Title: Rachel Jackson
Author: Stokes, Nellie Treanor
Language: English
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_The picture of Rachel Jackson on the cover is a replica of the
miniature which General Jackson wore daily, and only removed at night,
placing it with his Bible and spectacles on a table beside his bed._



                             Rachel Jackson


                                  _By_
                         NELLIE TREANOR STOKES
                          (Mrs. Walter Stokes)


                            _Copyright 1942_



                               _FOREWORD_


_Historians and biographers who have immortalized Andrew Jackson as a
statesman and military genius, have invariably touched on the vital
influence exerted on one of the greatest figures in American history by
his beloved wife, Rachel._

_In the belief that only close readers of history or biography are aware
of the full beauty of her personality and character, the Board of
Directors of the Ladies’ Hermitage Association offers this short
biography of Rachel Jackson, by Nellie Treanor Stokes._

_Residing in early girlhood at Tulip Grove, a plantation adjacent to the
Hermitage, the author was a frequent visitor in the Hermitage mansion
during those years, and has since continued an intimate association with
members of the Jackson family. Thus, her biography incorporates
first-hand knowledge of family traditions along with careful historical
research concerning the life of Rachel Jackson._

_Serving as Regent of the Ladies’ Hermitage Association from 1923 to
1927, and as a member of the Board of Directors continuously since 1921,
Mrs. Stokes through out these many years has remained in constant touch
with all matters pertaining to the Jackson family and home, and the work
of maintaining the Hermitage shrine, to which she has devoted much of
her time, has always been one of her chief interests._

                                            Ladies Hermitage Association

Nashville, Tennessee,
1942.



                            _Rachel Jackson_


Rachel Jackson was born at the Virginia home of her parents in June,
1767. Thus her distinguished husband preceded her into the world by only
a few months in the same year. She was the tenth child and fourth
daughter of Col. John Donelson and Rachel Stockley, his wife. She was
given the name of her mother. There was another son born after Rachel,
making four daughters and seven sons, eleven children in all.

Rachel’s parentage was not only substantial but also distinguished. On
the paternal side she was the granddaughter of Catherine Davies who was
the sister of Rev. Samuel Davies, the eminent Presbyterian Minister who
succeeded Jonathan Edwards as President of Princeton University. “Her
mother,” quoting from Mary French Caldwell, “came from Accomac County on
the Eastern shore of Virginia and the story of her people goes back to
the earliest days of the colony.”

For thirty-five years the family of Rachel lived on the Bannister River
in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Col. Donelson was a surveyor, the
owner and master of a large plantation, and the owner of an iron furnace
in the vicinity. He was a vestryman in the Church, and an important
member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, Where he held membership in
the Trade Committee which dealt with many of the serious and delicate
questions of the day between the Colony and the Mother Country. He
helped frame and sign the “treasonable protest” adopted in adjourned
sessions following dissolution of the Burgesses by order of the Crown.
By doing so he may have placed his liberty in jeopardy in the event of a
British victory in the subsequent war for independence, in which he
served with modest distinction. But most noteworthy was his service by
appointment of the Governor, Lord Botetourt, to assist John Stuart in
negotiating the treaty of Lochaber with the Cherokee Indians. The report
of his superior contains the following reference: “... I arrived here
(Lochaber) the 15th where I found the Cherokee Chiefs with their
followers ... about a thousand in number.... I had also the pleasure of
finding Col. Donelson here; he was exactly punctual to the time
appointed.... I beg leave to return to your Lordship my most sincere
thanks for having sent a gentleman of Col. Donelson’s Discernment and
Probity to assist me.... I beg leave to refer your Lordship to him in
every particular....” William Nelson, temporary successor to Lord
Botetourt, deceased, wrote to the Crown: “I have by the advice of the
Council appointed Col. Donelson to execute the running of the line in
May next, as I think he may be confided in....”

The assignment referred to is significant in the development of the epic
story of Rachel because it gave to her father an intimate view of and an
undying interest in the great undeveloped country lying to the Westward.
Mrs. Caldwell has well said: “He had formally accepted the commission to
run the line specified in the Treaty of Lochaber and he went out, not as
a nomadic hunter or adventurer, but as the official representative of
the British Government. He was a man of fifty-two years, mature in
judgment and experience and clothed with the authority which his fortune
and prominence in colonial affairs had given him....”

We may fairly conclude that it is not surprising that with such
parentage and amid the pleasant surroundings of the Bannister plantation
Rachel grew in education and understanding far beyond the average for
the young women of her day. Many were the advantages afforded her.

When Rachel was born some of the older brothers and sisters were already
married. There were slaves to tend the crops, and cloth was woven on the
place from cotton and wool grown there. It was a busy, self contained,
happy household. So it is not remarkable that the baby Rachel was a
happy and contented little girl, racing her pony over the hills with her
brothers, and hearing stories from an adoring father of the pomp and
circumstance of life at the seat of the government, as well as thrilling
tales of the Cherokees. Her mother saw to it that this youngest daughter
was taught her lessons of reading and writing, as well as to cook, spin,
weave and sew a fine seam, so that when she had a house of her own she
could train her servants in the way they should go. An authority says:
“She was proficient in the household arts, she played the harpsichord,
she danced, was an accomplished horsewoman, and was trained in the
little courtesies and graces of life....” She was bright and quick to
learn and beautiful to look upon. It did seem that this united household
should have lived on there by the smooth flowing Bannister.

Perhaps the prospect of more room for the ever growing family, and a
first hand knowledge of the beauty and richness to be found farther west
tempted Col. Donelson and his sons and daughters, some of whom had
families of their own, to risk leaving Virginia and move out to what is
now Tennessee.

In 1779 Captain James Robertson set out to establish a colony on the
banks of the Cumberland at Fort Nashboro, then a part of North Carolina.
His friend, Col. John Donelson of Virginia, was asked to bring the
families of those venturesome men who had cast their lot with his. He
accepted this great responsibility. They were to travel two thousand
almost unknown miles by water, as that mode of travel was deemed safer
than overland through the forests and over the mountains where only a
path marked the way, an impossible task for wagons and women and
children. Even so the chosen route was beset with savages, as well as
all manner of hindrances to be overcome.

This band of pioneers planned to start the journey after the crops were
“laid by” in the autumn, and for that purpose they were assembled in a
commodious block house on the banks of the Holston River; but there had
been a drouth and the water was not high enough to float the boats which
were ready and waiting. In early November a terrible freeze took place.
These and other factors delayed the departure until just before
Christmas. Finally on December twenty-second, 1779, with all families
aboard and well provisioned, they set sail. “The Good Ship Adventure”
bearing the Donelsons and Mrs. Robertson and family led the way. Other
boats followed, each with one or more families aboard protected by a
complement of able men to come to the rescue in case of attack.

Thus the twelve-year-old Rachel turned her youthful face toward the land
of promise in the setting sun, happily unaware of the web of romance and
love, lonely tears and poignant grief, which the unseen hand of fate
would weave for her there. But for the present there was only the
priceless zest of a trip into the unknown, laden with hope of high
adventure. Her stout hearted father was by her side, so she knew no evil
could befall her. We may be sure she was a busy little girl, and that
her talents and sprightly bearing added greatly to the happiness and
morale of the company.

The winter was one of unusual severity. Progress was difficult. They had
sometimes to land and wait for the frozen waters to thaw; there were
rapids and water falls to conquer; and after a while terrible floods and
swift currents laden with trees and drift wood to be avoided. Sickness
and attacks by the Indians, who were armed with rifles as well as bow
and arrows, beset them; food was scarce because much of the wild life
had suffered that winter, and the game which was found was too starved
to be of good quality. Even smallpox developed on one of the boats.
Among such difficulties it was inevitable that examples of great heroism
would arise.

    [Illustration: The Hermitage, home of Andrew and Rachel Jackson]

Witness the stoic fortitude of Nancy Gower. She was wounded while
steering her boat when the Indians attacked from both river banks.
Although she bled profusely she remained at her post of duty; and not
until the party was beyond the reach of the savages did her companions
know that she was wounded. In that sort of stern school did the child
Rachel learn fortitude in bearing the uses of adversity.

After four months of hardship mingled with bright intervals of sunshine
the Donelson party arrived on the twenty-fourth of April at the “Big
Salt Lick” near the small settlement of log houses surrounded by a
stockade which was called Fort Nashboro, and which is now Nashville.

Captain James Robertson with other heads of families had gone through
the country on horseback, and preceded the boat party in time to build
cabins for the expected families. Picture the meeting when the boats
arrived and families were reunited; imagine the joy of Rachel at
reaching the end of a long, tired journey and exploring a new home in a
strange and beautiful land. Even now she did not dream that already the
invisible figure of history held her firmly by the hand.

Here Col. Donelson prospered; accumulated acres, negroes, cattle and
horses. Rachel grew into a beautiful and spirited young woman. On one of
her father’s trips to Kentucky she was allowed to go with him. It
chanced that they went to Harrodsburg, where she met Lewis Robards, the
handsome son of one of the leading families. A courtship ensued, and he
asked her to be his wife. She had other suitors but none so fascinating
as this young man. Her father approved the marriage and after a while he
went home alone, leaving Rachel with her husband there at his mother’s
house in Harrodsburg. There was every reason why they should have
prospered in their love together, but Lewis Robards proved to be of an
insanely jealous disposition. In the very unpleasant scenes to which the
jealousy of Robards subjected Rachel, her part was taken by all the
members of the Robards household. She was then only eighteen. Her
brother, Samuel, was despatched to bring her home, which he did much to
the regret of Mrs. Robards who held a deep affection for Rachel and who
never at any time blamed her for the son’s fiery outbursts. No sooner
had she gone than Robards wanted her back again and made all manner of
promises to persuade her to return.

While Rachel suffered this sorrow her father was killed mysteriously in
the woods, and her presence at home was a bulwark to the bereaved
family. But this was not for long.

John Overton, a young law student who resided in Mrs. Robards’ Kentucky
home, planned to come to Tennessee to open a law office. He was
prevailed upon to try to bring about a reconciliation. When he arrived
in Nashville he took a room at Mrs. Donelson’s and was successful in
persuading Rachel to make a new trial with Robards. In due time Robards
arrived and was welcomed by the entire family. It was not long, though,
before jealousy again manifested itself. This time it was Andrew Jackson
of whom he was jealous.

Jackson had come out from North Carolina with a commission to be
prosecuting attorney for the Mero District. He, with Mr. Overton,
occupied one of the smaller cabins at Mrs. Donelson’s. The unpleasant
scenes to which Rachel was subjected by her husband’s jealousy roused a
just indignation in the breast of the young prosecuting attorney. Mr.
Overton suggested that they move their boarding place, which they did,
going to Manskers, near the boundary between Davidson and Sumner
Counties. This also was a group of log houses close together for common
protection. But Robards was still very unhappy, and finally he decided
to go back to Kentucky, much to the relief of all. Jackson did not move
back to the Donelson home but continued to live at Manskers. He had the
highest ideals of womanhood, and he did not wish for any act on his part
to cast the slightest shadow on the bereft Rachel.

It is unnecessary in this story of Rachel to go into the history of
Andrew Jackson before he came to Tennessee, further than to say that his
veneration for womanhood originated with his feeling for his mother.
Before leaving for Charleston on an errand of mercy, nursing soldiers
(an errand in which she lost her life), she committed to writing and
left with Andrew one of the most impressive codes of conduct ever
written. He kept these last words of his mother and accepted them as the
credo of his life. His reverence for his mother was evidenced by the
numerous times he referred to her precepts of morals and honor.

To feel that any woman was mistreated filled Andrew Jackson’s soul with
indignation. When he saw how unhappy Rachel’s beautiful eyes looked he
could hardly contain himself. Then Mr. Robards let it be known that he
was coming to force Rachel to return to Kentucky with him. This she said
she would never do. The family thought it best for her to go on a visit
to relatives in Natchez, Mississippi. Col. Stark, a friend, was going to
New Orleans on business, taking his wife and two daughters with him. It
was arranged that Rachel should go with them as far as Natchez. Col.
Stark asked Andrew Jackson to accompany them because he was so well
known as an Indian fighter. After leaving Rachel at Natchez, Jackson
went on with Col. Stark, making some investments for himself in
Mississippi. While these events transpired, the wheel of fortune was
turning in another quarter.

Mr. Overton made a visit to Kentucky and again stopped at Mrs. Robards’
home. While he was there Mrs. Robards had a letter from her son, Lewis,
then in Virginia, telling her that a divorce had been granted by the
Virginia legislature. When Mr. Overton returned to Tennessee he took the
joyful news straight to Mrs. Donelson. She inquired where he got the
information, and he replied: “From his mother, who read a letter from
her son to that effect.”

    [Illustration: Hall and Stairway in the Hermitage
    The entrance hall at the Hermitage]

When Mr. Jackson was told of this by Mr. Overton it was natural that he
as well as everyone else should believe it. The Virginia legislature had
indeed granted the divorce, but Robards failed to record it. Some have
believed that he did this purposely. Anyway, Mr. Jackson went as soon as
possible to tell Rachel that she was a free woman and that he wanted to
marry her. After a short time they were married there in Natchez at the
home of her relatives, the Greens. Mr. Jackson had secured the “Betsy
Jane Trotter,” the same boat that brought Rachel down the river with the
Stark girls. It was made ready for the honeymoon, and on it the newly
married couple returned to Nashville. They lived first at Mrs.
Donelson’s, later at a place called Poplar Grove, then at Hunters’ Hill
where they were most happy.

Rachel felt a great pride in all the honors heaped upon her husband. He
became the first citizen of Tennessee. He gave the state its lovely
Indian name. He was made a member of the State Supreme Court. He was
sent to the United States Senate. In that period Rachel probably enjoyed
the glamor of public life, but that happy enthusiasm was short lived.

After two years Mr. Overton arrived at Hunters’ Hill with the news that
the divorce had never been recorded; whereupon Rachel and Andrew were
immediately remarried. Everyone knew that both were entirely innocent of
having done anything wrong. Yet this super legal technicality was used
by Jackson’s political enemies against him, even to the extent that in
the presidential campaign certain pamphlets distributed by the Adams
adherents referred to Rachel as an adulteress; and it was the direct
cause of the duel in which Jackson killed Charles Dickinson. Through it
all Jackson tried to shield Rachel from the calumnies of idle gossips
and political foes; but, possessed of an acute understanding, she was
aware of it all.

In any study of the Jackson saga one is compelled to the view that the
seemingly small incident of the divorce not being recorded and the
consequent gossip marked a transition in Rachel. The gentle
sprightliness of her radiant nature gave ground before those “Slings and
arrows of outrageous fortune,” and a richer but more restrained
sweetness emerged, in which she was drawn more closely to her husband
and her God.

And, too, her sadness was quickened by days and months of waiting at
home while her Andrew journeyed to wars and the exciting scenes of the
political forum. Truly, none but the lonely heart may appreciate the
anguish of those long separations. Rachel’s letters to Andrew Jackson
may contain an occasional misspelled word, but they are eloquent in
expressing an all consuming devotion welling from a heart heavy with
loneliness. Witness this as an example:

  “_... you have Been absent monthes at a tim ... you (could) always
  tell when you would be at home but now ... nothing on Erth can give me
  aney pleasure now But your Letters. I reade them with the tanderness
  and affection not to be expresst with my pen ... as often as you find
  a Leasure moment from Every Public business spend that with me as
  often as I am present with you ... (May God) in time of dainger send a
  kind guardian angel to guard your sleepe-ing hours ... if my prayers
  and tears Can avail you will be well...._”

Shortly following the news of the flaw in the divorce, financial losses
came to Andrew Jackson, on account of which he sold the happy Hunters’
Hill home and bought the Hermitage tract. There Andrew and Rachel
started life anew on a reduced scale. The original Hermitage into which
they moved was a large block house with an ell and surrounding cabins.
It was there that Aaron Burr paid a visit in 1805. And there also in the
year 1809 a new light came into their lives.

Andrew and Rachel adopted a son. The author of this paper asked Mrs. J.
C. Symmes, a granddaughter of Andrew Jackson, Jr., to write to her what
has been handed down in the family as the true story of how the adoption
took place. An extract from Mrs. Symmes’ letter is fully descriptive,
and it is quoted as follows:

  “_... They (Andrew and Rachel) were happy in each other, but there was
  no child in the house. No little one to call their very own. Rachel
  had seven brothers. One, the youngest, the seventh son, Severn
  Donelson by name, had always been her favorite. She had more or less
  mothered him. At this time he was living with his wife and family on
  their plantation about a mile or more distant, located back of where
  the recent ‘Old Soldiers Home’ was located. One morning in 1809 the
  old slave servant, (not ‘Uncle Alfred’) came into their room early at
  the break of day, as was his custom, to make the fire in the spacious
  fireplace. As he puffed and blew the embers into flame, he said,
  ‘Marse Andrew, Marse Severn Donelson and Miss Betsy done had twin boys
  borned last night!’ Andrew Jackson roused up as if he had received an
  electric shock! ‘What,’ he said, ‘twin boys!’ Turning to Rachel he
  said, ‘Dear, we must have one of those boys!’_”

  “_No time was wasted. A call to battle could not have been more
  urgent! After a hasty breakfast the carriage was at the door, and the
  buoyant couple filled with a great longing and a prayer in their
  hearts hastened to the home of Severn Donelson. Sure enough there were
  the two tiny boys!_”

  “_Just what was said is unknown. But in the light of the mother’s
  delicate health, and the father’s great love for his sister, Rachel,
  and their admiration and respect for Andrew Jackson, they consented. A
  blue ribbon was tied around the wrist of the one of their choice, and
  with great pride he was named Andrew Jackson, Jr. The parents asked
  that Jackson suggest a name for the other little boy. He therefore
  named him Thomas Jefferson Donelson.... After three days they returned
  to the home of Severn and Elizabeth Donelson to receive their son,
  brought him home and enthroned him in their hearts._”

  “_The Legislature was in session at this time in Nashville, Tennessee.
  Andrew Jackson went immediately and had all legal papers drawn up and
  signed—legally changing his adopted son’s name from ‘Donelson’ to
  ‘Andrew Jackson, Jr.,’ thus making him his son and heir...._”

The fact of the success of the adoption is attested in all of the
correspondence between Andrew and Rachel, which developed while General
Jackson traveled far afield as public service made greater demands upon
him. Andrew, Junior, was truly a Godsend to Rachel in those days, and he
grew into a young manhood, clean and strong and dependable. He was only
a boy of ten when the first Hermitage mansion house was built in 1819,
but he became about the most important part of its life in the eyes of
his mother and father. Later, in 1831 after his mother’s death and while
Jackson was President, Andrew, Junior, married the beautiful young Sarah
Yorke of Philadelphia. President Jackson received her as “My Daughter”;
and, some time after, this new daughter served with dignity and grace as
Mistress of the White House.

    [Illustration: The Hermitage church which Andrew Jackson built for
    his “beloved Rachel”]

When the master was at home in 1819 the Hermitage was the scene of
extensive entertaining, and upon the shoulders of Rachel fell the
responsibility of reigning as the gracious mistress. Guests were from
the most distinguished and cultured circles of the United States, and
there were many foreign visitors, notably Lafayette, and the artist,
Earl, who lived several years at the Hermitage very much as a member of
the family. As a woman of high character and as a devoutly devoted wife,
Rachel had not failed to meet the measure of the commanding stature of
her husband. It has been fairly and authoritatively stated on this phase
of her life:

  “_One of the most interesting things about Rachel Jackson is that she
  could hold the chivalrous heart and deep love and devotion to the last
  day of her life; that she could so live that her distinguished husband
  could write her epitaph in words of noble and restrained tenderness
  and grief, through which truth and candor runs like a golden thread in
  a rich tapestry, is undying testimony of the intrinsic worth and
  nobleness of the woman so deeply, so tenderly loved and cherished._”

But, how was Rachel Jackson as a hostess?

A full and complete answer is found in the words of Thomas Hart Benton,
distinguished Tennessean, United States Senator from Missouri, and
frequent guest at the Hermitage:

  “_She had a faculty—a rare one of retaining names and titles in a
  throng of visitors, addressing each one appropriately, and dispensing
  hospitality to all with a cordiality which enhanced its value. No
  bashful youth, or plain old man, whose modesty sat them down at the
  lower end of the table, could escape her cordial attentions any more
  than the titled gentlemen on her right and left. Young persons were
  her delight, and she always had her house filled with them—clever
  young women and clever young men—all calling her affectionately, ‘Aunt
  Rachel.’ I was young then, and was one of that number. I owe it to the
  early recollections and_ _to cherished convictions—in this last notice
  of the Hermitage—to bear this faithful testimony to the memory of its
  long mistress—the loved and honored wife of a great man._”

No true student of Rachel Jackson can escape the impression that a
quality of queenliness in natural grace and dignity hovered about her
and made her not unlike the great Victoria in all social and domestic
qualities.

If no other manifestation of the life and character of this woman were
left to us today, the little Hermitage Church, which was built for her
in 1823, would stand as an everlasting monument to the simple greatness
of her inmost soul. She inspired true things and good things, and the
beauty of her spirit is reflected in every corner that one searches in
the place that was her home. More often than not great deeds of men find
their fountain head in the inspiration welling from the being of a
beloved and cherished woman. Who shall view the epochal career of Andrew
Jackson and gainsay that one sees Rachel, too!

The last chapter of her life was the most trying, but it did not break
her spirit. It was engaged with the bitter campaign in 1828 between
Jackson and Adams for the presidency. Political opponents dragged out
the old divorce question and ridiculed her as an unlettered woman from
the backwoods, totally unsuited to be mistress of the White House. Here
the thought is advanced that these base and purely politically inspired
statements constitute the only basis for the widely accepted version of
Rachel as an ignorant and crude personality, a pure fiction that is
false to its very core. Through all of this Rachel maintained a calm
dignity. She did not like politics, and it was natural that the
bitterness of that memorable campaign should have drawn her closer to
her home and her God. She would have preferred the simplicity and peace
of private life for herself and her husband, but she accepted both the
outrages of the campaign and the final victory with quiet resignation.

On the eve of a victory banquet in Nashville in honor of the newly
elected President, she died peacefully in the bosom of her home. Almost
her last words with her husband had been to exact a promise from him
that he would attend the banquet in spite of her illness, which was not
considered as being serious. She died on December 22, 1828, just
forty-nine years to the day since trustingly she turned her face
Westward on the “Good Ship Adventure.” With the same child-like
confidence, her great and good soul now passed beyond the veil and the
mystery to the eternal home of her Maker. Upon her tomb in the Hermitage
garden is inscribed an epitaph dictated by the stricken heart of Andrew
Jackson:

  “_Here lies the remains of Mrs. Rachel Jackson, wife of President
  Jackson, who died the 22nd of December, 1828, age 61 years. Her face
  was fair, her person pleasing, her temper amiable, her heart kind; she
  delighted in relieving the wants of her fellow creatures, and
  cultivated that divine pleasure by the most liberal and unpretending
  methods; to the poor she was a benefactor; to the rich an example; to
  the wretched a comforter; to the prosperous an ornament; her piety
  went hand in hand with her benevolence, and she thanked her Creator
  for being permitted to do good. A being so gentle and yet so virtuous
  slander might wound, but could not dishonor. Even death when he bore
  her from the arms of her husband could but transport her to the bosom
  of her God._”

    [Illustration: The Jackson tomb in the garden at the Hermitage]

    [Illustration: Plan of the Hermitage garden]



                          Transcriber’s Notes


—Silently corrected a few typos.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
  is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
  _underscores_.





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