Tuesday, February 06, 2007

The DNA trail

BBC News - DNA clue to presidential puzzle
DNA tests carried out on two British men have shed light on a mystery surrounding the ancestry of Thomas Jefferson, America's third president.

In the 1990s, DNA was taken from male relatives of Jefferson to see if he fathered a son with one of his slaves.

They found the president had a rare genetic signature found mainly in the Middle East and Africa, calling into question his claim of Welsh ancestry.
Okay, I was familiar with the Thomas Jefferson/Sally Hemings story and I knew that DNA evidence had confirmed that her children were Jefferson's, either by Thomas or one of his male relatives.

I was not, however, familiar with the other part of the story. I did not realize that the testing had suggested that Jefferson himself could be of African or Middle Eastern descent. So I guess I'm a step behind. However, this new evidence seems to indicate that he was Welsh after all. It's kind of a shame really. I think it would have been good for us as a nation if he had been otherwise.

2 comments:

Suppresst said...

Do a Google search on "Jefferson/Hemings Myth" and you will soon find irrefutable evidence that Thomas Jefferson was not the sire of any of Sally's offspring.

Jan said...

A Google search of "Jefferson/Hemings Myth" returns quite a few results. Do have a specific link I should look at? I'd be interested in taking a look at it, but I don't feel inclined to read through the entire Google search results list.