Founding Father
January, 2005
Master-slave relationships were so prevalent in America that Sally Hemings, the slave with whom Thomas Jefferson is thought to have fathered several children, was also in essence his sister-in-law. Jefferson inherited Hemings with the estate of his father-in-law, John Wayles. Wayles fathered Jefferson's wife, Martha, of course, but he was the likely father of Sally Hemings as well. Born in 1773, Hemings attended Jefferson's daughters from 1784 on, lived with Jefferson and his daughters in Paris...
