Dave Hutchinson, a recently retired professional project manager has been hired to manage a special secret project on behalf of the Monticello Association, the owner of the Thomas Jefferson Cemetery at Monticello. In July 2022, Hutchinson is meeting with Jonathon Coolidge, the current president of the Monticello Association, to hear the details of the origins and goals of the project. "Nearly 25 years ago," Coolidge started, "a DNA study determined that A JEFFERSON fathered the last son of Sally Hemings, one of Thomas Jefferson's female enslaved persons. But the study could not prove conclusively that Thomas Jefferson himself was the father because Jefferson did not have any male heirs. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, owners of Monticello, used that study and additional soft evidence like oral histories and Jefferson's presence at Monticello during Hemings' conception times to conclude definitely in 2018 that Jefferson fathered that last son and all of the children of Sally Hemings. Our Association believes it's time to determine scientifically whether or not Jefferson fathered that last son or any of her children. In the last ten years, dental pulp from molar teeth has become a reliable scientific source of DNA material. We have the possibility of obtaining such DNA tooth samples in Jefferson's own cemetery. The question is, can it be done without exhumation of the remains?" After a moment of silence where you could hear a pin drop, Hutchinson gasped and said, "You mean we are going to drill into Jefferson's grave to be near enough to his skull to get a molar tooth for a DNA sample?"
And so, the quest for Jefferson's DNA began.
