'He was very highly skilled, and he was freed by Jefferson in his will and was given the tools of his trade,' Chew said.
Chew showed Teichner some of Hemings' beautifully crafted work. The joinery, or furniture-making woodshop at Monticello, was in Jefferson's later years run by a slave named John Hemings, who made many pieces of furniture that are in Monticello today. 'There would have been an intimate relationship really, from birth to death,' said Chew. Jefferson's butler, Burwell Colbert, was also a slave.
'And we know that his last words were asking Burwell Colbert to adjust his pillow,' she told Teichner. Web exclusive video: To watch an extended interview with author Jon Meacham click on the video player below.Įlizabeth Chew, curator at Monticello, said that Jefferson's earliest memory was of being handed up on a pillow as a toddler to a slave on a horse.
