Wards of Andrew Jackson

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This is a list of people for whom Andrew Jackson, seventh U.S. president, acted as pater familias or served as a guardian, legal or otherwise. Andrew and Rachel Donelson Jackson had no biological children together. As Tennessee history writer Stanley Horn put it in 1938, "Jackson's friends had a habit of dying, and leaving their orphans to his care." [1] As Jackson biographer Robert V. Remini wrote in 1977, "The list of Jackson's wards is almost endless...new names turn up with fresh examination." [2] There was no comprehensive index of the wards [2] until Rachel Meredith's 2013 master's thesis. Historian Harriet Chappell Owsley commented in 1982, "It would make an interesting study to follow each of Jackson's wards by means of their correspondence with him but this would require a book instead of an article as the correspondence is voluminous." [3] (Owsley was writing about A. J. Donelson, who has since been the subject of a full-length book; Donelson was Jackson's private secretary during his presidency and was himself a vice-presidential candidate on the Know-Nothing ticket in 1856.) Part of the reason the wards are such a presence in his correspondence, according to historian Mark R. Cheathem, is that "Much of Jackson's adult life was spent managing his nephews and adopted son." [4]

Contents

Connections to blood relatives, extended periodically by marriage, were source of political and social power in the antebellum U.S. south. Jackson, through his kinship network, including the nephews and wards, led one of the major families competing for control over Tennessee politics in the 1810s through the 1830s. [5] According to a study of Irish-American traders (like Jackson) working in colonial-era Mississippi River valley (like Jackson), "...after this first wave of migrants established themselves along the Gulf Coast, it was not uncommon for them to send for extended kin to join their firms. Nephews...who would not have inherited family estates...were a specific target of such encouragement." [6] To some extent Jackson created a household out of "self-selected kin...young men whom Jackson collected...whom he put to work promoting his and their careers at once." [7]

Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States, 1846 lithograph (LCCN2009633803) Andrew Jackson, 7th president of the United States - on stone by A. Newsam ; P.S. Duval, Lith. Philada. LCCN2009633803.jpg
Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States, 1846 lithograph (LCCN2009633803)

Some of Jackson's wards would have lived at Hunter's Hill, and others would have grown up at what is now called the "Log Hermitage," which was originally a two-story blockhouse and was later converted for use as a slave cabin. [8]

B

Col. Edward George Washington Butler (1800-1888) Col. Edward George Washington Butler.jpg
Col. Edward George Washington Butler (1800–1888)
Robert Butler (born Dec. 25, 1786), served as an adjutant general and Jackson's chief of staff in the War of 1812 Adjutant General Robert Butler, General Andrew Jackson's Chief of Staff in the War of 1812.jpg
Robert Butler (born Dec. 25, 1786), served as an adjutant general and Jackson's chief of staff in the War of 1812

C

D

Andrew Jackson Donelson (1799-1871) Andrew Jackson Donelson (1799-1871).jpg
Andrew Jackson Donelson (1799–1871)
Major General (CSA) Daniel Smith Donelson (1801-1863) Daniel Smith Donelson.jpg
Major General (CSA) Daniel Smith Donelson (1801–1863)

E

H

Stockley Donelson Hays (1788-1831), an important nephew who married a ward Stockley Donelson Hays (1788-1831) Stokley S. D. Hays miniature owned Henry Hays circa 1946.jpg
Stockley Donelson Hays (1788–1831), an important nephew who married a ward
Andrew Jackson Hutchings (1815-1841) John Hutchings Jr. (1851-1841) from Hermitage (Tennessee) collection.jpg
Andrew Jackson Hutchings (1815–1841)

J

Andrew Jackson Jr. (1808-1865) Andrew Jackson, Jr., adopted son of Andrew Jackson.jpg
Andrew Jackson Jr. (1808–1865)

K

L

M

S

T

W

See also

References

  1. Horn (1938), p. 122.
  2. 1 2 Remini (1977), p. 474 n. 6.
  3. Owsley (1982), p. 125.
  4. Cheathem, Mark R. (2017-11-29). "10 Books That Influenced Andrew Jackson, Southerner". Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, and Politics. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
  5. Cheathem (2011), p. 3.
  6. Lee (2018), p. 279.
  7. Burstein, Andrew (2003). The Passions of Andrew Jackson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 137, 139. ISBN   978-0-3754-1428-2. LCCN   2002016258. OCLC   49385944.
  8. Meredith (1977), pp. 27–28.
  9. 1 2 3 Meredith (2013), p. 79–93.
  10. 1 2 3 Hickey (1976), p. 366.
  11. Plater (2015), pp. 3, 12.
  12. Plater (2015), p. 14.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Old Louisiana plantation homes and family trees, by Herman de Bachelle ́Seebold ... v.2". HathiTrust. p. 58. Retrieved 2025-01-23.
  14. Hickey (1976), pp. 369–370.
  15. Plater (2015), p. 39.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Remini (1977), p. 160.
  17. "Treaty with the Chickasaw, 1818". treaties.okstate.edu. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
  18. "Treaty with the Chickasaw, 1805". treaties.okstate.edu. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
  19. 1 2 3 Meredith (2013), pp. 98–99.
  20. "Micajah Green Lewis death in a duel". The Tennessee Gazette and Metro-District Advertiser. 1805-03-20. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  21. "Where exactly is the famous Dueling Oak?". NOLA.com. 2014-06-02. Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  22. Meredith (2017), pp. 49–55.
  23. 1 2 Meredith (1977), pp. 46–49.
  24. Meredith (1977), pp. 55–60.
  25. Meredith (2013), p. 70–71.
  26. 1 2 Meredith (2013), pp. 68–69.
  27. Goodpasture, Albert V. (1921). "The Boyhood of President Polk". Tennessee Historical Magazine. 7 (1): 36–50. ISSN   2333-9012. JSTOR   42637461.
  28. 1 2 3 Remini (1977), p. 161.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 Meredith (2013), pp. 71–72.
  30. "Historic Madison; the story of Jackson and Madison County, Tennessee, from the prehistoric moundbuilders to 1917, by Emma Inman Williams; a contribution ..." HathiTrust. p. 100. Retrieved 2025-02-25.
  31. (October 2011). Slavery, Kinship, and Andrew Jackson's Presidential Campaign of 1828 (PDF). Southern Historical Association Annual Meeting. jacksonianamerica.com. p. 13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-08-22. Retrieved 2025-02-16.  Lock-green.svg
  32. "Public Meeting". Kentucky Gazette. 1835-07-18. p. 1. Retrieved 2025-03-26.
  33. Cheathem (2014), p. 49.
  34. 1 2 Meredith (2013), pp. 74–75.
  35. USMA (1918). List of cadets, United States Military Academy, from its origin till September 1, 1917. West Point, New York: United States Military Academy Printing Office. p. 39.
  36. Meredith (2013), pp. 72–74.
  37. "The Hays Family, Chapter IV". The Jackson Sun. 1944-02-18. p. 10. Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  38. Meredith (1977), pp. 61–68.
  39. Meredith (2013), pp. 32–42.
  40. Meredith (2013), p. 47.
  41. Remini (1977), p. 317.
  42. "Letter from Octavia Van Dorn Sulivane to her sister, Jane Van Dorn Vertner, February 5, 1863" (PDF). milleralbum.com.
  43. 1 2 Meredith (2013), p. 5.
  44. Meredith (2013), pp. 93–94.
  45. 1 2 Meredith (2013), pp. 69–70.
  46. "Raw Cotton". Republican Banner. 1853-08-24. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-04-02.
  47. "5792. Bennett Smith – SOME OF THE EARLIEST PEOPLE IN RUTHERFORD COUNTY BY DATE OF THEIR BIRTH PRIOR TO 1800" (PDF). p. 240.
  48. Harber, Susan. "Smith made his mark on primitive Rutherford County – Rutherford County Tennessee Historical Society". Rutherford County Historical Society. Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  49. "Men of Other Days". Nashville Banner. 1884-12-23. p. 2. Retrieved 2025-04-02.
  50. Meredith (2013), pp. 99–100.
  51. Meredith (2013), pp. 94–96.

Sources

Further reading