A Presidential Mystery

Did Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States and a vocal opponent to slavery, actually father a child of one of his own slaves? The controversy over the parentage of Eston Hemings and his siblings has caused disquieting ripples in the waters of American history for over 200 years. Abolitionists, critics of democracy, and a host of others have kept the rumors going, but is there any solid proof for the tales? Modern DNA studies may now have come closer to the answer.

Read more on this mystery of history and watch video clips from the PBS show Frontline by following the links below.

http://www.monticello.org/plantation/hemingscontro/hemings-jefferson_contro.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/

Forward, March!

Almost everyone has some type of hobby, but some people have really bizarre ones. Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (1688-1740), for example, liked to collect tall soldiers. Some parents give their children toy soldiers to play with, but Friedrich was given an entire regiment of live ones by his dad when he was young. That gift was the beginning of a bizarre passion that led to fever-pitched recruitment, kidnappings, strange breeding schemes, and …a bear?

For more of this strange tale, check out the following websites:

http://www.stevequayle.com/Giants/W.Europe/W.Europe9.html

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kvenjb/madmonarchs/fredwil1/fredwil1_bio.htm