The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-08-26
TAFT'S INQUIRY
CAUSES FLUTTER
Interior Department Officials
Secretive About CLAWS
investigation
Pierce Suppresses Documents,
but Call Correspondent
Gets Copies

Gets Copies
ture. which she claims has always been
followed. either openly or surrepti-
tiously. since the white and the black
or the white and the red races have
Y been together, there viii be a gradual
disappearance Of the race problem;
that # VIII be evolved out OF eonsid-
GRAFTON. She takes the stand of Profes-
sor Matthews of the University of Chi
cago and answers his critics While
she would not claim that the white
race is tinctured with black blood, she
takes the inverse of that view and
holds that there is little or no pure
black blood in the United States. and
TO strengthen her argument she cited
her own personal lineage. as she under
stands it. II was there that she intro
duced her reputed great grandfather
and with sting of sarcasm in the tail
Of her introduction.
Quotes Alleged Ancestor
why should America be called the
white mans country" she asked in
her communication. Then she adroitly
introduced the author of the Deciara-
ton Of Independence. from whom, if
the tradition OF her house is authentic,
she might have inherited her gift for
controversy. She wrote:
Thomas Jefferson has been quoted
as saying that the presence of two ele-
rnentary races in America was a men
ace to our physical and moral char
acters. to our happiness and TO our
safety And yet. that same gentleman
was my great grandfather. my grand
mothers father. Consistency, thou art
a jewel"
In her communication to The Call
Mrs. Erskine was terse in her reference
To Thomas Jefferson.
But when seen at her home in Oak
land. she talked freely and with pride
of what she believes TO be her ancestry.
The bar sinister, in this case. became
the bright honor Of the escuteheon.
Yes" she declared readily my
grandmother was the daughter of
Thomas Jefferson. She always told me
that she was and she was proud of it
Her mother was q slave on Jefferson S
plantation. and my grandmother was
horn there about the year 1897 or 1900.
She died in 1897 and was about 100
years old when she died
Mother Born a Slave
"T4er daughter, my mother was Born
slave in Virginia Her name was
Julia Evans. Later she married a man
father. Her second husband Was named
Harris. Ny father was soldier in one
81 the wars and in that way secured
his freedom. He had been a slave, but
got freed by fighting. Probably he
fought in the Indian wars. He pur-
chased my mother out of slavery My
mother and father were married in 1913
and I was born in Texas in 1S49. We
came 10 California IN 81.
Ny grandmother came to California
at that time, too. She was a ladys
nurse and was known az Aunt Lucy.
She nursed in the best families of that
day She was a nurse for the family OF
Major Hoyt and the family Of Mr.
t'rink, who ran a hotel IN the sixties
Il often heard my grandmother speak
of her father. Thomas Jefferson She
said that everyone on the plantation
knew that she was Jefferson's daugh-
ter and the other negroes would be
Jealous Of her and treat her mean and
spiteful But her father she alwa VS.
said, was good man. open hearted, and
she never spoke mean about him. She
always talked as if she liked him
Mrs Julia Harris, daughter Of Aunt
Lucy" and therefore the granddeugt-
ter. under the terms OF the tradition OF
Jefferson, had not the memory for dates
that her daughter had, but she remem-
bered more Of what her mother had
told her about the jefferson family.
Ny mother always said that she was
the daughter Of Thomas jefferson and
that It was acknowledged that she
was" said Mrs. Harris She said thai
Jefferson himself acknowledged il. She
used TO talk a great deal about her life
on the plantation. She was born in
Albemarle county, Virginia Her
mother was named Priscilla and was
an unusually handsome woman JEFF
fersOn had no other children by negro
women. He was always kind to my
mother but she remained a slave. She
remembered Washington well She
used to talk often of Jefferson's daugh-
tiers, Martha Jefferson and Maria Ma
ria. I think it was she used to speak
Of as being the most beautiful woman
IN Virginia. She became the wife OF
Colonel Carr, 10 whom my mother be.
longed at one time"
JenerS0n on Plantation
According to the Encyclopedia
Americana Jefferson was born April 10
1743, and therefore would have beer
about So years Of age in 1895, tn.
year in which Mrs Harris computed
her mother was born In 1893 Jehfer-
son retired from the -cabinet position
ne had filed under WASHINGTON. Ht
went TO his estate at Monticello
There he had 154 slaves. of whom
Aunt Lucy's" mother was one h
stayed in retirement from 1898 to 1897
when he was elected vice president
with John Adams as president. He
was president until 1901, when he wa.
elected president
Regarding the negroes on Jefferson's
plantation the Americana says
Among the negroes he (Jefferson) had
2 sort Of industrial (manual training)
school and taught them to be cabinet
makers. brick layers. masons and
smiths
Iefferson's wife died in 1882
Aunt Lucy" Evans died in this city
and at the time Of her death the news
papers devoted considerable space Il
her demise on account Of her grea'
age and the fact that she had knowr
Jefferson. Washington and Jackson
At that time the family did not max.
public the report that she was tn,