Tracing
Jefferson’s Family Connections
This guided illustration will take you through some of the descendants of Thomas Jefferson from both his wife, Martha Wayles, and Sally Hemings.
Spanning more than 300 years, this family tree highlights descendants whose DNA has been sampled by the Smithsonian. It has been streamlined for clarity.
Click anywhere to begin.
Peter Jefferson
1708-1757
Jane Randolph
1720-1776
Martha Eppes
1712-1748
John Wayles
1715-1773
Martha Wayles
1748-1782
Thomas Jefferson
1743-1826
Thomas Jefferson married Martha Wayles in 1772. Together they had six children, but only two daughters (Maria and Martha) survived to adulthood.
The researchers tested fifth-generation descendants of one of those daughters to get a baseline for the study.
The Jeffersons
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Randolph Jefferson
1755-1815
Lucy Jefferson
1752-1810
Martha Wayles
1748-1782
Martha
Eppes
1712-1748
John Wayles
1715-1773
Peter Jefferson
1708-1757
Jane Randolph
1720-1776
Maria Jefferson
1778-1804
Lucy Lewis
1789-1864
Jane
Lewis
1777-1820
Randolph Jefferson
1755-1815
Thomas Jefferson
1743-1826
Jane Randolph
1720-1776
Lucy Jefferson
1752-1810
Thomas Jefferson
1743-1826
Descendants of Randolph Jefferson, Thomas’ brother, were tested in case DNA evidence pointed to him as the possible father of Hemings’ children.
A descendant of Lucy Jefferson, Thomas’ sister, helped authenticate the hair sample from Monticello through mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down from mothers to daughters.
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Lucy Lewis
1789-1864
Jane
Lewis
1777-1820
Thomas Jefferson
1743-1826
Martha Wayles
1748-1782
Maria Jefferson
1778-1804
Sarah Shine Miller
1921-2017
James Shine
1928-2018
Nicholas Eppes
1927-2018
C. Ruth Griffin Dees
1923-2022
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These descendants of Maria Jefferson were great-great-great grandchildren of Thomas Jefferson. Because they were the fifth generation descended from Thomas Jefferson, they would be expected to share roughly 3.125 percent of their DNA with Jefferson’s hair sample.
Thomas Jefferson
1743-1826
Sally Hemings
1773-1835
Beverly Hemings
1798-?
Harriet Hemings
1801-?
Madison Hemings
1805-1877
Eston Hemings
1808-1856
Sally Hemings is thought to have had seven children. Three died in infancy. Two others, Beverly and Harriet, lived to adulthood, but their descendants are unknown.
Madison and Eston, however, did have known descendants.
The Hemingses
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Madison Hemings
1805-1877
Sarah Hemings
1835-1884
Harriet Hemings
1839-1926
Ellen Hemings
1856-1940
Emma
Bird
1859-1940
Mary Butler
1863-1940
William
Roberts
1889-1975
These are three of the children, and three of the grandchildren, of Madison Hemings.
Over time, some of his descendants through Emma Bird began passing as White. Others remained in the Black community.
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Marion Lee Jr.
1937-2024
Patricia
Walker
1941-
Clara Lee-Nutt
1962-
Dorothy Young McKnight
1931-2025
Julia Jefferson Westerinen
1934-2023
Robin Roberts
1952-
Ellen Roberts Hodnett
1947-2025
John Jefferson
1946-2021
These eight individuals were all fifth-generation descendants of Sally Hemings. (Some are still living while others provided samples before their recent deaths.)
Just like Jefferson’s known fifth-generation descendants through Martha, these Hemings descendants would be expected to share an average of 3.125 percent of Jefferson’s DNA from the hair sample.
Eston Hemings
1808-1856
Madison Hemings
1805-1877
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Madison Hemings
1805-1877
Eston Hemings
1808-1856