Andrew Jackson Jr.
One of these nephews was the distinguished Andrew Jackson Donelson, who ran for Vice President on the Fillmore ticket, and who was always associated with the General, but who was not the bona fide adopted son, as many suppose.
)[4] Historian Melissa Gismondi theorizes that female-factor infertility may have been a factor in the collapse of Rachel's first marriage, to Lewis Robards.
[6] There is an account of Rachel Jackson saying, "He would have given his life for a child, but knowing how disappointed I was at never being a mother, he, pitying me, tried to console me by saying that God denied offspring so that we might help those who had large families.
"[7] Born a twin, Andrew Jackson Jr. was one of the eight or nine biological children of Rachel's brother Severn Donelson and Elizabeth Rucker, and he was taken to the Hermitage when he was three days old.
Old Missus looked across at the General saying, 'I'm afraid brother's wife will be unable to raise both the little fellows, with all those other children—she isn't very strong you know.'
"[17] He appears to have been fairly successful to his schooling, and books in the Hermitage library with his name on the fly leaf include The Autobiography of Crockett, Tom Jones, and Field's Literary and Miscellaneous Scrapbook.
[19] Jackson, an inveterate busybody and matchmaker,[citation needed] frequently inquired about or suggested prospective brides for Junior in his letters home.
For instance, in 1833, "Junior purchased a female slave, Rachel, and her child...but failed to pay the full amount, leading the seller, George Hibb, to press the president for the funds.
"[24] Decades after his death, Junior's daughter Rachel Jackson Lawrence described her father as "a man of most quiet tastes and resting quite content as a Southern gentleman of the old school"[25] and told a reporter that, "the disposition of Andrew Jackson was retiring, and he cared nothing for the glories and honors of the outer world, but delighted in quiet strolls over his extensive estates, with his gun in hand and followed by his faithful pointers.
[27] Historian Mark Cheathem comments: In addressing Junior's financial troubles, Jackson found himself in a position familiar to that of other southern patriarchs.
His inability to become a successful 'planter-patriarch' highlighted one of the ironies of southern society noted by historian Michael Johnson: 'The nature of their fathers' estates and ideals caused sons to be constantly tempted by idleness, a state combining subordination and autonomy in near paralysis.'
Ever the protective patriarch, Jackson seemed unwilling to allow Junior to suffer the effects of his bad choices, thereby undermining his desire to see his son become independent.
"[28]After a devastating fire at the Hermitage in 1834, Sarah and the children went to stay at the White House while repairs were being completed, and Andrew Jackson wrote Junior back home: Rachel said to me, grandpa the great fire burned my bonnet and a big owl tried to kill Poll, [the Hermitage parrot] but papa killed the owl.
Andrew Junior had closed the woodyard [at the riverfront steamboat landing]; he had been urged to do so by his overseer who promptly opened his own fueling station on some nearby property.
[42] When the American Civil War came in 1861, Junior declared as a Southern Unionist but his sons fought for the Confederacy; one died from wounds received at Chickamauga.
