One of the hitherto unpublished letters of the Hermitage collection, written at Washington April 14, 1835, by General Jackson, shows his interest in the furnishings, as well as his tender solicitude for Sarah York and the children:
“My dear Sarah: When you get a little rested from your journey make enquiry about the bedsteads and let me know at what the eight can be procured, of good plain mahogany.... I shall be anxious to hear from you, how my dear little Rachel is, as well as yourself and Andrew—I have great solicitude about my dear little Rachel. Keep the dear little ones for me—present me kindly to Mr. & Mrs. Wetherall and accept a father’s prayers for your health and happiness. We all salute thee kindly. Andrew Jackson.”
Sarah busied herself with shopping and soon she had purchased a splendid new outfit for the Hermitage. The bill, dated January 2, 1836 (Correspondence of Andrew Jackson, Vol. V.) included:
6 Mahogany Bedsteads, including the packing at 40, $240; 24 Fancy Chairs cain seat rich blue and gold at 2.50, $60; 4 Curtins, Crimson Silk lined with white Silk and full mounted at 75, $300; box $1, $301; 7 pair Tongs and Shovel polished steel pairs at 4.50, $31.50; 1 pair Do large, $75.50; 1 pair Chamber Candlesticks plated, $6; 1 Brass Fender, best, $13, box $1, $14; 1 Wardrobe Black and ornamented $50; 2 Wash Stands marble tops at $18, $36; 2 Do small at $5; $10; 2 large size Bureaus at $30, $60; 2 Center Tables at $30, $60; 8 Packing Boxes, $16.50; 5 Wire Fenders with Knobs, at $4.50, $22.50; 1 Nurcery Fender, $6.50; Box, $1.75; 2 pair Brass Andirons at $6, $12; 1 pair Brass Andirons, $6.50; 2 pairs Brass Andirons at $7, $14; 3 Setts of fine paper hanging Views Telemechus at $40, $120; 150 yards Super Nankeen Matting at .50, $75; 20 Yards Brussels 4-4 Stair Carpeting Crimson Damask Center with net Border at $2.87½, $57.50; 1 mahogany Bedstead packed, $40; 1 Mahogany Bedstead packed very fine, $60; 1 Blind large Size, $10; 1 pair Blinds to match, $10; 1 doz. 40 inch Stair rods $6.50; Box, $1.75. The grand total, including insurance on the shipments made on the boats, Bonnaffe, Mile, and Jno Sergeant, amounted to $1,364.50.
There was trouble about the wall paper, and again General Jackson’s friend, Col. Armstrong, came to the rescue. He wrote, on May 27, 1836 (Bassett’s Correspondence, Vol. V.):
“Dear Genl. I send you inclosed a note addressed to me by the Mess. Yeateman after a conversation I had with them this morning. They have always been ready and willing to do all in their power to get back the paper from those who purchased it. When I call’d on Campbell I expected to get the paper, that night he cut it and put it on the Walls.
“Williams is not at home. I saw Shelly who will do nothing in it, he is not disposed to restore it. Williams dare not, as his wife claims it, so I call’d on the Mess. Yeateman and stated the facts who willingly proposed to purchase another set....”
There has long been a tradition in Nashville that the old Campbell house, not far from town, on the Lebanon Pike, had paper like that in the Hermitage hall, but it was, evidently, destroyed when the walls were scraped and re-papered. Further details concerning the determined woman who kept the paper have not, at the present writing, come to light.
A bill dated May 30, 1836, shows that Jackson’s merchant and personal friend, Henry Toland, of Philadelphia, arranged for another shipment of paper. This bill includes the items: “3 Views of Telemachus at $29, $87; 7 ps Pannell Paper, at $2.50, $17.50; 7 ps. Bordering, at $3.00; $21; 4 ps. Plain Blue, at .75, $3.” A box cost fifty cents and five per cent was deducted because of the cash payment, making the final amount $122.60. The bill is marked “Received payment fr H Toland, October 25th 1836. Robert Golder, per Jas. Cameron Golder.”
Nancy McClelland, in her monumental work, Historic Wall-Papers, (Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1924) states that “the complete set consisted of 25 strips in colours, and the scenes are constructed on the account of the adventures of Telamachus.” It was manufactured in Paris by Dufour about 1825 and, though rare, was not an exclusive pattern. It is still found on the walls of certain historic homes and in a few private and public collections.
According to the late Mrs. Rachel Jackson Lawrence, daughter of Sarah York and Andrew Jackson, Jr., the Telemachus paper now on the walls of The Hermitage hallway is the third set of its kind purchased by General Jackson. The first, she declared, was put on the walls at the time of the remodelling in 1831 and was burned in the fire of 1834. The second was the one acquired by Mrs. Campbell and the third, which, like the others, is the work of Dufour, was placed on the walls some time after it was ordered in the late spring of 1836.