Here's Where It Gets Interesting - Freedom and the Art of Cookery

Episode Date: August 17, 2022

Today, on Here's Where It Gets Interesting, we returned to Monticello and the lives that were intertwined with third President Thomas Jefferson. The young Hemings family, enslaved by birth, grew up in Jefferson’s plantation estate, Monticello. But James Hemings traveled extensively with Jefferson, spending five years in Paris where he learned to cook from Parisian masters. James was well-educated and skilled, but he wanted more. He wanted his freedom. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends. Welcome. Delighted that you're here. And in our last episode, we took a look at the lives of the women who influenced the nation's third president, Thomas Jefferson. During his lifetime, Jefferson relied on the work of over 600 enslaved people, and many of their histories went unrecorded and unrecognized. So today we're going to learn more about one of the enslaved families under Jefferson's roof, the way their lives intertwined with his, and how their roles in American history deserve our attention. So join me now to hear about another member of the Hemings family, because here's where it gets interesting.

I'm Sharon McMahon, and welcome to the Sharon Says So podcast. On Monday, I told you a little bit about Sally Hemings' life and about Thomas Jefferson's relationship with her. It was a physical relationship that started when she was a teenager, about 14 or 15 years old, and he was 44. One that started in France and continued through all eight years of his presidency and beyond, even though she was his late wife's half-sister and an enslaved woman in his care. But what I didn't share was that Sally Hemings wasn't the only Hemings sibling with whom Thomas Jefferson maintained a close relationship. So let's rewind a bit, have a fresh timeline, fill in some gaps in the Hemings family tree. John Wales, who was Martha Jefferson's father, died in 1773.

If you missed the previous episode, Martha Jefferson was Thomas Jefferson's wife who died before he became president. they were given an 11-year-old enslaved girl named Elizabeth, who was called Betty, as part of their wedding settlement or a dowry. The one caveat was that Betty was always to belong to Martha and her heirs, rather than being counted as part of her husband's property. Betty grew up with Martha Jefferson's parents, Martha and John Wales, and the home was called The Forest. And she served the household in a variety of domestic ways. Betty was the daughter of an African mother and a white British father, making her of mixed race. She was half white and half black. Martha Wales, who again was Martha Jefferson's mother, died young, as did the

two wives Martha Jefferson's father, John, married after. So Betty was legally passed on to Martha's daughter, also Martha, the one who would later go on to marry Thomas Jefferson. And while there aren't many direct records, it's probable that Betty was a minder or a teenage caretaker of little Martha and that the girls' lives were intertwined right from the start. By age 18, Betty Hemings gave birth to her first child named Mary. She was in a relationship with an enslaved black man whose name we don't know. And over the next few years, Betty would go on to have three more children with him. Martin, another child named Betty, and Nancy.

About a year after Nancy was born, Betty gave birth to another son, Robert. But Robert did not have the same father as his siblings. Robert's father was John Wales, Martha Jefferson's father. John Wales was 25 years older than Betty, and a man who had lawfully given power over her. He chose to take Betty as his mistress after the deaths of his wives, and she did not have a choice because she was enslaved. John never married again, but he fathered five more children by Betty. Their six children in total were named Robert, James, Fenia, Critta, Peter, and Sally Hemings. Because Betty was enslaved, the children were all born into slavery under the 1662 legal doctrine of Partis Seceter Ventrum, which when translated from Latin literally means offspring follows belly. The Hemings, Wales children, were three quarters European by ancestry,

and they were half-siblings to Martha Jefferson, but they remained enslaved. John did not publicly acknowledge his relationship with Betty or his children by her. John did not publicly acknowledge his relationship with Betty or his children by her. But he did give them some privileges. The two oldest boys, Robert and James, were taught to read and write and given leave to take on work outside of the forest for pocket money. Betty and John's youngest son, Peter, was just three years old when his father died in 1773 and Sally was just an infant. The following year, all 11 members of the Hemings family, Betty and her 10 children, moved into Monticello with the now-grown Martha and her new husband, Thomas Jefferson. The Hemings children were trained as skilled artisans and domestic servants and given privileged positions at the plantation.

There are no records showing that any members of the Hemings family worked in fields at the Monticello plantation. And even though they were given privileged positions at the plantation, they were still enslaved. They did not have their freedom. One of Sally and Martha's brothers in particular excelled in a specific set of skills. James Hemmings was nine years old when the Hemmings were moved into Monticello. He was Betty's second oldest son by John Wales and could already read and write. He was a quick and curious learner and became a favorite of Thomas Jefferson's, who was technically his half-brother-in-law. Thomas Jefferson, who was technically his half-brother-in-law. Jefferson was elected as governor in 1779 when James and his brother Robert were teenagers. The boys accompanied

Jefferson to both Williamsburg and Richmond as his personal attendants. When British troops under the direction of Benedict Arnold threatened to attack the city of Richmond in 1781, James and Robert were tasked with taking the visiting Martha Jefferson and her two daughters to safety. Over the next few years, when Jefferson was away and did not take James with him, James was allowed to continue to hire himself out and keep the wages. This was true for many of the members of the Hemings family while they served at Monticello, and while they had more freedoms, material comforts, and could earn wages, once again, they were still enslaved. James Hemings' daily life and future was still determined by the Jeffersons who legally owned him. So in 1784, after Martha Jefferson's death,

owned him. So in 1784, after Martha Jefferson's death, as Thomas prepared to set sail to France as the minister plenipotentiary, it was he who decided that James would accompany him and be trained in France in the art of cookery, as he called it in correspondence to a friend. James was then 19, and while they were in France, Jefferson paid him a wage of $4 a month because slavery had been abolished in the country. While there, James was technically a free man. For the first three years, James studied cooking and was apprenticed to pastry chefs and other specialists, including the chef of a French prince. He used his wages from Jefferson to pay for language lessons from a French tutor. And when his younger sister Sally sailed to France with Jefferson's daughter Polly,

James paid for her to learn French too. Through his extensive classic training, James earned the role of chef de cuisine in Jefferson's kitchen. But he wasn't just cooking up fancy food for Thomas Jefferson and his two young daughters. Jefferson was a diplomat, and he was expected to give grand parties and serve extravagant dinners to European aristocrats of all sorts. It was James who oversaw and created the menus for these opulent events. He served his creations to the wealthiest and most notable members of France's high society. This meant that James was a true testament to the craft. He wasn't just stewed meat and boiled potatoes good. I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey. We are best friends. And together we have the podcast Office Ladies, where we rewatched every single episode of The Office with insane behind the scenes stories, hilarious guests and lots of

laughs. Guess who's sitting next to me? Steve! It is my girl in the studio every wednesday we'll be sharing even more exclusive stories from the office and our friendship with brand new guests and we'll be digging into our mailbag to answer your questions and comments so join us for brand new office ladies 6.0 episodes every wednesday plus on mondays we are taking a second drink. You can revisit all the Office Ladies rewatch episodes every Monday with new bonus tidbits before every episode. Well, we can't wait to see you there. Follow and listen to Office Ladies on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. The French have always taken their cuisine seriously. The royal kitchens and culinary schools at the time were constantly working on innovative kitchen tools and foods that we still enjoy today.

Mayonnaise, for example, was created in 1765. And Grey Pouponard followed in 1777. It was a French chef who patented pâté in 1784, which means it's likely that James prepared the newly popular dish for Jefferson's guests. Thomas Jefferson was particularly partial to two European favorites, pasta and champagne. Italians had recently begun making pasta by machine, and Jefferson found the contraption fascinating. His notes from seeing one of these pasta makers read, the best macaroni in Italy is made with a particular sort of flour called simola in Naples, but in almost every shop, a different sort of flour is commonly used.

For provided the flour be of a good quality, it will always do well. A paste is made with the flour, water, and less yeast than is used for making bread. The paste is then put, a little at a time, into a round iron box, the under part of which is perforated with holes, through which the paste, when pressed by the screw, comes out. I bet you did not associate Thomas Jefferson with being a macaroni connoisseur. Before he left France in 1789 on the eve of the French Revolution, Jefferson ordered a pasta maker to be shipped back to Monticello along with 680 bottles of wine, plus other delicacies like olive oil, mustard, cheese, and anchovies. He had stoves installed in the American kitchens where he lived and imported copper pots and pans. This provided James, who journeyed back with Jefferson, the same modern technology that had been used in Europe.

James introduced the cooks at Monticello to what he had learned in France. One of his most famous dishes was macaroni pie, which was an early evolution of everyone's favorite comfort food, macaroni and cheese. You're looking at the evolution of where craft comes from. It's Thomas Jefferson who has long hailed as popularizing the dish as an American staple since he was a prominent figure, but it would have been James who perfected the recipe and served it to Jefferson and his guests both at Monticello and in Philadelphia when Jefferson served as Secretary of State for two years. In fact, James is almost certainly the unacknowledged man behind the meal served at the dinner table bargain in 1790, an event made famous in the Hamilton scene. A quick recap on the dinner. In the aftermath of the Constitutional Convention, which Jefferson had missed because he had been in France,

two sticky situations had emerged by the time he returned. First, the new Constitution had mandated that there be a seat of federal authority, but it had not specified where it should be located. Sixteen different locations had been suggested, but the Northern the states in turn would pay taxes to the government. It had just been rejected. And you hear that plan in one of the cabinet battle songs in the musical. You can boil the arguments down to what else, but the control of money and land. Jefferson proposed a dinner where they could talk things out. The three named men at the dinner were Jefferson himself, of course, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Over a shared meal prepared by James

Hemmings, the men came to an agreement. Hamilton would push for the capital to be moved to where Madison and Jefferson wanted it, which was, of course, in Washington, D.C., and in exchange, Madison would support Hamilton's federal tax plan. James Hemmings, while still enslaved to Jefferson while he lived in Philadelphia, was earning a wage of $7 a month, the same payment Jefferson allotted to his free staff. Pennsylvania law at the time stated, if a slave is brought into the state and continues therein for the space of six months, he may claim his freedom. James likely knew this, and when Jefferson prepared to move back to Virginia, he made his move.

Whatever talks surely happened between Thomas Jefferson and James Hemings have been lost to history, but we do know that before they traveled back to Monticello together, Jefferson drew up a contract for James. It read, in part, having been at great expense in having James Hemmings taught the art of cookery, desiring to befriend him and to require from him as little in return as possible, I do hereby promise and declare that if the said James shall go with me to Monticello in the course of the ensuing winter where I go to reside myself, and shall there continue until he shall have taught such person as I shall place under him for that purpose to be a good cook, the previous condition being performed, he shall be thereupon

made free. It seems a little grudging on Jefferson's part, but he bargained with James, essentially saying, come back to Monticello with me and teach someone else how to cook, and I'll grant you your freedom. It took James two years to teach his younger brother Peter the skills he had learned in France, and in the spring of 1796, he walked out of Monticello as a freed man. So let's recap though, because not only was James free, he was also a man who had three quarters European ancestry, was literate and fluent in both English and French. He had money in his pocket and an enviable resume. He was also, so we don't forget, the late Martha Jefferson's half-brother, making him related by marriage to the man who would become the president in a few short years.

The first thing James decided to do was travel. We don't have a full itinerary of the places he visited, but we do know that he went back to Europe for a while, likely to France for a time. He would have found Paris a much different place than when he had left it a few years earlier. The French Revolution had altered the country forever, toppling the monarchy and establishing a republic. It's very likely that many of the people James would have been acquainted with would have lost their lives in the fighting. We also know James planned on traveling to Spain, but he may have been persuaded to wait by Jefferson, who wrote to his youngest daughter, Polly. James tells me his next trip will be to Spain. I am afraid his journeys will end on the moon. I have endeavored to persuade him to stay where he is and lay up money. James did eventually settle back in the U.S., taking a chef's position first in Philadelphia

and then in Baltimore. He was still fairly young at the time, around 32, but there are no records of him ever marrying or fathering any children. When Thomas Jefferson was elected to the presidency in 1800, he almost immediately offered James a position in the kitchen of the White House, but James declined. He'd been offended that Jefferson had asked him through an intermediary, a mutual friend named William Evans. After speaking with James, Evans wrote back to Jefferson saying, the answer he returned me was that he would not go until you should write to him yourself. But Jefferson did not write to James. And when he sent the offer again through another man, Francis Says,

Says replied to Jefferson, I have spoke to James according to your desire. He has made mention again, as he did before, that he was willing to serve you before any other man in the union. But since he understands that he would have to be among strange servants, he would be very much obliged to you if you would send him a few lines of engagement and on what conditions and what wages you would please to give him with your own handwriting. Basically saying he's willing to do it, but he wants you to ask yourself. The men were put out by each other, which is what happens when you use go-betweens, right? There's more room for error and hurt feelings. Jefferson was offended that James wouldn't jump at the opportunity he was giving him, and James was offended that Jefferson couldn't even send him the details himself.

They were at an impasse, and though financial records show that James did go back to Monticello to work for a few weeks in the summer of 1801, he never worked inside the White House. Jefferson heard a rumor that November. James had died by suicide. William Evans wrote to the president to confirm, saying, the report respecting James Hemings having committed an act of suicide is true. I made every inquiry at the time this melancholy circumstance took place, the result of which was that he had been delirious for some days prior to committing the act, and it was the general opinion that drinking too freely was the cause. It's so rare to have well-documented histories of enslaved people, and James is no exception.

While we know more about him than many other enslaved people during his time, most of his history is written about in relationship to the people he served. We know what he did with and for Jefferson, but we don't have any access to any kind of personal documents, letters to friends or lovers that may have given us any sort of insight into why he would have turned to suicide at age 36. We also don't know the grief his family endured at the news. Jefferson wrote to his son-in-law and mentioned that it was a tragical death, but we do not know the sadness of James's mother, Betty, who outlived him, or that of his sister, Sally, who was still in a relationship with

Jefferson at the time and fathering his children. But we can conclude that James Hemmings' influence on the kitchens of Monticello left a lasting legacy. His recipe for a French dessert called snow eggs, which are small poached meringues that float in a custard sauce, was found in Jefferson's granddaughter's family cookbook. And while he was absolutely so much more, the recipe is signed simply, James, a cook at Monticello. Thank you for listening today, friends. I'm so happy you joined me. I'll see you soon.

Thank you so much for listening to the Sharon Says So podcast. I am truly grateful for you. And I'm wondering if you could do me a quick favor. Would you be willing to follow or subscribe to this podcast or maybe leave me a rating or a review? Or if you're feeling extra generous, would you share this episode on your Instagram stories or with a friend? All of those things help podcasters out so much. This podcast was written and researched by Sharon McMahon and Heather Jackson. It was produced by Heather Jackson, edited and mixed by our audio producer, Jenny Snyder,

and hosted by me, Sharon McMahon. I'll see you next time.