A Different Shade of Pale

The mystery of Monticello: Where did Sally Hemings (ca. 1773-1835) stand and who were her children? A good place to start: Annette Gordon-Reed's Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy (1997) and The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (2008). I dig. Hemings and Jefferson certainly had a social relationship, though the paternity of her children has often been pawned off on various and sundry, including Jefferson's nephews, the Carr brothers, who lived at Monticello for quite a little while in the late 1700s.

My own research touches on Dabney and Peter Carr (1770-1815); the latter served in the Virginia House of Delegates in the early 1800s and, after losing a couple of elections, began a school at his Carr's Brook (or Carrsbrook) estate in Albemarle County. He took in as many as seventeen boarding and several more day students in 1811 and 1812. Also residing at Carr's Brook were Peter Carr's wife Hetty Smith Stevenson (1767-1834), at least one child, and eleven slaves of indeterminate age. Carr corresponded with Uncle Thomas Jefferson from Carr's Brook; some or all of their letters have been preserved. Carr joined a militia unit during the War of 1812 and died in 1815 of broken health just after the war's end. I'm sure there's much more to be found beneath the surface, but that's part of my glancing shot at the Carr brothers.

Two other famous cases of politicians crossing the color line have been Strom Thurmond of South Carolina (1902-2003) and Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson (ca. 1780-1850). I'm sure there have been many more. Loving v. Virginia (1967) finally overturned anti-miscegenation laws. Better late than never.

Today's Rune: Signals.