I would like to address the issue of the Thomas Jefferson DNA Study and give my first hand account regarding the misleading headline in the science journal Nature dated November 5, 1998. It has had a very negative impact on the legacy of Thomas Jefferson and has raised many concerns …” Herbert Barger, Jefferson Family Historian, concerning “The Jefferson-Hemings DNA Study.”

People have become so accustomed with the use of DNA to solve crimes and identify the missing and dead, that they have been misled to believe that DNA can find their surname ancestor. When DNA is used in criminal investigations, the DNA is from a current or recently living individual and the DNA matches do not lie.

Again, when DNA is used in Genetic Genealogy, it too comes from living people. The DNA used for Genetic Genealogy testing does not come from a deceased ancestor of 1776. Yet every day, so-called genealogists are jumping to conclusions on their and others’ lineages on the basis of Genetic Genealogy testing. However, many of the lineages claimed by DNA participants are seriously flawed. I have read a number of them and I know that from experience. I have even witnessed cases where the lineages were altered by the DNA Administrator after conflicting DNA testing results were received.

I have recently read on a message board of one person whose husband has impeccable documented lineage to the Phillips family of Virginia, yet his DNA claims he is a descendant of the Fitzhugh family. So what is the conclusion the genealogist jumps to? That Mr. Fitzhugh was having some hanky-pank with Mrs. Phillips whilst Captain Phillips was sailing Fitzhugh’s tobacco to England. Because the DNA of a man living today, does not match the DNA of another group of living men, genealogists consistently make these lame-brained conclusions, impugning the character of their own ancestors whose DNA is not available. There are many dozens of reasons why DNA does not match family lineages that have absolutely nothing to do with hanky-pank, such as adoptions, apprenticeships, step-children, etcetera. It could also have something to do with an occurrence in the lineage in 1875, and not back to 1700.

Apparently, even the DNA conclusions on the familial connections of Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings was just as flawed, according to Herbert Barger who worked on the study. If I understand correctly, DNA from a descendant of Sally Hemings who claimed to have descended from a brother of Thomas Jefferson was used to match his DNA to a descendant of another child of Sally Hemings, and VOILA! That alone proved Thomas Jefferson to be the father of Sally Hemings’ child and possibly children. How scientific can this be, as Thomas Jefferson left no documented male descendants? He had NO sons, yet apparently male lineage DNA was used to prove him as the father of his slave’s children. Here is a most interesting and scholarly discussion of the misuse of DNA in the rush to prove Thomas Jefferson the father of the children of his slave, Sally Hemings. www.jeffersondna.com.