Betty Hemings - Relationship With John Wayles

Relationship With John Wayles

Historians have tended to accept the account that Betty Hemings and John Wayles had children together. Her last six children were multiracial. As is the case of many relationships between slaveholders and slaves, documentary evidence is slight. Betty was mentioned in John Wayles' will, which some take as an indication of a relationship. According to contemporary accounts, some of Betty's children were nearly white in appearance. Other support is found in private letters from the first decade of the 19th century, which later became public.

The slave community at Monticello was well aware of the relationship. In 1873 Betty's grandson Madison Hemings and Israel Jefferson, both former slaves at Monticello, published newspaper interviews which said Wayles was the father of Sally Hemings and several other of Betty's children.