her mother or father after that.
According to Kerrison’s book, Harriet Hemings (who was
seven-eighths white) married a white man in Washington and had several children.
She and her children lived as white people.
Kerrison’s life stories of Martha and Maria, Jefferson’s
white daughters, includes their time with him in Paris where fourteen-year-old
Sally Hemings served as Maria’s companion. You can read the New York Times review of the book by
Mary Beth Norton at http://bit.ly/DaughtersReview and Kerrison’s recent essay on the topic in
the Washington Post at http://bit.ly/JeffDaughters
EVENTS: Here’s
a rundown on my February speaking events. For info on my new book, Ballad of the Green Beret, please go to http://bit.ly/GBBallad
·
Saturday,
February 10 – Talk on Saving Monticello and book signing for
the Oak Hill Chapter of the U.S. Daughters of 1812 in McLean, Virginia
·
Sunday,
February 25 - Talk on Ballad of the Green
Beret for the Mayflower Society of Washington, D.C., in Vienna, Virginia
If you’d like to arrange an event
for Saving Monticello—or for any of
my other books, including Ballad of the
Green Beret—please email me at marc527psc@aol.com
For details on other upcoming
events, go to http://leepsoncalendar.blogspot.com
GIFT IDEAS:
Want a personally autographed, brand-new paperback copy of Saving Monticello? Please e-mail me at Marc527psc@aol.com I also have a few
as-new, unopened hardcover copies.
Or go to marcleepson.com/signedbooks.html to order copies through my local
bookstore, Second Chapter Books in Middleburg, Virginia. We also have copies of
Desperate Engagement, Flag, Lafayette, and What So
Proudly We Hailed, and Ballad of the
Green Beret.
