Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1885-10-10


Rachel WAS at least Is before they
crossed the bay and went to seek
a homo in the Southwest. She
was ut that time fine.looking, dash
ing and vivacious, although in her
old age Mrs. Andrew Jackson was
set down by the women us possess
ing bad figure and no beauty to
speak of. She met Captain Lewis
Richards, a Kentucky planter, a
few years after her mother moved
West, aud married him. Richards
WAS i. jealous fellow, who treated
her with llarshnesS very near
akin to brutality.
Robard's bad temper and jeal-
ouSy had driven the young wife
from his home, and she was living
with her mother, who had moved
out to Tennessee, when Andrew
jackson, Esq, a briefless back
woods lawyer, came there to board.
There he met his first and only de-
feat. FIe fell before the fire ofthe
dark eyes of Rachel RobardS.-
Whether Jackson made love then
and there to the wife of another
man afterwards became the subject
of political controversy; but, how
ever this may have been, the two
fell in love with each other, and,
what is more interesting, remained
in love with each other to the end
of their lives. Jackson Emarried
Mrs. Richards while she was still
the wife of the Kentucky Captain.
and .the most chaste of women and
one Of the few irreproachable pub
lie men of his day are recorded
adultererS, and, what is moro re-
markable, the record is correct"
Rachel Richards ran away from her
husband and lived with Jackson rs
his wife for two years before she
WAS divorced. This is the verdict
of history; but history has long
since vindicatcd the reputation OF
the Queerly mated couple. Jack.
son believed,a and had every reason
to believe that Mrs. Richards had
been divorced, and both were de
ceived by circumstances. When
the mistake was finally discovered
by the publication otthe decree of
divorce two years after it was sup
posed to have been granted, Il sec
ond marriage ceremony was quietly
performed ut Natchez. THUS the
Eastern Shore beauty passes into
the pages of history. Her good
looks, however, were not so con-
slant as her good heart. Mrs.
Jackson, truth to tell, soon grew
stout and dumpy and homely, but
she never lost her charm for Old
Hickory, who adorcd her while liv
ing and fairly worshiped her after
her death. One can scarcely sup
press a smile at the figure this
once beautiful and always good
woman cutin the gilded drawing
room OF a leader of society i'll New
Orleans just after "Major" General
jackson had won his immortal vic
tory and driven back the most mag
nfcent expedition eversent against
this country. "Society" had ten
dered the General Il grand recep
lion. New Orleans SaS at that
time socially the most elegant city
in America, and the ladies were
upon that occasion decked ont in
the most splendid of costumes,
many of them just from Paris. Pre-.
Sently entered the hero of the hour,
Jackson-tall, commanding, as
gracefully and dlguifed ASA French
ambassadors for no man of his time
had a grander air than Old Hicll
DRY. Upon his arm was Mrs. Jack
son, fresh from the DackwoodS of
Tennesee-short, fat, with no waist;
fat, chubby hands, aud a red, fat,
good-natured, but By no means, re-
fined face. And yet Andrew Jack
son thought that she was the finest
woman III all that assemblage. One
beauty, indeed, this homely wife Of
Jackson retained. She still had
the bright black eyes OF Rachel
Donaldson, but the dark swarthy
skin also remained, and added
nothing to her personal appearance
But Rachel Donaldson had lost
her vanity and sometimes smoked
a clay pipe with the General, she
was none the less a good and wise
woman, and exercised salutary
influence upon the hot-headed and
sometimes pig.headed man who
never found an obstacle in his path
which he did not remove. Mrs.
Jackson died in 1928, just as her
husband was about to start from
the Hermitage for Washington, to
he sworn in as President Of the
United States. The concluding
sentences upon the tomb, written
by Jackson himself, are these: ga
being SO gentle and so virtuous,
SANDER might wound but could not
dishonor. Even death, when he
tore her from the arms of her huS
band, could but transport her to the
bosom of her Cod"
SANDER had indeed often wound
ed her. for the circumstances other
marriage we're made use of in the
many political contests in which
jackson was involved. Jackson
resented this bitterly, and Chas.
Dickinson would not have beer, the
only victim of his deadly pistol
could the personal responsibility
have been fixed. What might
have been, or rather what might
NOT have been. had this wO-