As chairman of the foundation that owns Thomas Jefferson's plantation, Monticello, in Virginia, Daniel P. They commissioned an investigation which found that they almost certainly had six children between them. Of the hundreds of people he enslaved, he died on March 21 in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was 85 years old.
His daughter, Katherine Jordan, said the cause was a heart attack.
Questions about Jefferson's relationship with Hemings had been circulating among historians and her family for two centuries. In 1993, when Mr. Jordan (pronounced Jour-dan) invited some of her descendants to a Jefferson memorial event at Monticello, he was unconcerned about her paternity issue.
“If there is such a thing as a partisan line, it's simply this,” he told the Washington Post. “We can't prove it, we can't disprove it.” .
But five years later, his position had to evolve. DNA test results published in the November 5, 1988 issue of Nature magazine appeared to confirm that Jefferson was the father of Eston Hemings, one of Sally Hemings' sons. Testing strongly indicated that Eston had the same Y-chromosome mutation found in Jefferson's lineage.
“While paternity cannot be proven with absolute certainty, our evaluation of the best available evidence indicates that Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings were related over time,” Jordan said at a press conference. “This suggests that there is a high possibility that this led to the birth of a child.” And probably all of Sally Hemings' known children. ”
He added: “Whether it's love or lust, rape or romance, no one knows, and it's unlikely we'll ever know.”
Annette Gordon-Reed, author of “Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: The American Controversy'' (1997), which examines the discrepancies in scholars' assessments of existing evidence of a sexual relationship between the two men, said that Jordan said he handled her tactfully. About books and DNA results.
“The right thing to do was to ask the Jefferson Foundation to investigate this issue and accept its findings,” she wrote in an email. “He could have punted.”
Daniel Porter Jordan Jr. was born on July 22, 1938 in Philadelphia, Michigan. His father was a dentist and his mother Mildred (Dobbs) Jordan ran the family home. Mr. Jordan played both baseball and basketball and studied history and English at the University of Mississippi, graduating with his bachelor's degree in 1960.
In college, he met Llewelyn Schmeltzer, known as Lou. They married in 1961.
After earning a master's degree in history from the university in 1962, Mr. Jordan served as an Army infantryman in Korea and Western Europe, and taught history to volunteers on Army bases through a division of the University of Maryland.
Returning home, he resumed his education at the University of Virginia, founded by Jefferson. He received a scholarship from the Jefferson Foundation for his research, and Jefferson scholar Merrill Peterson was his doctoral advisor. He received his Ph.D. In the history of 1970.
For the next 14 years, he taught history at the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University, also in Richmond, where he became chair of the history department. In 1983 he published a book called “Jefferson's Political Leadership in Virginia.''
When Mr. Jordan was appointed executive director of the foundation in early 1985, he said his goal was to expand its educational mission. He ascended to the presidency nine years later.
“Our job is to tell people about Thomas Jefferson and educate them in the best sense of the word,” he told Charlottesville's Daily Progress newspaper in 1994. Facts are secondary to his values and ideas. ”
During Mr. Jordan's 23 years at Monticello, the publication of Mr. Jefferson's letters and other papers after he became president began. The Jefferson Library has opened on the campus of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies near Monticello. Descendants of Monticello's enslaved people began being interviewed for an oral history project called “Getting Word.” And the Historic Plant Center was established to collect and sell plants and seeds grown at Monticello, in addition to other historic and heirloom seeds.
“He was interested in restoring gardens,” Peter Hatch, Monticello's former gardens and grounds director who started the botanical center, said by phone. “He wasn't a big fan of gardening, but when I talked to him about Jefferson, he understood the importance of landscaping.”
Additionally, the plantation's holdings were expanded with the $15 million acquisition of nearby Mount Montalto. The leaking roof of the main building was rebuilt. And the vineyards on the property have been restored.
In 2001, archaeologists identified a slave burial site approximately 600 feet from the main body of Monticello.
“It has been a long-standing goal here at Monticello to identify where slaves were buried, and now we believe we have found one such location,” Jordan told The Associated Press. “We consider this an important archaeological discovery, allowing us to fill in another piece of the puzzle in our efforts to investigate and understand all aspects of the Monticello plantation.”
Before Mr. Jordan’s arrival, Susan Stein, Monticello’s Richard Gilder Senior Curator of Special Projects, said: There were some serious academics here, but Dan elevated them and me and really reimagined this place. He conceived it as a university. That changed everything. ”
After retiring in 2008, Mr. Jordan worked as a consultant for clients including those who manage historic homes such as Monticello and other nonprofit organizations.
In addition to his daughter Katherine, Mr. Jordan is survived by his wife. another daughter, Grace Jordan; son Daniel III; He has six grandchildren. and his brother Joseph.
Mr. Jordan and his family never strayed far from the Jefferson plantation during his time at the helm of Monticello. He and his family lived in a modern house down the hill from his main house. Mr. Jordan wakes up early on January 1st every year to welcome the first visitors of the year. And Grace and Katherine Jordan were both married on the property.
“We love being here,” Jordan told C-SPAN in 1997. We live about 150 meters from the mountaintop. It's truly magical. ”