The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1903-01-09
PRESIDENTS WIVES.
Bill Arp Makes Some Further OBJ
servations on the Subject.
sage of harlow Thinks Miles Would
Make Good Running Mnte for
Roosevelt Next Presiden-
tinl Canvass.

DIR. Conway is right about James
Madison's mother. She was Nellie
Conway and not Fanny Taylor. Fan
NY was his grandmother. But th4
good doctor is Wrong about Thomas
Jefferson. He did not marry Miss
Martha Shelton, for she was a widow
and her maiden name was Martha
Wales, as / said. Neither did Andrew
jackson marry Miss Rachel Richards
She was not miss, but divorced
wife, and her maiden name was
Rachel Donelson. Jackson had to
marry her twice in different states
to comply with the law. OF course
George Washington married the
widow GUSTS. Everybody knows
that. 1t was the typo that made IT
Curtis. DR.. Conway says that Willard
Fillmore never married He is min-
taken. His first wife was Abigail
Powers and his second was Caroline
Mcintosh. 1t is singular how. many
of the presidents married widows.
Madison's wife, Dolly Payne, was o
widow Todd. Her maiden name was
Dorothy Coles. / reckon we will get,
this matter Strengthened out after a
while. Mr.. Thaxton, of Tennessee,
writes me that the full list of moth
ers and wives can be found in the
World Almanac of 1894. Friend
4 Thaxton is not mad but he is
grieved that | said Johnson's parents
were too poor and ignorant to be
named in the biography. That was
not my assertion, but was a bit of
sarcasm on the compiler, who makes
special mention of their poverty and
lack of education and records that
Andrew and his mother and step
father moved from Raleigh, N. c., to
Greenville, Tenn, in two-wheel cart
drawn bysa blind pony, but does not
give their names. Thaxton says his
wife's father was an own cousin to
Andrew Johnson, and Andrews moth
er's name was Mary McDonough, but
he does not mention the stepfather.
Who did Mary marry the second
time? The biography in Appleton
was written by James Phelan, editor
OF the Memphis Avalanche, and seems
to be very fair and favorable t.
johnson and his wife and children.
1t says that Johnson's father died
when Andrew was only four years
old, and Mr.. Thaxton says his mother
had many more children. Mr.. Phelan |
says that Andrew learned his alpha
bet on the tailor's bench, and his
wife, Eliza McCardle, taught him to
read.
My friend Thaxton says that he did !
not know that poverty and ignorance
were tied together. AS general rule
they are. That second husband must |
have been most shiftless and ignorant |
if he couldn't provide any better trans
portation for his wife and stepson
than two-wheel cart and a blind pony
for long journey. If Mr.. Thaxton
was to see such a cavalcade as that
coming down the big road now he I
would say that poverty and ignorance
were tramping along together. But
this much we have learned from Mr..
L 1
mothers maiden name was Mary Nc
Donough- All honor to him who rose
from poverty and obscurity and all
honor to his devoted wife and to his
accomplished daughter, Mrs. Patter-
son, who presided so worthily in the
white house.
And Roosevelt married twice--that's
light! He ought to have good wom-
IN at his elbow all the time. Ireckonl
lie must have been widower when he
wrote those ISLANDERS against Jefferson
Davis and the people of the south. 1
Inn still waiting for him to retract
ind apologize. But now he is a candi-
late and is scheming for the solid
northern vote and the southern ne
,roes thrown in, he went retract. If
e is to be elected president, / want
Niles to be coupled with him on the
icket for vice president. The chamA
ZION chainer and the champion de-
amer ought to be paired. One to work