Sally Hemings, whose given name may have been Sarah, was an enslaved woman, inherited among many others by the third President of the United States Thomas Jefferson, from his father-in-law, John Wayles. Her mother was Elizabeth "Betty" Hemings. Her father was John Wayles, the enslaver of Elizabeth Hemings who owned her from the time of her birth. Wayles was also the father of Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles, making Hemings the half-sister to Jefferson's wife.