Martin Hemings was an American man enslaved to Thomas Jefferson.
19 Facts About Martin Hemings
1.
2.
Martin Hemings was born on a plantation called "The Forest" that belonged to John Wayles.
3.
Martin Hemings was the oldest male child of Elizabeth Hemings.
4.
Martin Hemings later became the butler of Monticello and lived there for many years.
5.
When Thomas Jefferson became governor of Virginia and lived in houses in Richmond, Virginia and Williamsburg, Virginia, Martin Hemings went with him.
6.
Thomas Jefferson said in his letters that Martin Hemings had a fiery temper.
7.
Martin Hemings did not tell the British soldiers, where the silver was, even though they beat him.
8.
Jefferson's granddaughters told historian Henry S Randall the family story: A British officer pointed a gun at Martin Hemings and told Hemings to say which way Jefferson had gone.
9.
Twenty-first-century historian Annette Gordon-Reed writes that perhaps Martin Hemings just did not like being told what to do.
10.
Martin Hemings lived in Paris for several years when he was the United States Ambassador to France.
11.
Whenever Jefferson was away from Monticello, the enslaved people in the Martin Hemings family were allowed to come and go as they saw fit.
12.
The Martin Hemings men lived almost like free men: they were able to find jobs where they wanted and keep all the money earned.
13.
When Jefferson returned from Paris, he wanted his butler, Martin Hemings, to stay at Monticello.
14.
In 1792, Jefferson wrote that he and Martin Hemings had a disagreement or fight, but did not mention what it was about.
15.
Martin Hemings told one of his managers at Monticello that he and Hemings had agreed that Jefferson would sell Hemings to someone else.
16.
Jefferson told the manager that Martin Hemings could choose the buyer.
17.
Martin Hemings said he did not care how much money he got for Hemings, so long as Hemings was gone.
18.
Martin Hemings told the manager that he did not want to free Hemings, the way he would later free his half-brothers Robert and James later in their lives.
19.
Thomas Jefferson's letters and writings never mention any sale, but do state that Martin Hemings was still at Monticello in 1795.