In any study of the Jackson saga one is compelled to the view that the seemingly small incident of the divorce not being recorded and the consequent gossip marked a transition in Rachel. The gentle sprightliness of her radiant nature gave ground before those “Slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” and a richer but more restrained sweetness emerged, in which she was drawn more closely to her husband and her God.
And, too, her sadness was quickened by days and months of waiting at home while her Andrew journeyed to wars and the exciting scenes of the political forum. Truly, none but the lonely heart may appreciate the anguish of those long separations. Rachel’s letters to Andrew Jackson may contain an occasional misspelled word, but they are eloquent in expressing an all consuming devotion welling from a heart heavy with loneliness. Witness this as an example:
“... you have Been absent monthes at a tim ... you (could) always tell when you would be at home but now ... nothing on Erth can give me aney pleasure now But your Letters. I reade them with the tanderness and affection not to be expresst with my pen ... as often as you find a Leasure moment from Every Public business spend that with me as often as I am present with you ... (May God) in time of dainger send a kind guardian angel to guard your sleepe-ing hours ... if my prayers and tears Can avail you will be well....”
Shortly following the news of the flaw in the divorce, financial losses came to Andrew Jackson, on account of which he sold the happy Hunters’ Hill home and bought the Hermitage tract. There Andrew and Rachel started life anew on a reduced scale. The original Hermitage into which they moved was a large block house with an ell and surrounding cabins. It was there that Aaron Burr paid a visit in 1805. And there also in the year 1809 a new light came into their lives.
Andrew and Rachel adopted a son. The author of this paper asked Mrs. J. C. Symmes, a granddaughter of Andrew Jackson, Jr., to write to her what has been handed down in the family as the true story of how the adoption took place. An extract from Mrs. Symmes’ letter is fully descriptive, and it is quoted as follows:
“... They (Andrew and Rachel) were happy in each other, but there was no child in the house. No little one to call their very own. Rachel had seven brothers. One, the youngest, the seventh son, Severn Donelson by name, had always been her favorite. She had more or less mothered him. At this time he was living with his wife and family on their plantation about a mile or more distant, located back of where the recent ‘Old Soldiers Home’ was located. One morning in 1809 the old slave servant, (not ‘Uncle Alfred’) came into their room early at the break of day, as was his custom, to make the fire in the spacious fireplace. As he puffed and blew the embers into flame, he said, ‘Marse Andrew, Marse Severn Donelson and Miss Betsy done had twin boys borned last night!’ Andrew Jackson roused up as if he had received an electric shock! ‘What,’ he said, ‘twin boys!’ Turning to Rachel he said, ‘Dear, we must have one of those boys!’”
“No time was wasted. A call to battle could not have been more urgent! After a hasty breakfast the carriage was at the door, and the buoyant couple filled with a great longing and a prayer in their hearts hastened to the home of Severn Donelson. Sure enough there were the two tiny boys!”
“Just what was said is unknown. But in the light of the mother’s delicate health, and the father’s great love for his sister, Rachel, and their admiration and respect for Andrew Jackson, they consented. A blue ribbon was tied around the wrist of the one of their choice, and with great pride he was named Andrew Jackson, Jr. The parents asked that Jackson suggest a name for the other little boy. He therefore named him Thomas Jefferson Donelson.... After three days they returned to the home of Severn and Elizabeth Donelson to receive their son, brought him home and enthroned him in their hearts.”
“The Legislature was in session at this time in Nashville, Tennessee. Andrew Jackson went immediately and had all legal papers drawn up and signed—legally changing his adopted son’s name from ‘Donelson’ to ‘Andrew Jackson, Jr.,’ thus making him his son and heir....”
The fact of the success of the adoption is attested in all of the correspondence between Andrew and Rachel, which developed while General Jackson traveled far afield as public service made greater demands upon him. Andrew, Junior, was truly a Godsend to Rachel in those days, and he grew into a young manhood, clean and strong and dependable. He was only a boy of ten when the first Hermitage mansion house was built in 1819, but he became about the most important part of its life in the eyes of his mother and father. Later, in 1831 after his mother’s death and while Jackson was President, Andrew, Junior, married the beautiful young Sarah Yorke of Philadelphia. President Jackson received her as “My Daughter”; and, some time after, this new daughter served with dignity and grace as Mistress of the White House.
The Hermitage church which Andrew Jackson built for his “beloved Rachel”
When the master was at home in 1819 the Hermitage was the scene of extensive entertaining, and upon the shoulders of Rachel fell the responsibility of reigning as the gracious mistress. Guests were from the most distinguished and cultured circles of the United States, and there were many foreign visitors, notably Lafayette, and the artist, Earl, who lived several years at the Hermitage very much as a member of the family. As a woman of high character and as a devoutly devoted wife, Rachel had not failed to meet the measure of the commanding stature of her husband. It has been fairly and authoritatively stated on this phase of her life: