In a book due out Thursday, eminent scholars say itâ??s unlikely that Thomas Jefferson fathered Sally Hemingsâ?? children, disputing a decadeâ??s worth of conventional wisdom that the author of the Declaration of Independence sired offspring with one of his slaves.
The debate has ensnared historians for years, and many thought the issue was settled when DNA testing in the late 1990s confirmed that a Jefferson male fathered Hemingsâ?? youngest son, Eston. But, with one lone dissenter, the panel of 13 scholars doubted the claim and said the evidence points instead to Jeffersonâ??s brother Randolph as the father.
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