Robert Jefferson

Robert Jefferson of Indianapolis, Ind., has been my favorite research subject for the past few years. Following his life and those of his family and descendants introduced me to African American genealogy research, and ultimately has taught me a lot. DNA research and contemporary writing shows that Robert was a son of President Thomas Jefferson, but not bySally Hemings, shattering "conventional wisdom" about slavery and slaveholders. American history can be as grotesque as it is impressive.

Part 8 – Why Canada, Robert Jefferson?

Why did Robert Jefferson travel north to Canada after receiving his freedom papers, signed by then-Mississippi State Senator Otho R....

ROBERT JEFFERSON

Jun 19, 20216 min read

Part 6 — O.R. Singleton

There are several men in the periphery of Robert Jefferson’s story. These include Thomas Jefferson Catchings, M.D., who had owned Robert’s wife, Celia, and probably their daughters, Lucy and Georgiana. Then there was Thomas’ brother, Silas Mercer Catchings, also a slave-owning planter. (I think it’s ironic that they are referred to as planters, when they surely never did any of the planting. Just sayin’.)

ROBERT JEFFERSON

Apr 2, 20215 min read

Part 5 – Reflections of a Researcher

"Fasten, your seatbelts, kids; it's gonna be a bumpy ride." (With my sincerest apoligies to Bette Davis in "All About Eve" and devout...

ROBERT JEFFERSON

Mar 29, 20218 min read

Part 4 – John Thomas Dearing

CAUTION: SPECULATION INCLUDED!

ROBERT JEFFERSON

Mar 25, 20215 min read

Part 3 – Asa Dearing

Asa Dearing was born around 1785 and died suddenly in 1826, only a few years after he’d married a woman named Margaret Pasture or Pasteur on 20 March 1820. Asa was one of several children in a family with great wealth. He had several brothers who owned plantations in Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky, and probably more. He himself owned land in both Wilkes County, GA, and in Laurence County, AL.

ROBERT JEFFERSON

Mar 18, 20213 min read

Part 2 – Edward Christian of Charles Town

Paradise was an antebellum home that fronted the west side of the 100 block of North George Street, the unpaved street seen in the...

ROBERT JEFFERSON

Mar 11, 20216 min read

Meet my dear friend, Robert Jefferson

For about three years, I've had somewhat of a love affair with a man who has been dead nearly 140 years. And yes, my husband knows all about it. In fact, he has encouraged this relationship from the start. Robert Jefferson and I met when I first became involved with Historic Eleutherian College Inc., a nonprofit in Madison, Indiana, whose purpose is the preservation of a three-story stone building on a hill in nearby Lancaster. Built in the mid-1850s, the building consisted

ROBERT JEFFERSON

Mar 7, 20214 min read