John Hemmings

From Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia

John Hemmings (1776-1830+) was a slave and joiner at Monticello. He was the son of the slave Betty Hemings and, it was said, Joseph Neilson, one of the white housejoiners hired by Jefferson in the 1770s. Hemmings started his working life as an "out-carpenter," felling trees and hewing logs, building fences and barns, and helping to construct the log slave dwellings on Mulberry Row.

campeachy chair, attributed to John Hemmings
campeachy chair, attributed to John Hemmings

John Hemmings must have demonstrated his ability early, for at the age of seventeen he was put to work under a succession of skilled white woodworkers hired by Jefferson to enlarge the main house. Hemmings learned to make wheels and fine mahogany furniture, and to use an elaborate set of planes to create decorative interior moldings. He was principal assistant to James Dinsmore, the Irish joiner responsible for most of the elegant woodwork in the Monticello house, and Hemmings alone crafted much of the interior woodwork of Jefferson's house at Poplar Forest in Bedford County, Virginia. Unfortunately, his woodwork at Poplar Forest was destroyed in a fire. He also made all the wooden parts of a large landau carriage Jefferson designed in 1814. He thus became far more than a carpenter -- he was a highly skilled joiner and cabinetmaker.

John Hemmings was a great favorite with Jefferson's grandchildren, who told of his making toys and furniture for them. He was "Daddy Hemmings" to them, and his wife Priscilla was "Mammy." Jefferson freed John Hemmings in his will, allowing him the tools from the joinery as well as the work of his two assistants. He continued to live at Monticello after 1826, probably until his death.

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