The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-01-23
j ARPS LETTER
9gn N0thara pnd Wives
Presidents straigatened.
ANSWERS MS FRIEND, HR EAXTON
81
Revarts Some More 10 President
Roosevelt-Announees\Pu bllea- y
ton Of Jaefs8u's Speech and
Boak Of He own
Making.
Ass6fgs MS FRIEND, uR EAzTOS

Dr. Conway Is right about James
Madisona mother. She was Nellie
aonway and not Fanny Taylor Fan
N was his grandmother But the
1ood 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 Robards /
She was not a miss, but a divorced /
wife and her maiden name was Ra-
ehel Donelson. Jackson had to marry f.
eher twice in different states to COM |
ply with the law OF course George
Washington married the widow Gus
tis Everybody knows that 1t was
the typo that made it Curtis, DR..
Conway says that Willard Fillmore
never married. He is mistaken. His
drst wife was Abigail Powers and his
second was Caroline Mcintosh. It is
singular how many of the presidents
married widows Madson's wife, Dol
}ly Payne was a widow Todd Her
anaiden name was Dorothy Coles. 1
reckon we will get this matter
Strengthened out after awhile. Mr.
Thaxton, Of Tennessee, writes me that
the fun list of mothers and wives can
be found in the "World Almanac" of
1894. Friend Thaxton is not mad, but
he Is greved that | said Johnson's
parents were too poor and ignorant
to be named in the biography. That
was not my assertion, but was bit
Of sarcasm on the compiler, who
Rmakes special mention of their power
ty and lack of education and records
that Andrew and his mother and step
father moved from Raleigh, N. c. to
Greenville, Tenn, in a tWo-Wheeled
cart drawn by blind pony, but does
not give their names. Mr.. Thaxton
says his wifes father was an own
cousin to Andrew Johnson and An
dreW's mothers name was Mary Nc
Donough, but he does not mention the
"A k7tepfather. Who did Mary marry the
second time? The biography in APP
pleton was written by James Phelan,
editor Of The Memphis Avalanche,
and seems to be very fair and fayora-
ble to Johnson and his wife and chill
dren. 1t says that Johnsons father
died when Andrew was only four
years old and Mr.. Thaxton says his
mother had many more children. Mr.
Al9lan says that Andrew learned his
&rphabet on the tailor's bench, and his
wife, Eliza McCardle, taught him tc
read.
My friend Thaxton says that he
did not know that poverty and igno
ra re were tied together. AS a gen
~eral rule they are. That second hus
band must have been both shiftlesI
and ignorant if he couldn't provide
any better transportation for his wife
and stepson than a two-wheel cart anC
blind pony for long journey. 1
Mr. Thaxton was to see such caval
cade as that coming down the big roat
now he would say that poverty ant
ignorance were tramping along to
ether But this much we have learn
Nd from Mr. Thaxton-that Andrew
Johnson's mothers maiden name wa
Mary McDonough, All honor to hin
who rose from poverty and obscurit
and all honor to his devoted wife an
to his accomplished daughter, Mrs
Patterson, who presided so worthil
"a the white house.
And Roosevelt married twice
shafts right! He ought to have
agood woman at his elbow all Of tn
/ time reckon he must have been
widower when he wrote those SANDER
against Jefferson Davis and the peg
pie og-tbe south ] ana sim waitin
f2Fhim t6retF9ct and apolpgize. p
Aow he is a candtSaf6 and isyschemin
Or the solid northern vote and th
southern negroes thrown in he won
retract If he is to be elected pres
dent, want Miles to be coupled wit
him on the ticket for vice presiden
The champion chainer and the char
pion defamer ought to be paired. Or
work on live men and the other c
lead ones
And here Is a letter from Mrs Luz
Harrison Cay Whitfield, Of siddon
vile, Alas who informs me that w
nam Henry Harrison's mother vi
Frzabeth Bassett. She is Mrs VIII
aeId's Observation-Disclosures al
was the wife of Ben Harrison, wi
,ened the Declaration of Indepen
snce. His mother was Anne Cart
an aunt Of Robert Lee. / believe th