Harriet
Hemings
Born in Albemarle, Virginia, United States
Ancestors 
Daughter of Thomas Jefferson
[uncertain]
and Sarah Hemings
Sister of
Martha (Jefferson) Randolph [half], Jane Randolph Jefferson [half], Unnamed Infant Jefferson [half], Mary (Jefferson) Eppes [half], Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson [half], Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson [half], Thomas Corbin Hemmings Woodson [half], Beverly William Hemmings, James Madison Hemmings and Eston (Hemmings) Jefferson
[spouse(s) unknown]
[children unknown]
Died after
after age 61
in Washington, District of Columbia, United States [uncertain]
[uncertain]
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[send private message] and Aundrea Watson [send private message]Profile last modified
| Created 24 Nov 2018
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Contents |
Biography
At 14 years, Harriet was working in the textile factory at Monticello as a wool spinner. She also worked in the cotton factory as a weaver. Her brother Madison described her as very light-skinned, and beautiful.
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Hemings :
While Jefferson did not legally free Harriet, in 1822 when she was 21, he aided her "escape". He saw that she was put in a stage coach and given $50 for her journey. Her brother Madison Hemings later said she had gone to Washington, DC to join their older brother Beverley Hemings, who had similarly left Monticello earlier that year. Both entered into white society and married white partners of good circumstances. Seven-eighths European in ancestry, all the Hemings children were legally white under contemporary Virginia law, although they were enslaved. Jefferson freed the two youngest brothers in his will of 1826, so they were legally free. Beverly and Harriet stayed in touch with their brother Madison Hemings for some time, and then Harriet stopped writing. According to his 1873 account, both siblings had children.
Death: Unknown. In 1873, her brother Madison Hemings had "not heard from her for ten years."
Disputed Husband and child
In 1860, Harriet, the wife of George Heckman is shown with Ann Sophia, her daughter and is shown with a birth of 1804 in Maryland. While it is understandable that she might have lied about her birth, no sources have been found to connect her to this family. The US Presidents Project believes that this was an attempt to connect a family to Jefferson and Sally Hemmings. The Jefferson DNA project and Monticello organizations do not recognize this marriage and relationship, for that reason the relationship is being removed.
Sources
- Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
Find A Grave: Memorial #120269374 (accessed 28 May 2023)
Memorial page for Harriet Hemings Heckman (6 Feb 1801-26 Feb 1870), citing Mount Olivet Cemetery, Frederick, Frederick County, Maryland, USA (plot: Section H, Lot 190, Grave 12); Maintained by Ancestral Footprints (contributor 47634564). - Monticello.org site with many sources
Acknowledgements
Originally entered by Leslie Ridley-388 26 Mar 2014
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DNA
No known carriers of Harriet's ancestors' DNA have taken a DNA test.
No known carriers of Harriet's ancestors' DNA have taken a DNA test.
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- Comments on Harriet (Hemmings) Heckman Feb 24, 2020.
Featured National Park champion connections: Harriet is 11 degrees from Theodore Roosevelt, 19 degrees from Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 16 degrees from George Catlin, 6 degrees from Marjory Douglas, 20 degrees from Sueko Embrey, 14 degrees from George Grinnell, 21 degrees from Anton Kröller, 16 degrees from Stephen Mather, 21 degrees from Kara McKean, 14 degrees from John Muir, 12 degrees from Victoria Hanover and 23 degrees from Charles Young on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
The memoirs of Madison Hemings state that Harriet went to Washington and married a man there and had a family, but he purposely did not identify them. Harriet had passed into the white world, and at that time there was no return.
Unless someone can provide real sources for them, I propose that the husband and child be disconnected from this profile.