John Hemings (1776-1830+)
John Hemings was the son of the slave Betty Hemings and, it was said,
Joseph Neilson, one of the white housejoiners hired by Jefferson in
the 1770s. Hemings started his working life as an "out-carpenter,"
felling trees and hewing logs, building fences and barns, and helping
to construct the log slave dwellings on Mulberry Row.
John Hemings must have demonstrated his ability early, for at the age
of seventeen he was put to work under a succession of skilled white
woodworkers hired by Jefferson to enlarge the main house. Hemings
learned to make wheels and fine mahogany furniture and to use an
elaborate set of planes to create decorative interior moldings. He was
principal assistant to James Dinsmore, the Irish joiner responsible
for most of the elegant woodwork in the Monticello house, and Hemings
alone crafted much of the interior woodwork of Jefferson's house at
Poplar Forest in Bedford County, Virginia. He also made all the wooden
parts of a large landau carriage Jefferson designed in 1814. He thus
became far more than a carpenter -- he was a highly skilled joiner and
cabinetmaker.
John Hemings was a great favorite with Jefferson's grandchildren, who
told of his making toys and furniture for them. His wife Priscilla was
their "mammy." Jefferson freed John Hemings in his will, allowing him
the tools from the joinery as well as the work of his two assistants.
He continued to live at Monticello after 1826, probably until his
death.
The Hemings Sisters
Living in cabins on Mulberry Row in the 1790s were several of the
daughters of Elizabeth (Betty) Hemings (c1735-1807), a slave who came
to Monticello as part of the inheritance of Jefferson's wife, Martha,
from her father, John Wayles. Betty and her twelve children and
numerous grandchildren occupied most of the important household and
artisan positions at Monticello.
Her daughter Nance (1761-1827+) was a Monticello weaver, who received
her training under a white weaver during the Revolution. Nance's
sister Bett (1759-1830+), also known as Betty Brown, was personal
servant to Jefferson's wife, while Critta (1769-1850) served in a
number of domestic capacities. In 1793, Jefferson specified that she
should live in the nearest of the new 12'x14' log cabins on Mulberry
Row, "as oftenest wanted about the house." Critta Hemings was briefly
nurse to Jefferson's grandson Francis Eppes, who later bought her
freedom so that she could join her husband, Zachariah Bowles, a member
of the local free black community.
The youngest Hemings sister, Sally (1773-1835), traveled from Virginia
to France at the age of fourteen, accompanying Jefferson's young
daughter Mary. In Paris Sally was taught the skills of a lady's maid,
learning to dress hair, stitch decorative hems, and launder fine
silks. Thereafter she was personal servant to Jefferson's daughters
and granddaughters. She was given her "time" (informally emancipated)
by Jefferson's daughter Martha Randolph after his death. Shown at
right is Martha Wayles Jefferson's bell, which, according to Hemings
family tradition, was given to Sally Hemings by Martha Jefferson.
Sally Hemings' name became linked to Jefferson's in 1802, when a
Richmond newspaper published the allegation that she was Jefferson's
mistress and had borne him a number of children. Jefferson's Randolph
grandchildren denied the existence of such a relationship, while Sally
Hemings' descendants considered their connection to Jefferson an
important family truth. Jefferson himself made neither a public
response nor any explicit reference to this issue.
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Kind regards
Ross |
