Mrs. Jackson was a noble woman, and abundantly blessed with superior sense. She was a good manager, a kind mistress, always directing the servants, and taking care of the estate in her husband’s frequent absences, and withal a generous and hospitable neighbor.
She had a great many nieces and nephews, some of whom were nearly all the time staying with her. She was very lively in her manners, well knowing how to tell stories, and amuse the young people of the neighborhood, who were much attached to her, all calling her affectionately Aunt Rachel, as her nieces and nephews did.
About the year 1804, General Jackson fixed his residence upon a superb estate of a thousand acres, twelve miles from Nashville, which he named the Hermitage. They lived at first in an ordinary frame building, sufficiently comfortable, but rather small. No lack of space in the house, however, could contract the liberal and hospitable spirit of the master and mistress of the Hermitage. When the Marquis de Lafayette visited Nashville on his return to America, there was an entertainment given in his honor at the Hermitage, to which many ladies and gentlemen were invited. At this banquet, and during his stay in Nashville, General Lafayette was particularly respectful and attentive to Mrs. Jackson; and after his return to France, he never failed, in writing to General Jackson, to send her his compliments.
But the General was the “prince of hospitality,” as one of his neighbors said, “not because he entertained a great many people, but because the poor belated pedlar was as welcome as the President of the United States, and made so much at his ease that he felt as though he had got home.”
One who often visited General Jackson’s house wrote that “it was the resort of friends and acquaintances, and of all strangers visiting the State; and the more agreeable to all from the perfect conformity of Mrs. Jackson’s character to his own. She had the General’s own warm heart, frank manners, and hospitable temper, and no two persons could have been better suited to each other, lived more happily together, or made a house more attractive to visitors. She was always doing kind things in the kindest manner. No bashful youth or plain old man, whose modesty set them down at the lower end of the table, could escape her cordial attention, any more than the titled gentlemen at her right and left.”
She had no children of her own, and it was a source of regret to both; but a fortunate circumstance threw a little child across her pathway, and she gladly took the babe to her home and heart. Her brother had twin boys born to him, and wishing to help her sister in a care which was so great, took one of them to the Hermitage when it was but a few days old.
The General soon became extremely attached to the little guest, and adopted him, giving him his own name, and treating him from that time with unremitting kindness and affection, as if he were indeed his only son. A traveller, who arrived at the Hermitage one wet, chilly evening in February, says: “I came upon General Jackson in the twilight, sitting alone before the fire, a lamb and a child between his knees. Seeing me, he called a servant to remove the two innocents to another room, and said that the child had cried because the lamb was out in the cold, and begged him to bring it in, which he had done to please the child—his adopted son, then not two years old.” This son, Andrew Jackson, jr., was the sole heir of the General’s large estate. His widow resides yet at the Hermitage, at the request of the State of Tennessee, which purchased the homestead at the close of the war.
A few days after the battle of New Orleans, Mrs. Jackson arrived in that city with a party of Tennesseeans, bringing with her the little Andrew, then about seven years old. She participated in the attentions that were showered upon the General, who showed her, himself, the most marked respect and deference. The ladies of New Orleans presented her with a valuable and beautiful set of topaz jewelry. In her portrait, at the Hermitage, Mrs. Jackson wears the dress which she appeared in at the grand ball given in New Orleans, in honor of the General. It is white satin, ornamented with lace, and jewelry of pearls. This portrait was painted by Earl, an artist who married a niece of Mrs. Jackson’s and resided many years in General Jackson’s family.
In 1816 Mrs. Jackson joined the church, while attending the ministry of the Rev. Gideon Blackburn, a Presbyterian divine, whom she ever after regarded with the deepest veneration. To gratify her, General Jackson built a little church on the estate, a quarter of a mile from the house. It was plain and simple, and small, but very dear to Mrs. Jackson, who spent in it many happy hours. It was a blessing to the neighbors, who found it convenient and pleasant to send their children to Sunday-school, and to attend church themselves when it was impossible to go farther.
A new house was built during the summer of 1819. It was erected expressly for Mrs. Jackson, and everything regarding it was done exactly in accordance with her wishes. Major Lewis, who visited the site, recommended a more elevated position to the General. “No, Major,” said he, “Mrs. Jackson chose this spot, and she shall have her wish. I am going to build this house for her; I don’t expect to live in it myself.” He was at the time very feeble and exhausted from the severe illness succeeding his return from the Seminole war, and was, as he supposed, not long for this world.