Rachel Jackson

by Nellie Treanor Stokes

Nashville, Tennessee,
1942.

Rachel Jackson

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.

Rachel’s parentage was not only substantial but also distinguished. On the paternal side she was the granddaughter of Catherine Davies who was the sister of Rev. Samuel Davies, the eminent Presbyterian Minister who succeeded Jonathan Edwards as President of Princeton University. “Her mother,” quoting from Mary French Caldwell, “came from Accomac County on the Eastern shore of Virginia and the story of her people goes back to the earliest days of the colony.”

For thirty-five years the family of Rachel lived on the Bannister River in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Col. Donelson was a surveyor, the owner and master of a large plantation, and the owner of an iron furnace in the vicinity. He was a vestryman in the Church, and an important member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, Where he held membership in the Trade Committee which dealt with many of the serious and delicate questions of the day between the Colony and the Mother Country. He helped frame and sign the “treasonable protest” adopted in adjourned sessions following dissolution of the Burgesses by order of the Crown. By doing so he may have placed his liberty in jeopardy in the event of a British victory in the subsequent war for independence, in which he served with modest distinction. But most noteworthy was his service by appointment of the Governor, Lord Botetourt, to assist John Stuart in negotiating the treaty of Lochaber with the Cherokee Indians. The report of his superior contains the following reference: “... I arrived here (Lochaber) the 15th where I found the Cherokee Chiefs with their followers ... about a thousand in number.... I had also the pleasure of finding Col. Donelson here; he was exactly punctual to the time appointed.... I beg leave to return to your Lordship my most sincere thanks for having sent a gentleman of Col. Donelson’s Discernment and Probity to assist me.... I beg leave to refer your Lordship to him in every particular....” William Nelson, temporary successor to Lord Botetourt, deceased, wrote to the Crown: “I have by the advice of the Council appointed Col. Donelson to execute the running of the line in May next, as I think he may be confided in....”

The assignment referred to is significant in the development of the epic story of Rachel because it gave to her father an intimate view of and an undying interest in the great undeveloped country lying to the Westward. Mrs. Caldwell has well said: “He had formally accepted the commission to run the line specified in the Treaty of Lochaber and he went out, not as a nomadic hunter or adventurer, but as the official representative of the British Government. He was a man of fifty-two years, mature in judgment and experience and clothed with the authority which his fortune and prominence in colonial affairs had given him....”

We may fairly conclude that it is not surprising that with such parentage and amid the pleasant surroundings of the Bannister plantation Rachel grew in education and understanding far beyond the average for the young women of her day. Many were the advantages afforded her.

When Rachel was born some of the older brothers and sisters were already married. There were slaves to tend the crops, and cloth was woven on the place from cotton and wool grown there. It was a busy, self contained, happy household. So it is not remarkable that the baby Rachel was a happy and contented little girl, racing her pony over the hills with her brothers, and hearing stories from an adoring father of the pomp and circumstance of life at the seat of the government, as well as thrilling tales of the Cherokees. Her mother saw to it that this youngest daughter was taught her lessons of reading and writing, as well as to cook, spin, weave and sew a fine seam, so that when she had a house of her own she could train her servants in the way they should go. An authority says: “She was proficient in the household arts, she played the harpsichord, she danced, was an accomplished horsewoman, and was trained in the little courtesies and graces of life....” She was bright and quick to learn and beautiful to look upon. It did seem that this united household should have lived on there by the smooth flowing Bannister.

Perhaps the prospect of more room for the ever growing family, and a first hand knowledge of the beauty and richness to be found farther west tempted Col. Donelson and his sons and daughters, some of whom had families of their own, to risk leaving Virginia and move out to what is now Tennessee.

In 1779 Captain James Robertson set out to establish a colony on the banks of the Cumberland at Fort Nashboro, then a part of North Carolina. His friend, Col. John Donelson of Virginia, was asked to bring the families of those venturesome men who had cast their lot with his. He accepted this great responsibility. They were to travel two thousand almost unknown miles by water, as that mode of travel was deemed safer than overland through the forests and over the mountains where only a path marked the way, an impossible task for wagons and women and children. Even so the chosen route was beset with savages, as well as all manner of hindrances to be overcome.