The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-01-04

grandmother. But the good doctor is
wrong about Thomas jefferson. He did
not marry Miss Martha Shelton, for she
was widow and her maiden name was
Martha Wales, as l said. Neither did An
drew Jackson marry Miss Rachel Robards.
She was not miss. but a divorced wife
and her maiden name was Rachel Donel-
son. Jackson had to marry her twice
in different States to comply with the
law. OF course George Washington mar
ried the widow Gusts. Everybody knows
that. It was the typo that made it
Curtis. DR.. Conway says that Willard
Fillmore never married. He is mistaken.
His first wife was Abigail Powers and
his second was Carolina Mcintosh. 1t
is singular how many of the presidents
married widows. Madison's wife, Dolly
Payne, was a widow Todd. Her maiden
name as Dorothy Coles. 7 reckon we
will get this matter Strengthened out
after while. Mr.. Thaxton. of Tennes-
see, 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 1 said
Johnsons parents were too poor and ig-
norant to be named in the biography.
That was not my assertion, but was bit
of sarcasm on the compiler, who makes
special mention of their poverty and
lack of education and records that An
drew and his mother and stepfather
moved from Raleigh, N. c., to Greenville,
Tennessee, in a two-wheeled cart drawn
by blind pony, but does not give their
names. Mr.. Thaxton says his wife's faith
er was an own cousin to Andrew Johnson
and Andrews mothers name was Mary
McDonough, but he does not mention the
step-father. 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 ana favorable to 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 chit
dren Mr.. Phelan says that Andrew
learned his alphabet on the tailor bench,
and his wife. Eliza McCarle, taught him
to read.
My friend Thaxtor says that he did not
know that poverty and ignorance We're
tied together. AS a general rule they
are. That second husband must have
been both shiftless and ignorant if he
for his wife and sUepson than a two
wheeled cart and blind pony for 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 We're tramping along together.
But this much we have learned from Mr..
Thaxton-that Andrew Johnson's moth
or's maiden name was Mary McDonough.
roYfxy
and obscurity ard all honor to his de-
voted wife and to his accomplished daugh-
ter, Mrs. Patterson, who presided so
worthily in the White House.
And Roosevelt married twice-that's
right, He ought to have a good woman
at his elbow all of the time. I reckon
he must have hoen q widower when
he wrote those ISLANDERS against Jefferson
Davis and the people of the South. | am
still waiting for him to retract and apollo
gize. But now he is a candidate and
is scheming for the solid Northern vote,
and the Southern negroes thrown in, he
won't retract. If he is to be elected
President, I want Miles to be coupled
with him on the ticket for VicePresident
The champion chainer and the champion
defamer ought to be paired One to work
on live men and the other on dead ones.
And here is letter from Mrs. Lucy
Harrison Gay Whitfield. of Siddonsville,
Ala, who informs me that William Hen
ry Harrson's mother was Elizabeth Bas-
sett She Is Mrs Whitfeld's great great
grandmother and was the wife of Ben
Harrison, who signed the Declaration of
Independence. is mother was Anne Car
ter, an aunt of Robert Lee, I believe that
supplies all the missing links.
I've been enjoying some rich and racy
reading-the reply of Horace Greedy to
the committee who summoned him to
trial for singning the bail bond of Jetfer
son Davis that released him from pris-
en-. There were twenty-one who signed
it, but Greedy was the first and the only
Republican abolitionist. He volunteered
to do it and did it willingly, going from
New York to Richmond for that purpose,
and it raised howl all over New York
and New England. The Northern ex
tremists demanded that Mr.. Davis be tried
and hung for treason, or for the assasSi
nation of Lincoln, or for something or
anything, so he was hung. Greedy be-
longed to the Union Club of New York,
a powerful organization, and they were
outraged and enraged at his signing that
bond and cited him for trial. His reply
is a long one and some parts of it are
most delightful sarcasm.
you say you will give me reasonable
time for reflection. 1 want none, nor
shall 1 attend your meeting. 1t is not
my habit to take part in any discussion
that may arise among other gentlemen
as to my fitness to enjoy their society.
That is their affair, and to them / leave
it, No, shall not attend your meet
ing this evening. I have an engagement
out of town and shall keep it. l do not
recognize you as capable Of judging me.
You regard nle as a weak sentimentalist. !
| arraign you as a set of narrow minded
tlockheads who would like to be useful, !
but don't know how. Your attempt to
base an enduring party on hate and wrath
is like planting colony on an iceberg
that had drifted into q tropical sea. The
signing of that bail bond will do more for
freedom and humanity than you all can
do though you live to the age of Mathu
saleh. / ask nothing of you but that you
proceed in a frank manly way. Don't
slide off into cold resolution of cen
sure, but make your explosions. Make it
q couara c+and I'M fight and record your