Did Thomas Jefferson Father Sally Hemings’ Children? After More Than a Decade of Research, the Answer Is Finally Firmly in Hand

As expected, Foster’s study kicked up fresh debate. One letter to Nature questioned why Foster did not consider Thomas Jefferson’s brother Randolph or one of his nephews or cousins as the possible father of Eston Hemings, given that all of those men shared the same Jefferson-type Y chromosome. Another noted: “Any male ancestor in Thomas Jefferson’s line, White or Black, could have fathered Eston Hemings. ... It is possible that Thomas Jefferson’s father, grandfather or paternal uncles fathered a male slave whose line later impregnated another slave, in this case Sally Hemings.” Another major journal, Science, echoed the uncertainty with an article titled “Which Jefferson Was the Father?”

 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/did-thomas-jefferson-father-sally-hemings-children-after-more-than-decade-research-answer-finally-firmly-hand-180989331/