Kerrison reaches well back into time to explain several points that she makes later, especially when it comes to Sally Hemings, her actions, and her decisions that showed eye-popping strength. There’s also a lot of backstory here, too, but it’s necessary. For instance, there are several Marthas in this book, so beware. She’d be, after all, “a mother of children destined for freedom.”įor the casual reader, “Jefferson’s Daughters” may be a challenge but that’s not author Catherine Kerrison’s fault it’s because of naming habits of eighteenth-century people. Sixteen-year-old Sally, pregnant with her master’s child, didn’t have to come home to Virginia at all in France, she was legally free, but she chose to return after negotiating with Jefferson.
Eleven-year-old Maria, a sweet child, was soon sent to Philadelphia, to boarding school. Seventeen-year-old Martha, wishing to avoid being suddenly “supervised,” quickly became betrothed. Just two years later, Thomas Jefferson, his daughters, and his slaves returned home to Virginia, reportedly to great fanfare. Jefferson sent his youngest two daughters, along with Elizabeth’s youngest daughter, Sally, to his sister-in-law’s home. With him, he took his daughter, eleven-year-old Martha and James, the son of Elizabeth Hemings, Jefferson’s late wife’s slave and her half-sister. Martha Jefferson would spend just “a little over half of her married life” and much heartbreak there.Īfter having birthed several children, most of whom didn’t live, Martha sickened and died in the fall of 1782 perhaps compassionately, Thomas Jefferson was sent by the U.S. When young Thomas Jefferson married the widow Martha Wayles Skelton, their first nights were spent inside a promise: Monticello, on the grounds he’d received from his father, was only partially completed.
Parents are supposed to love each of their children differently but equally though, in the new book “Jefferson’s Daughters” by Catherine Kerrison, history sometimes shows otherwise… You might be asked, but you can’t choose one child over another. That’s a question heavy with danger, as any parent knows.
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