The Tupelo journal., 1903-01-09
PRESIDENTS WIVES.
Bill Arp Makes Some Further OBJ
servations on the Subject.
Sage of Harlow Thinks Miles Would
Make Good Running Mate for
Roosevelt Next Presiden-
tial CaEvass.

DIR. Conway is right about James
Madison's mother. She was Nellie
Conway and not Fanny Taylor. Fan
ny was his grandmother. But the
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 l said. Neither did Andrew
jackson marry Miss Rachel Robards.
She was not a miss, but a 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 Custis. Everybody knows
that. 1t was the typo that made it
Curtis. DR.. Conway says that Willard
Fillmore never married. He is mis-
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 q
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
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
G~reenville, Tenn, in a two-wheel cart
drawn by a 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 tt
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 mor children. Mr.. Phelan
says that Andrew learned his alpha
bet on the tailor's bench, and his
wife, Eliza McCardle, taught him to
read.
Ny friend ThaXton says that he did
not know that poverty and Ignorance
were tied together. AS a general rule
they are. That second husband must
have been most shiftless and ignorant
if he couldn't provide any better trans
p%ortation for his wife and stepson
than a two-wheel cart and a blind pony
for a long journey. If Mr.. Thaxton
was to see such a cavalcade as that
coming down the big road now he
would say that poverty and ignorance
were %tramping along together. But
this much we have learned from Mr..
Thaxton-that Andrew Johnson's
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
right! He ought to have a good wom-
an at his elbow all the time. | reckon
he must have been a widower when he
wrote those ISLANDERS againstJefferson
Davis and the people of the south. L
am still waiting for him to ~retract
and apologize. But now he is a candi-
date and is scheming for the solid
northern vote and the southern ne
groes thrown in, he won't retract. If
he is to be elected president, l want
Miles to be coupled with him On the
ticket for vice president. The cham
pion chainer and the champion de-
famer oughtto be paired. One to work