Rachel Jackson
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.
By NELLIE TREANOR STOKES (Mrs. Walter Stokes)
Copyright 1942
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 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.