Rachel Jackson

Rachel Donelson was born near the Banister River, about ten miles from Chatham, Virginia, in Pittsylvania County on June 15, 1767. With her family, she moved to Tennessee at the age of 12. Her father led about 600 people from Fort Patrick Henry, in Northeast Tennessee, to Fort Nashborough, down the Cumberland River. The Donelson family were among the first white settlers in Tennessee. == Appearance and personality ==

Rachel attracted much attention from suitors because she was very beautiful as a young woman, described by a contemporary as having "lustrous black eyes, dark glossy hair, full red lips, brunette complexion, though of brilliant coloring, [and] a sweet oval face rippling with smiles and dimples." Later in life, her country manners and full figure were severely in contrast with Jackson's tall, spindly form and developed genteel manners. However, her love for her husband was unmistakable: she languished when he was away for politics, fretted when he was away at war, and doted on him when he was at home. Unlike Jackson, Rachel never liked being in the spotlight of events. She would consistently warn her husband not to let his political accomplishments rule him; for example, after Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans, she warned Jackson that his subsequent popularity (on the scope of George Washington) would tempt him to value his glory over his own family. She was a Presbyterian. ==First marriage==

Rachel Donelson's first marriage to Captain Lewis Robards of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, a landowner and speculator, was not happy, and the two separated in 1790. Believing that her husband would file a petition for divorce, she returned to the Donelson family home. In contrast, Ann Toplovich, executive director of the Tennessee Historical Society, writes that Rachel Donelson Robards knowingly left her husband for Andrew Jackson in late 1789, eloping to Spanish-controlled Natchez. == Relationship with Andrew Jackson ==

by Ralph E. W. Earl When Andrew Jackson migrated to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1788, he boarded with Rachel Stockley Donelson, the mother of Rachel Donelson Robards. The two became close, and shortly after, they married in Natchez, Mississippi. Rachel believed that her husband had obtained a divorce, During the process of Rachel and Robards's divorce, Kentucky became a state instead of a territory of Virginia, and North Carolina turned over management of the territory including Tennessee to the federal government. Ann Toplovich of the Tennessee Historical Society argues that the above narrative, of unintentional bigamy and unintentional adultery, has concealed the fact of Rachel's agency and exercise of self-determination, and doesn't "give this strong woman credit for choosing a better husband". Toplovich explains that this narrative was concocted during Andrew Jackson's candidacy for president in the 1828 election: in order to "combat the attacks on Jackson’s character and Rachel’s virtue, the Jackson campaign formed the Nashville Committee [...][which] published a story with a new timeline and circumstances of the Jackson marriage — the alternative facts of the Jackson campaign were that Rachel thought she was already divorced when she joined her fate to Andrew Jackson in 1791." == Children ==

Although the Jacksons never had biological children, they adopted her nephew in 1809 and named him Andrew Jackson Jr. Lyncoya was one of three Indigenous children brought to live at the Hermitage during the Creek War; Lyncoya, Theodore, and Charley were characterized as "pets" for the white adoptees and wards who lived there. Lyncoya was educated along with Andrew Jr., and Jackson had aspirations of sending him to West Point, as well. Political circumstances made that impossible, and he instead trained as a saddle maker in Nashville. He died of tuberculosis on June 1, 1828. Around 1817 the Jacksons adopted Andrew Jackson Hutchings who was the grandson of Rachel's sister and the son of Jackson's slave-trading partner John Hutchings. He attended school with Andrew Jr. and Lyncoya. He then attended colleges in Washington and Virginia while Jackson was president. In 1833, he married Mary Coffee, daughter of Jackson's friend John Coffee, and moved to Alabama. Hutchings died in 1841. Andrew Jackson served as the guardian for the children of Captain Edward Butler, Adjutant General and Inspector General of the United States Army from July 1793 until May 1794, and the children of Rachel's brother Samuel Donelson's son. These children did not live with the Jacksons full time. Andrew Jackson Donelson, son of Rachel's brother Samuel, became Jackson's protégé, and served as personal secretary to Jackson during his presidency. == Election of 1828 and death==

According to Toplovich, John Quincy Adams' presidential campaigns targeted Jackson's "passion and lack of self-control" in both 1824 and 1828, "making it central to the argument that he would devastate the integrity of the Republic and its institutions." Adding to her stress, in 1828, Lyncoya Jackson died at the Hermitage. Jackson always blamed his political enemies for her death. "May God Almighty forgive her murderers", Jackson swore at her funeral, "I never can." She was buried on the grounds at the Hermitage wearing the white dress and shoes she had bought for the inaugural ball. Her epitaph, written by John Eaton, who would later become involved in the Peggy Eaton scandal during the Jackson Administration, reads: "A being so gentle and so virtuous slander might wound, but could not dishonor." ==Memorials==

The Rachel Jackson State Office Building, in Nashville, Tennessee, built in 1985, was named for her. ==Popular culture depictions==

Rachel Jackson was the title character of a 1951 historical novel by Irving Stone, ''The President's Lady, which told the story of her life with Andrew Jackson. In 1953, the novel was made into a film of the same name starring Susan Hayward and Charlton Heston as the Jacksons. In the 1936 film The Gorgeous Hussy (a fictionalized biography of Peggy Eaton), Rachel Jackson was portrayed by Beulah Bondi, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. In December 1956, she was portrayed by Maureen Stapleton in the Studio One'' episode "Rachel". She also appears as a character in the stage musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, which includes multiple jokes about bigamy. ==See also==