Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson was married to Andrew Jackson. When she died before his inauguration as President in 1829, the duties of First Lady fell to her niece, Emily Donelson. Wearing the white dress she had purchased for her husband’s inaugural ceremonies in March 1829, Rachel Donelson Jackson was buried in the garden at The Hermitage, her home near Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas Eve in 1828. Lines from her epitaph–“A being so gentle and so virtuous slander might wound, but could not dishonor”–reflected his bitterness at campaign slurs that seemed to precipitate her death.