THE
MONTICELLO
ASSOCIATION

September 2000 Newsletter

FOUNDATION REPORT

     In January 2000 the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation (TJMF) issued a report which examined the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. It concluded that Mr. Jefferson almost certainly fathered one and probably all of Ms. Hemings children.  The report was produced by a committee appointed by Dr. Dan Jordan, the TJMF president, shortly after Dr. Foster's study was published in November 1999.  Because of its importance to the Association the Executive Committee directed that a summary of the report be sent to the membership.  This summary was distributed in March 2000.  It included a dissenting minority report written by Dr. Ken Wallenborn, one of the committee members. Since then the TJMF has prepared a response to the minority report.  A summary of that response is attached hereto. [as a link to the TJMF web site.]

ANNUAL MEETING

     The annual meeting of the Association was held in Charlottesville, VA on May 6 and 7 this year.  As we did last year we invited a number of the descendants of Sally Hemings and Thomas Woodson as Association guests.   The attendance was about the same as last year, that is around 200 persons at each event.
     The activities followed essentially the same format as last year: a Saturday reception at Monticello hosted by a the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation followed by a supper at the Michie Tavern.  The annual business meeting was held on Sunday immediately after a short memorial service at the family graveyard.
     There were about 210 attendees at the luncheon and business meeting of which approximately 65 were voting members.  Three guest speakers, all members of TJMF study committee, made presentations following the luncheon. The first presentation was by Dr. Dianne Swann-Wright, committee chairwoman, and Ms. Cinder Stanton.   They were followed by Dr. Wallenborn.  Each explained the analytical process by which they arrived at their differing conclusions. Each presentation was warmly received by the audience.  Following the guest speakers "Shack" Shackelford, chairman of the Membership Advisory Committee presented an overview of the contents of the Interim Report which was released at that time (see below).
     After that the formal business meeting was opened.  This year the Executive Committee employed the services of a parliamentarian to ensure the meeting followed normal parliamentarian procedures.  This included limiting discussion to voting members only.
     Principal events at the meeting included appointing six persons to server as graveyard trustees; electing the new officers of the Association and an Association Trustee; amending the by-laws to increase the annual dues from $10.00 to $20.00; and approving a budget of $14,300 for year 2001.  In addition there was considerable discussion of the propriety of discussing and voting upon membership issues in a closed session.  A majority of attendees voted to continue holding these discussions (and votes) in an open session for the present.

NEW OFFICERS

     Cynthia Hubard Spangler had been acting treasurer since Ed Taylor's retirement on 1 January 2000.  She was formally elected to serve as treasurer.  Betsy Mackey was elected to serve as secretary since Gerald Morgan retired effective at the annual meeting.  In addition to these officers, Randy Lougee was elected to serve as the Association Trustee.

MEMBERSHIP ADVISORY COMMITTEE

     At the Annual Meeting in May, 1999, then President Bob Gillespie appointed a Membership Advisory Committee (MAC) to recommend to the Executive Committee procedures for determining if one is, or is not, a descendant of Thomas Jefferson.  This was done pursuant to the release of Dr. Foster's study which indicated that "a Jefferson" probably fathered Eston Hemings, Sally Hemings youngest child.  Although the committee had originally planned to complete its work by this year, it has been unable to do so because of the complexity of the issues involved.  The committee did release an Interim Report copies of which were made available to members and the public at the Annual Meeting held in May this year.  The full report is posted on the Association's web site and may be downloaded from there.

     A reminder: the Association has a web site, http://www.monticello-assoc.org.  It contains much information of interest regarding the Association.  If you have not done so it is well worth your time to review it.  Our thanks to David Works for setting up and maintaining the site.

PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS

     We have been fortunate for many years to have great stability in two key positions within the Association: secretary and treasurer.   Gerald Morgan and Ed Taylor have done a superb job in making the Association run.   As indicated earlier they have both retired.  Their replacements, Betsy Mackey and Cynthia Hubard Spangler are well qualified and we are fortunate to have them.
     Because of the stability engendered by Gerald and Ed's service some of the standing committees called out in our constitution and by-laws have become dormant.  I plan on asking the Executive Committee to "re-invigorate" these functions.  If you are asked, please consider serving the Association.
     The descendants of Dabney Carr (Jefferson's very close friend and the first person to be buried in the graveyard) held their first family reunion in Charlottesville on May 15-16, 2000.  They were kind enough to invite Joy Boissevain and me to their reunion.  There were a number of events held over the weekend starting with a "meet and greet" on Friday evening and ending with a lovely graveyard service Sunday morning.  The graveyard service was presided over by Dabney Carr III, an Episcopal priest.
     One thing I learned there was how to determine level of "cousinship" and removal between two relatives.  I have attempted to explain that at the end of the newsletter.

DETERMINING RELATIONSHIPS

Consider two persons, A and B, who are distant cousins. To determine their exact relationship do the following:

     Each counts back the number of generations until they reach the generation where their ancestors were siblings. Example: A's great-grandparent (3 generations) is a sibling of B's great, great grandparent (4 generations).
     Take the smaller number of generations to determine level of "cousinship", 3 in the example. Therefore, A and B are third cousins.
     Take the difference in the number of generations to determine degree of removal 4 - 3 = 1 in the above example.  Thus A and B are third cousins, once removed.