may utc full quotes most of jefferson's slaves were sold after his death to pay his many debts finkelman is cited as reference and then later a direct quote during his life and in his will jefferson freed a total of eight slaves all of them members of the hemings family these slaves were the children and grandchildren of jefferson's father in law john wayles and thus related to jefferson through marriage jefferson made no effort to change the status of the three to four hundred other slaves he owned during the fifty years between the signing of declaration and his death on july my summary most of jefferson's slaves were sold after his death to pay his many debts during his lifetime and in his will jefferson had freed only eight of his slaves all of them members of the hemings family cite finkelman talk