Winifred Bennett, 71, Is Dead; Proposed Jefferson DNA Tests
Winifred Bennett, an amateur historian whose casual suggestion at the dinner table 10 years ago that DNA testing might establish whether Thomas Jefferson fathered children by his slave Sally Hemings helped rewrite history, unsettle families and raise enduring questions about sex, race and the American past, died on Oct. 7 at her home in Arlington, Va. She was 71.
The cause was kidney failure, said her daughter, Phoebe Bennett.
As a result of Mrs. Bennett’s idea, an international team of scientists embarked on a genetic study of Jefferson and Hemings descendants. Their findings, published in the journal Nature in 1998, indicated that a male of the Jefferson family, most likely Thomas, fathered at least one of Hemings’s children.
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The cause was kidney failure, said her daughter, Phoebe Bennett.
As a result of Mrs. Bennett’s idea, an international team of scientists embarked on a genetic study of Jefferson and Hemings descendants. Their findings, published in the journal Nature in 1998, indicated that a male of the Jefferson family, most likely Thomas, fathered at least one of Hemings’s children.