Examining the Life and Legacy of Skilled Joiner John Hemmings at Monticello Through Material Culture
by Molly Martien
Thanks to a Decorative Arts Trust Research Grant, I had the good fortune of traveling to Charlottesville, VA, to visit Monticello and The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia. In this project I set out to examine a revolving table (figure 1) crafted in the early 19th century by enslaved joiner John Hemmings (1776–1833) and to analyze family letters that illuminate Hemmings’s legacy and the complex family dynamics both within and beyond Monticello.1
Figure 1. John Hemmings, Revolving table, 1811, Charlottesville, VA. Cherry; yellow poplar, walnut, yellow pine; brass. ©Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello.
Hemmings, a man of African descent, was born at Monticello on April 24, 1776, and remained there until his death in 1833. Hemmings learned the carpentry and joinery trade as an apprentice to Scottish joiner David Watson and Irish joiner James Dinsmore (c. 1771–1830).2 Over the course of Hemmings’s lifetime, surviving furnishings, letters, and other important documents demonstrate his knowledge and creativity. Despite his enslavement, Hemmings developed a proficiency in math and gained the ability to read and write.3 Hemmings also possessed an aptitude for skillfully constructing complex architectural features and furniture.4 These skills allowed him to be a successful leader and head of Monticello’s joiners shop, where he created the revolving table for Poplar Forest, Jefferson’s retreat in Bedford County, VA.5
From 1810 to 1826, Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) demanded that Hemmings and a team of Black enslaved craftspeople create furniture in the joiners shop on Mulberry Row, the industrial hub of Monticello.6 Hemmings’s team included Burwell Colbert (1783–1862), Lewis (1758/60–1822), and his three nephews, Beverly Hemings (1798–after 1822), Madison Hemings (1805–1877), and Eston Hemings (1808–1856), who were the sons of his half sister, enslaved chambermaid Sally Hemings (1773–1835), and Jefferson.7
My research trip began with an examination of the revolving table with Monticello’s Curator of Decorative Arts and Historic Interiors, Diane Ehrenpreis, and Curator of Arts and Art History, Emilie Johnson(figure 2).8 By separating the table’s top from its frame, it became evident how Hemmings expertly crafted the square inlay in the center of the table’s top. This examination also revealed a circular scribe mark underneath the top, possibly created by Hemmings to indicate where to make cuts. This mark provided a key insight into Hemmings construction process and demonstrated his expertise as an early-19th-century craftsperson.
Figure 2. The author, Molly Martien, standing in front of the underside of the tabletop with Monticello curator Diane Ehrenpreis to her left.
During the second half of the research trip, I reviewed a series of drawings and letters written by members of Jefferson’s extended family held in the collection of The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia.9 First, I examined Jefferson’s floorplan for Poplar Forest (figure 3). The central square hall with an equal-sided octagonal exterior resembles the patterned geometric top of the revolving table. This design may indicate a connection between Jefferson’s furnishings and architectural plans.10
Figure 3. John Neilson, Poplar Forest, First Floor Plan, 1819. (Courtesy, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.)
I analyzed several family letters in the archives. Of particular note was a letter sent to Thomas Jefferson Randolph (1792–1875), Thomas Jefferson’s son-in-law, from Madison Hemings after his emancipation. In the message, Madison asks Randolph for the remaining money that is owed to him for the joinery work he completed for Randolph at his private property.11 The document is testament to Hemmings’s woodworking skills. Not only did Hemmings run a successful joinery shop on Mulberry Row, but he also mentored and passed on the joinery trade to the next generation of craftspeople, his nephews. The correspondence also highlights the complexity of the familial relationship between Madison and Randolph. An earlier letter written by John Hemmings to Septimia Randolph (1814–87), Thomas Jefferson’s granddaughter, is just one of several letters that is equally proof of the complicated yet close relationship between Hemmings and the Jefferson family.12
The experience of traveling to Monticello and the University of Virginia was invaluable. I am grateful for my time in Charlottesville, which allowed me to visit objects and archival collections and provided me with the opportunity to network with museum professionals who shared their knowledge and insights. This experience contributed to my dissertation research on Hemmings, his skills as a joiner, and his influential impact on design in the American south.
Molly Martien is a PhD Candidate in Art History at the University of Delaware.
1. The use of two m’s in John Hemmings’s last name is not a typo. Unlike his family, who spelled their last name Hemings with one m, Hemmings signs his last name “Hemmings” in surviving letters.
2. The author wants to acknowledge that her initial research on the table began when she was The Americana Foundation Curatorial Fellow at Monticello in 2022.
3. Please see Robert L. Self, “I Have a Job of 4. Pembroke Tables on Hand at Monticello”: Five Tables Made for Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest by Joiners James Dinsmore and John Hemmings,” The MESDA Journal 42 (2021) and see Robert L. Self, and Susan R. Stein, “The Collaboration of Thomas Jefferson and John Hemmings: Furniture Attributed to the Monticello Joinery.” Winterthur Portfolio 33, no. 4 (1998): 231-248.
4. For more scholarship on Hemmings and his skilled craft, please see: Emilie Johnson, “John Hemmings: Enslaved Craftsmen of Classical Architecture,” The Classicist 13 (2016): 8-15.
5. An important letter Jefferson wrote to overseer Edmund Bacon (1785-1866) on December 5, 1811 tells us that John Hemmings made this revolving table. In the letter, Jefferson writes to Bacon “…tell Johnny Hemmings to finish off immediately the frame for the round table for this place that it may come by the wagon.” Letters such as this are important because they allow us to see a rare glimpse into one way Jefferson demanded Hemmings to create furnishings for his use. See “Thomas Jefferson to Edmund Bacon, 5 December 1811,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-04-02-0242. This letter is significant because it makes this table one of the best documented objects created by an enslaved craftsperson. Surviving furnishings such as the table and letters are rare and important objects. Records of objects made by enslaved craftspeople largely do not survive in the archives.
6. “Mulberry Row,” The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, accessed December 12, 2024, https://www.monticello.org/slavery/the-plantation/organization-of-the-monticello-plantation/mulberry-row/.
7. To learn more about the Heming’s family, please see: Annette Gordan Reed’s book: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008).
8. This careful inspection of the table and its construction was possible thanks to the support and assistance of Curator of Decorative Arts and Historic Interiors, Diane Ehrenpreis; Curator of Arts and History, Emilie Johnson; Director of Museum Collections, Tabitha Pryor Corradi.
9. In addition to the drawing of Poplar Forest there are several other drawings and designs by Jefferson held in The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia.
10. Please see Diane C. Ehrenpreis, “‘Threads & Clues of it’: Thomas Jefferson’s New York Furniture,” The Chipstone Foundation, accessed January 7, 2025, https://chipstone.org/article.php/875/American-Furniture-2023/%E2%80%9CThreads-&-Clues-of-it%E2%80%9D:-Thomas-Jefferson%E2%80%99s-New-York-Furniture.
11. “Madison Hemings to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, January 15, 1833,” University of Virginia, The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, Charlottesville, VA.
12. See “John Hemmings to Septimia A. Randolph (Meikleham),” Monticello, accessed January 7, 2024, https://tjrs.monticello.org/letter/995.
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