The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1880-03-19


Colonel John Donelson, wealthy and en-
terprising Virginia surveyor and father of
Mrs. jackson, emigrated to Tennessee with
his family about the year 17So. He descend
ed the Hudson River to the Tennessee, thence
down the Tennessee to the Ohio, up the Ohio
to the Cumberland, and up the Cumberland
to the vicinity Of Nashville, where he fixed
his home. twas voyage of , 900 miles and
attended with much adventure and peril.
His daughter, Rachel, then girl of ten or
twelve years, shared its dangers as well as
the dangers of her fathers settlement in a
country infested by murderOUs savages,
where children could not go a blackberTying
without an armed escort. Under such cir
cumstances she grew 20 be a bold, handsome,
engaging, but, from lack of opportunity, un-
educated woman. Her fathers fortunes
rapidly increased under thrifty and wise
management until he came to be regarded as
the richest man in that part of Tennessee, so
that the hand of his yivaciOus and winsOme
daughter was deemed an inestimable prize,
and she therefore had many suitors. Dur
ing temporary residence in Kentucky she
made the acquaintance of Captain Lewis
Robards, a gentleman Of good appearance
and respectable family. A mutual attach
ment sprang up and marriage WAS the cOnse-
quence. 1t proved unfortunate. The hus-
band was Of morose, suspicious nature,
while the wife, VINO had been greatly in
dulged from childhood, was lively, gay, con-
fding and too much inclined to innocent CO.
quetTy perhaps to please a spouse Of such a
disposition. He grew uneasy about the at
tentiOn she admitted from a Mr. PeytOn
Short, a lawyer, and highly accomplished,
for whose society-living under the same
roof, as it happened-she seemed (to Rob
ards) to have taken fancy. The free, high
! spirited, but most virtuous woman that she
was, naturally resented this feeling on the
+ part of her husband, and, detecting his es
pionage upon her conduct which had mised
him into suspicion, with the willfulness oi
/ her sex she continued to receive Mr.. Shorts
CiYiIities until Robards was enraged beyond
decency, and their frequent quarrels were q
matter of general remark. y separation be
( came inevitable, and Mrs Robards prepared
to return to her mother in Tennessee, heI
father having recently been killed by the In.
dams Short was on his way to Virginia
upon business and heard this. lie very i'm
properly addressed Mrs. Robards a letter
/ condoling with her in her trouble, avOwing
his affection for her and suggesting that she
apply for a divorce, and if the suit was sue.
cessful proposing to marry her and remove
! to the Spanish settlement on the Lower Mis-
sissippi, where he had some interests. This
I letter, which was confdentialiy intrusted tc
. q friend to be delivered to her, by some acci
dent fell into the hands of her husband, and
f He did not oyertake him until he reached
/ Richmond, Va. Short denied any guilt
: whatever on the part of Mrs. Robards Gas he
/ did to his dying dav), admitted the folly OF
/ his letter and that he alone was to blame
/ and expressed his willingness to fight Rob
I ards if that was his object. A compromise
/ was effected, by which Short, to avoid scan
( dal, and to save the woman he had injured
I by his imprudence, further harm, paid tc
! Robards the sum of 81 900, and thus appeased
his Jealous anger. This transaction, which
/ is well authenticated, fairly illustrates Rob.
I ards character.
I Mrs Robards in the meantime had sent foI
her brother, Captain Samuel Donelson, and
under his protection was taken to her mother
She retained until the last the respect and
T
they lived at the time Of the separation, and
who used all her persuasion to prevent it,
and they parted with mutual embraces and
tears.
Robards, on his return home from Virginia
was, after some time, convinced that he had
wroHged his young wife and sought a recon
ciliation, visiting her in Tennessee for that
purpose. Trusting in the sincerity of his
admissions and repentance she consented to
live with him again, but made it a condition
that he should purchase land in the neigh
borhood of her mother and reside there. To
this he agreed, but several months elapsed
before arrangements for separate establish
ment could be completed, they in the interim
making their home with Mrs. DOnelson.
At the time there were boarding with this
lady two young attorneys, Andrew Jackson
and.JOh Overton. The latter had read law
at Harrodsburg. Ky, and lived with the Sc
nior Mrs. Robards. He there made the ac-
auaintance Of her daughter-i -law, ard OF