samsloan wrote:

You are obviously being a wise guy, because everybody who has spent any
time studying the life of Thomas Jefferson has heard of the Farm Book.

Most of what I have read about him centered not around
his personal life or his farm, but had to do with government.


Nevertheless, your question gives me the opportunity to answer it (and
to plug my new book).

The Farm Book has been published previously. Of course, there is no
copyright on it, since it was written between 1774 and 1824. There was
an edition edited by Edwin Morris Betts. That edition contained 552
pages of notes and quotes from the letters of Thomas Jefferson.
However, almost all of those notes and letters dealt with the actual
workings of the farms, including crops and livestock. Such matters are
of not much interest to modern historians. What we want to know about
is the slaves.

In addition to owning slaves, I've read that he was a
passable writer.


For example, the most famous slave of Thomas Jefferson by far was Sally
Hemings. However, the index and the 552 pages of notes by Betts contain
no mention, none what ever, of Sally Hemings. Similarly, none of the
public letters and writings of Thomas Jefferson mention Sally. However,
Sally is mentioned dozens of times in the Farm Book, which Thomas
Jefferson clearly never intended to be published.

This explains why you are publishing it, I suppose.

The real question to which everybody wants an answer it whether Thomas
Jefferson was the father of Sally's five children. I realize that this
question has already been answered definitively by that well known and
distinguished historian, Oprah Winfrey,
but there are still those out
there who have lingering doubts.

The Farm Book provides lots of clues as to who the real father might
be. For example, for every slave born at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson
listed both the father and the mother in the Farm Book, with the sole
exception of the children of Sally Hemings. Why it is that only her
children do not have the name of the father listed? Inquiring minds
want to know.

One theory might be that TJ himself was the father. But
another possible explanation could be that he didn't know
for sure who the father was, and rather than guess, he left
the spaces blank. Another possible explanation might be
that he knew who the father was, but did not wish to expose
him; for instance, suppose George Washington was the
father of more than just his country... . ;D

-- help bot