This work was not done without continuous, untiring, and devoted effort on the part of the leading spirits of the Ladies’ Hermitage Association. Their work received national recognition in 1907, when President Theodore Roosevelt, impressed by his visit to the Hermitage, sponsored an act of Congress which provided $5,000 for additional work in repairing and preserving the Hermitage as a national shrine.
Library, or Office.—Among the most interesting of the unpublished collections of Jackson material is that owned by The Ladies’ Hermitage Association. It has been the privilege of the writer to make a detailed study of this material. The library, or office, as it was generally called, contains over four hundred volumes. One of the most striking features of this collection is that such a large portion of it is the work of Jackson’s contemporaries—not only in military and political subjects, but in biography, fiction, and poetry.
There are a number of Sir Walter Scott’s works, including his Life of Napoleon, Tales of My Landlord, and others. There is Henry Fielding’s History of Tom Jones, some volumes of Addison’s Spectator, Dickens’ Oliver Twist, Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Jane Porter’s Scottish Chiefs and Thaddeus of Warsaw, Milton, Shakespeare, and a score of others reflecting lively and varied taste.
The collection shows that it was acquired naturally and gradually, for the purpose of meeting the needs and the interests of the household. There are law books, religious writings, biography, technical books on military subjects, numbers of bound political pamphlets, current magazines, and a few newspapers, as well as the previously mentioned fiction and poetry. There are also various publications on agriculture, cook books, music books, hymnals, and, most delightful of all for the human touch it gives, a baby book published in 1805!
This book, A Treatise on the Diseases of Children, with Directions for the Management of Children from Birth, was published in 1805 in London. It was written by Michael Underwood, M.D., of the Royal College of Physicians, Physician to Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales.
It was, most likely, the most important book at the Hermitage in 1809, when Rachel and Andrew took into their hearts the infant nephew who became their adopted son and heir.
Slaves.—No history of the Hermitage is complete without at least a reference to the slaves who toiled in its fields, attended the thoroughbreds in its stables, or performed duties at “the big house” with well-bred courtesy and ease. Some few live by name, but most of them, like shadows in a brilliantly colored picture, have passed into a hazy, undefined background. Alfred sleeps in a marked grave in the garden, only a few feet from his beloved master. Across the fence, a few feet from the family burying ground, are other unidentified graves—among them, it is said, is that of Gracie, Alfred’s wife.
Andrew Jackson, during the bitter campaign of 1828, was accused of being a negro trader. Nothing could be more absurd to people who understand the conditions under which he lived. He bought slaves and, occasionally, sold them—but slave dealing implies constant trade in negroes for profit and the records do not indicate, at any period of his life, that he deserves the opprobrious term of negro trader.
Among the slaves of the early period of the Jackson household were more than likely George and Moll, who were given to Rachel in 1791, as a part of the property which she inherited in the settlement of her father’s estate. Davidson County court records show that in the same year Andrew Jackson bought a man named Peter and a six-year-old boy, named Aron. In 1793 he bought a negro girl named Peg, about twenty-six years old; a little later a negro girl named Rock, aged about twelve years; and on July 8, 1794, “A negro wench by the name of Hannah and her child called Bett,” for 80 pounds Virginia currency. Hannah rose to an important position in the household. She was, in more ways than one, to be Mrs. Jackson’s right hand—she supervised the poultry, the household, and seemed to be, in addition to these duties, personal maid to her mistress. It was she who nursed Rachel in her last illness.
Hannah passed to Sarah York Jackson, by gift of General Jackson, along with Alfred, Gracie, George Washington, Mary, Augustus, Sarah, and others. (Slave deed—original at Tennessee State Library—dated August 16, 1854—A. Jackson, Jr.)