# John Donelson

John Donelson (1718–1785) was an American frontiersman, ironmaster, politician, city planner, and explorer. After founding and operating what became Washington Iron Furnace in Franklin County, Virginia for several years, he moved with his family to Middle Tennessee which was on the developing frontier. There, together with James Robertson, Donelson co-founded the frontier settlement of Fort Nashborough. This later developed as the city of Nashville, Tennessee.
Donelson and his wife Rachel had eleven children, four of them girls. Their tenth was daughter Rachel, whose second husband Andrew Jackson was elected the seventh president of the United States in 1828.

## Career

Donelson served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. From about 1770 to 1779, he operated the Washington Iron Furnace at Rocky Mount, Franklin County, Virginia.
He next moved to the Watauga settlements on the Holston and Watauga rivers in Washington District, North Carolina. They came into conflict with the Overhill Cherokee on the far side of the Appalachians. Because of armed conflict and flooding in his settlement, Donelson temporarily moved his family to safer areas in Kentucky.
Along with James Robertson who traveled the overland route, Donelson and a large number of pioneers traveled down the Tennessee and other rivers in excess of 1,000 miles to Middle Tennessee, where they co-founded Fort Nashborough, in 1780. This eventually developed as the city of Nashville, Tennessee. A collection of his diaries are kept in Cleveland Hall, in Nashville.
Immediately prior to his death, Donelson was serving as a U.S. Indian commissioner "traveling to the Southeastern nations, including the towns of the Chickamauga Cherokees, endeavoring to negotiate a peace that would deliver the Cumberland settlements from the ongoing siege."

## Personal life

Donelson married Rachel (née Stockley) (1730–1801) in 1744. They had eleven children, including four daughters who married well and had descendants who became prominent military men and politicians.
Youngest daughter Rachel first married Lewis Robards in 1787; she later married Andrew Jackson of Tennessee. He was elected president of the United States in 1828. She died in December of that year, shortly before he was inaugurated in January 1829.
Daughter Mary Donelson married Captain John Caffery, and two of their descendants served in national political office.

### Family political legacy

Several of John and Rachel's descendants were elected to political office. Their great-grandson, Donelson Caffery II (1835–1906), served one term as a Louisiana State Senator and two terms as a U.S. Senator from Louisiana. He was elected to that office by the state legislature, as was customary at the time. In 1896 he was the first nominee for president of the "Democratic National Party" but declined the nomination. In 1900, he was nominated to head the presidential ticket of the "National Party" but declined that nomination as well.
The Donelsons' great-great-great grandson, attorney Patrick Thomson Caffery (1932–2013), served one term as a Louisiana State Representative (1964–1968), and two terms as a United States Representative from Louisiana's 3rd congressional district (1969–1973). He retired from Congress to resume the practice of law.

## Death and legacy

Donelson was shot and killed in 1785 by an unknown person on the banks of the Barren River. He was en route to Mansker's Station after a business trip. One Jackson scholar says he was killed "by the Indians"$^{:480}$ and Notable Southern Families states "he was shot from ambush, by an Indian, and killed."
Donelson, Tennessee was named in his honor.

## Descendants

Rachel Stockley Donelson delivered 11 living children. Seven of the Donelson siblings married and started families, producing an average of nine children per family. The descendants tree of John Donelson is notable because in marrying into the family, Andrew Jackson "gained an army of brothers, literally, and together these members of the kinship network created an efficient system that provided profits for all. Few other frontier families would employ family networking quite so effectively, but while their strategies were exceptionally efficient, they were also representative of the types of networking that was going on, usually on a smaller scale." The lands that the Donelsons examined and collected were intended for use by "free, white, propertied citizens," including slave owners, not for the Indigenous people who already lived there.
Andrew Jackson supplemented the "literal army" designation by obtaining appointments to the U.S. Military Academy for his nephews Andrew Jackson Donelson, Daniel Smith Donelson, and Samuel Jackson Hays, his grand-nephew Earl Van Dorn, and his ward Edward G. W. Butler. As an 1859 history told it, "Taking Colonel Donelson as the radix, and tracing out the descendants and connections for the last fifty years, we find, especially in the South and Southwest, the alliance to be extensive and influential in political and military position...The ramifications down to the present day are too numerous and widespread to be inserted in this work." An 1880 history of Tennessee concurred that the legacy of the family was substantial: "[John Donelson's] descendants and connections for nearly three-fourths of a century in the South and Southwest have been extensive and influential both in civil and military affairs."
NOTE: Numbering of John Donelsons gets messy. The subject of this article was technically John Donelson II since his father was a John Donelson; Rachel's brother is often listed as John Donelson II (simply because his less famous grandfather has not been a major figure in histories), but he is here deemed John Donelson III for clarity, and his son is thus John Donelson IV.
1. Alexander "Sandy" Donelson (unmarried, no issue)
2. Mary "Mattie" Donelson m. John Caffery; Caffrey was part of Donelson's expedition on the Adventure. In October 1800, Caffrey advertised that he would soon "descend the river to New Orleans" in boats that were being constructed at Lancaster's saw-mill at the confluence of Caney Fork and the Cumberland River near present-day Carthage, Tennessee. In 1936 a descendant wrote, "Their home was in Natchez, Miss., where John Caffery was engaged in the mercantile business, in the employ of Andrew Jackson."
2.1. John Caffery Jr. m. Catherine Smith; Caffrey served in the Creek War and "killed an Indian" at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend
2.2. Rachel Caffery m. George Walker
2.3. Sarah Caffery m. John Walker
2.3.?. John George Walker
2.4. Eliza Caffery m. Abraham Green
2.5. Mary "Patsy" Caffery m. John Knox
2.5.1. Sarah Knox m. (a) Benjamin Newton, (b) Dr. Arva Wilson, (c) George Washington Sevier Jr.; many descendants of Knox's third marriage in Madison Parish, Louisiana
2.5.1c.1. Mary Catherine Sevier
2.5.1c.2. George Washington Sevier III
2.5.1c.3. Andrew Jackson Sevier
2.5.1c.4. Jennie Vertner Sevier
2.5.1c.5. Eliza Donelson Sevier
2.5.3. William Lucky Knox
2.6. Nancy Caffery m. John Jenkins
2.6.? Donelson Jenkins
2.7. Sophia Caffery m. Peter Aaron Van Dorn
2.7.1. Mary Van Dorn m. John Overton Lacey
2.7.2. Jane Van Dorn m. John David Vertner
2.7.2.1. Daniel Vertner
2.7.2.2. Margaret Dunlop Vertner
2.7.2.3. Aaron Van Dorn Vertner, lieutenant, Confederate States Army; aide to his uncle Gen. Van Dorn and then to General Thomas C. Hindman; killed at Shiloh
2.7.2.4. J. D. Vertner, Mississippi State Senator
2.7.3. Octavia Van Dorn m. (a) Alison Ross, (b) Vans Murray Sulivane
2.6.3a.1. Isaac Allison Ross m. Eugenia Calhoun
2.7.3b.1. Clement Sulivane
2.7.4. Earl Van Dorn m. Caroline Godblod; he was awarded a West Point commission by intervention of Andrew Jackson
2.7.4.1. Olivia Van Dorn, married w four children
2.7.4.2. Earl Van Dorn Jr.
2.7.5. Aaron Van Dorn, an important early cartographer of Death Valley
2.7.6. Mabella Van Dorn; died in childhood; her sister Octavia survived the same illness
2.7.7. Sarah Ross Van Dorn, died as a child
2.7.8. Emily Donelson Van Dorn m. William Trigg Miller; Emily Van Dorn Miller is believed to have written A Soldier's Honor (1902) about her brother Earl Van Dorn's military career
2.7.8.?. Thomas Marshall Miller, attorney general of Mississippi
2.7.9. Jacob Van Dorn, died as a child
2.8. Donelson Caffery m. Lydia Murphy, "wages and expenses" for him listed on a bill of "Aaron Burr in account with Andrew Jackson"; lived in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana in the 1810s; appointed during the Jackson administration and served briefly in 1831 as collector of customs for the district of Teche and inspector of the revenue for the port of Franklin, Louisiana
2.9.1. Donelson Caffery II m. Bethia Richardson; family archive held in special collections at University of North Carolina
2.9.1.1. Donelson Caffrey III
2.9.1.2. Francis "Frank" Caffery
2.9.1.3. Ralph Earl Caffery
2.9.1.3.10. Patrick T. Caffery
2.9.1.4. Gertrude Caffery
2.9.1.5. John Murphy Caffery
2.9.1.6. St. John Liddell "Liddell" Caffrey
2.9.1.7. Bethia Richardson Caffery
2.9.1.8. Charles Smith Caffery, U.S. Army colonel, author of the Caffery family history/genealogy
2.9.1.9. Edward Webster Caffery
2.9.2. Emma Caffery m. Patrick Hardiman Thomson
2.10. Jane Caffery m. Ralph E. W. Earl
2.11. Jefferson Caffery m. Marie Alix Demarest$^{:419}$
2.11.3. Jefferson Jackson Caffery m. Anna Maria Crow
2.11.3.3. Charles Duval Caffery m. Mary Catherine Parkerson
2.11.3.3.1. Jefferson Caffery
3. Catherine Donelson m. Thomas Hutchings; like three of the Donelson brothers and Robert Hays, Hutchings worked as a land surveyor; Hutchings was part of Donelson's expedition on the Adventure
3.1. John Hutchings m. Polly Smith
3.1.1. Andrew Jackson Hutchings m. Mary Coffee [6.7.1]
3.2. Lemuel Hutchings m. Owen
3.3. Christopher Hutchings
3.4. Rachel Donelson Hutchings m. James Smith Rawlings
3.4.1. John Hutchings Rawlings m. Sarah Jane Hays [5.1.1.]
3.4.2. Eliza C. Rawlings
3.4.3. Edwin Rawlings
3.4.4. Jackson C. Rawlings
3.5. Mary Hutchings m. Daniel Small
3.6. Jennie Hutchings
3.7. Elizabeth Hutchings m. Bryant
3.8. Thomas Hutchings II
3.9. Stockley Donelson Hutchings m. Elizabeth Atwood; Stockley D. Hutchings was quartermaster sergeant in Andrew Jackson's Tennessee Volunteers in 1812
3.9.1. Mary Catherine Hutchings
3.9.2. Elizabeth A. Hutchings m. Andrew J. Coffee [6.7.4.]
4. Stockley Donelson m. Elizabeth Glasgow, no issue; described as "among the most prominent land speculators in the region;" in 1805 he was a signatory to a petition protesting the court-martial of Thomas Butler, probably produced at the behest of Andrew Jackson.
5. Jane Donelson m. Robert Hays; Hays founded a settlement called Haysborough; Jane outlived all but one of her siblings
5.1 Stockley Donelson Hays m. Lydia Butler
5.1.1. Sarah Jane Hays m. John Hutchings Rawlings [3.4.1.]
5.1.2. Richard Jackson "Dick" Hays, first mayor of Jackson, Tennessee, prominent judge and lawyer
5.1.2.1. Stokley D. Hays, lawyer
5.1.2.2. [daughter] m. Ross Witherspoon
5.2. Martha Thompson Hays, called Patsy, m. Dr. William E. Butler
5.2.?. Mary Jane Butler
5.3. Samuel Jackson Hays m. Frances Middleton
5.3.?. Robert B. Hays
5.3.?. Middleton Hays
5.3.?. Andrew Jackson Hays m. Elizabeth McLemore Walker
5.3.?.?. James Walker Hays, business manager Memphis Commercial Appeal
5.4. Rachel Hays m. Robert Butler
5.5. Narcissa Hays (unmarried, no issue); as "Aunt Nar," raised her grandnephew Chester George Bond, later a judge; Aunt Nar was said to be a great fisherwoman
5.6 Elizabeth Hays m. Robert I. Chester; R. I. Chester is the namesake of Chester County, Tennessee
6. John Donelson III m. Mary Purnell; Mary was a 16-year-old pregnant newlywed at the time of the Adventure journey; Andrew Jackson called her "Sister Mary" John III reportedly served in the American Revolutionary War, and was one of several brothers and brothers-in-law who was trained as a surveyor
6.1. Chesed Donelson (died in infancy)
6.2. Tabitha Donelson m. George Smith
6.3. Alexander Donelson, called "Sandy," scouted lands on the Tombigbee in 1811, participated in the fight with the Benton brothers in Nashville in September 1813; aide-de-camp to brother-in-law John Coffee; shot in the head and killed at the Battle of Emuckfaw in January 1814
6.4. John Donelson IV m. Eliza Butler; "after engaging in several Indian battles, was appointed Captain of U. S. Rangers by President Madison. He fought under General Jackson in the battle around New Orleans, and at the storming of Pensacola." Jesse Benton alleged that Donelson and John Gordon aided Jackson in a predatory land speculation in Pensacola in 1817–18 in conjunction with Jackson's invasion of Florida.
6.5. Lemuel Donelson m. Eliza White
6.6. Rachel Donelson m. William Eastin, four children
6.6.1 Mary Eastin m. Lucius Junius Polk, eight children
6.6.2. Elizabeth Donelson Eastin m. Samuel Rucker Donelson [10.6.]
6.6.3. John Donelson Eastin
6.6.4. Rachel Jackson Eastin
6.7. Mary Donelson m. John Coffee
6.7.1. Mary Donelson Coffee m. Andrew Jackson Hutchings [3.1.1]
6.7.2. John Donelson Coffee m. Mary Narcissa Brahan; had granddaughters Mary Percy Coffee Long, and Sarah Donelson Coffee, of Memphis
6.7.3. Elizabeth Graves Coffee
6.7.4. Andrew Jackson Coffee m. Elizabeth Hutchings [3.9.2.]
6.7.4.?. Kate Coffee m. Charles McDougal; she kept the Mare Island Lighthouse for 35 years and raised four children there
6.7.5. Alexander Donelson Coffee m. (a) Ann E. Sloss (b). Mrs. Camilla Madding Jones; Coffee was an Alabama cotton plantation, factory owner, and captain in Confederate States Army
6.7.5a.1. Mary Coffee m. (a) Edward A. O'Neal Jr. (b) Campbell
6.7.5a.1.1. Edward O'Neal III
6.7.5b.1. Eliza Coffee
6.7.6. Rachel Jackson Coffee m. A. J. Dyas; the Tennessee State Library and Archives holds the Dyas collection of Coffee family manuscripts
6.7.6.1. Robert Dyas
6.7.6.2. Alex. J. Dyas; lived at Asheville, North Carolina
6.7.6.2.1. Rachel Dyas
6.7.6.2.2. Hammond Dyas
6.7.6.2.3. Alexander J. Dyas
6.7.6.2.4. John Dyas
6.7.7. Katherine Coffee
6.7.8. Emily Coffee
6.7.9. William Coffee m. Virginia Malone; had a grandson, Charles A. Nye of Texas
6.7.10. Joshua Coffee
6.8. William "Billey" Donelson m. (a) Rachel Donelson [10.2], (b) Elizabeth Anderson, (c) Martha Anderson
6.9. Elizabeth Donelson m. John Christmas McLemore, surveyor and land speculator
6.10. Catherine Donelson m. James Glasgow Martin (James Glasgow Martin's mother Elizabeth Glasgow was married first to Stockley Donelson, second to John Anderson, third to John Martin); the Maj. John G. Martin plantation was called Clifton
6.10.1. Elizabeth Anderson Martin m. (a) Meriwether Lewis Randolph, (b) Andrew Jackson Donelson [8.2]; Andrew Jackson appointed Randolph to be secretary of Arkansas Territory
6.10.1a.1. Lewis Jackson Randolph, died in childhood
6.10.2. James Glasgow Martin II m. Mary Donelson [8.3.?. ]
6.10.3. Catherine Donelson Martin
6.10.4. Mary Donelson Martin m. Robert B. Currey
6.10.5. Emily Donelson Martin m. George W. Currey
6.10.6. Rachel Jackson Martin
6.10.7. John Donelson Martin, killed at Shiloh
6.10.7.1. John Donelson Martin
6.10.7.1.1. John Donelson Martin
6.10.8. Andrew Jackson Martin m. Anna Nye
6.11. Chesed Purnell Donelson
6.12. Stockley Donelson m. Phila Ann Lawrence; builders of Cleveland Hall; "family of beautiful daughters"
6.12.1. John Lawrence Donelson
6.12.4. Emily Donelson m. (a) John E. Boddie, (b) William Walton, wrote Autobiography of Emily Donelson Walton
6.13. Emily Tennessee Donelson m. Andrew Jackson Donelson [8.2]
7. William Donelson m. Charity Dickerson; remembered as a "very wealthy man," he lived in the vicinity of Dry Creek and Mansker's Creek; was trained as a surveyor
7.1. Mary Donelson m. Dr. Hamblen
7.2. Severn Donelson
7.3. Jacob Donelson
7.4. Martha Donelson
7.5. Elizabeth Hays Donelson
7.6. Milberry Donelson m. John McGregor
7.6.4. Donelson McGregor, killed at the Battle of Murfreesboro
7.7. Andrew J. Donelson, of Louisiana
7.8. Rachel Donelson
7.9. Alexander S. Donelson
7.10. William Donelson II
7.?. I. D. Donelson, of Mississippi
7.?. Others, married Bartons
8. Samuel Donelson m. Mary "Polly" Smith; Polly Smith's second husband James Sanders and Andrew Jackson did not get along
8.1. John Samuel Donelson, served with Jackson in Creek War, worked as a surveyor, died of illness 1817
8.2. Andrew Jackson Donelson m. (a) Emily Tennessee Donelson [6.13], (b) Elizabeth Anderson Martin Randolph [6.10.1]; Donelson served with Jackson in First Seminole War
8.2a.1. Andrew Jackson Donelson II, attended West Point, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, died of illness in Memphis
8.2a.?. John S. Donelson, "commanded Hickory Rifles" in Confederate States Army, killed battle of Chickamauga
8.2a.2. Mary Emily Donelson m. John Alexander Wilcox; Mary Emily Donelson Wilcox wrote about the Donelson–Jackson family in the 1890s; Wilcox was a Mississippi Congressman; he died of heart trouble during the American Civil War
8.2a.2.1. Andrew Donelson Wilcox
8.2a.2.1.1. Pauline Wilcox m. Burke, wrote Emily Donelson of Tennessee
8.2a.3. John Samuel Donelson
8.2a.4. Rachel Jackson Donelson m. William B. Knox
8.2b.1. Daniel S. Donelson, a Confederate Inspector General during Siege of Vicksburg; murdered in Mississippi in 1864, apparently by bushwackwers
8.2b.2. Martin Donelson
8.2b.3. William Alexander Donelson, murdered in Davidson County in 1900
8.2b.4. Catherine "Katie" Donelson, died at 18 of "inflammation of the brain"
8.2b.5. Vinet Donelson
8.2b.6. Lewis Randolph Donelson
8.2b.7. Rosa Elizabeth Donelson, died in infancy
8.2b.8. Andrew Jackson Donelson
8.3. Daniel Smith Donelson m. Margaret Branch; Major General in Confederate Army
8.3.?. Mary Donelson m. James Glasgow Martin II [6.10.2.]
9. Rachel Donelson m. (a) Lewis Robards, (b) Andrew Jackson
9b.1. Andrew Jackson Jr. [born as 10.4.] m. Sarah Yorke Jackson; Sarah Yorke Jackson's widowed sister Marion Yorke Adams and her three children lived at the Hermitage, Adams staying until her death in 1877
9b.1.1. Rachel Jackson m. Dr. John M. Lawrence, nine children
9b.1.2. Andrew Jackson III m. Amy Rich; colonel in Confederate States Army
9b.1.2.1. Andrew Jackson IV
9b.1.2.2. Albert Marble Jackson
9b.1.3. Thomas Jackson, died in infancy
9b.1.4. Samuel Jackson, lieutenant in Confederate States Army, died from wounds received at Chickamauga
9b.1.5. Robert Jackson, died in infancy
10. Severn Donelson m. Elizabeth Rucker; Severn Donelson was "severely" wounded by what was likely a "friendly fire" shooting during James Robertson's Nickajack Expedition against the Cherokees; he was said to be "fond of a dram and took several every day"; according to big sister Rachel Donelson Jackson, he died of "dropsy of the chest" in 1818.
10.1. John Donelson [two Johns? Twin w Rachel?]
10.2. Rachel Donelson m. William Donelson [6.8]; Rachel died the day of A.J. Donelson's wedding to Emily Tennessee Donelson
10.3. James Rucker Donelson
10.4. Andrew Jackson Jr. [adopted as 9b.1.]
10.5. Thomas J. Donelson [twin of 10.4] m. Emma Yorke Farquar
10.6. Samuel Rucker Donelson m. (a) Elizabeth Eastin [6.6.2.] (b) Jane Roysler
10.7. Lucinda O. Rucker Donelson m. George W. Martin
10.8. Alexander Donelson m. Kate Roysler
11. Leven Donelson (unmarried, no issue)

### More about descendants

* ↑ The Walker brothers who married the Caffrey sisters had a sister, Helen Walker Call, who was the mother of Richard Keith Call. Call was an officer in the Creek War and the War of 1812 under General Jackson, and was appointed governor of Florida Territory by President Andrew Jackson. Another Walker brother, David Walker, was the father of Florida governor David S. Walker.
* ↑ Son of Thomas M. Green Sr., brother of Thomas M. Green Jr. and Abner Green, brother-in-law of Thomas Hinds and Cato West
* ↑ Reportedly a cousin of James K. Polk
* ↑ George Washington Sevier Jr. was a grandson of John Sevier
* ↑ W. T. Miller was from a Whig-aligned family with roots in Virginia and Kentucky; the father, Anderson Miller, was appointed to be the U.S. marshal for the Southern District of Mississippi in 1841, a brother Horace H. Miller was named charges des affaires for Bolivia in 1852.
* ↑ Polly Smith was a niece of William Smith, U.S. Senator from South Carolina
* ↑ Daughter of James Glasgow, center of a North Carolina land speculation scandal; she remarried after Donelson's death
* ↑ Elizabeth McLemore Walker > James Monroe Walker > Mary McLemore > John C. McLemore.
* ↑ Chester's second wife was Jane Roysler Donelson, widow of 10.6. Samuel Rucker Donelson.
* ↑ Son of U.S. Senator Daniel Smith
* ↑ Eliza Eleanor Butler was one of four siblings who were made wards of Andrew Jackson; Edward Butler was her father, Edward G. W. Butler was her brother
* ↑ Daughter of Judge Hugh Lawson White
* ↑ Older brother of Leonidas Polk
* ↑ Daughter of John Brahan, granddaughter of Robert Weakley
* ↑ O'Neal was the son of Alabama Governor Edward A. O'Neal
* ↑ Son of Thomas Mann Randolph and Martha Jefferson (daughter of Thomas Jefferson)
* ↑ Daughter of U.S. Senator Daniel Smith; Andrew Jackson helped the couple elope and father Smith was mad
* ↑ Daughter of Secretary of the Navy John Branch
* ↑ Emma Yorke Farquar was a first cousin of Sarah Yorke, the wife of Andrew Jackson Jr. (who was Thomas J. Donelson's twin); Sarah's parents Peter and Mary (Haines) Yorke died when she was a child, and she and her two sisters was raised by their paternal aunts Elizabeth Yorke (Mrs. George Farquar) and Martha Yorke (Mrs. Mordecai Witherill).