Born Pittsylvania County, Virginia Honorary First Lady
Raised in Tennessee and Kentucky, Rachel Donelson was familiar with the challenges of frontier life when she married her first husband, Lewis Robards. She was not prepared, however, for his jealous rages in which “cruel taunts and upbraidings follow[ed] flattering endearments.” After divorcing Robards and marrying Andrew Jackson, she took a stand on domestic violence. When Jackson was governor of Florida in the early 1820s, she encouraged him to ban alcohol, which temperance advocates argued was fuel for such abuse.
Ralph E. W. Earl depicts Rachel Jackson as a serious, mature woman with a deeply lined brow. The small timepiece we see pinned to her collar would have been used to manage time for those who were enslaved at the Hermitage, the Jacksons’ large cotton plantation near Nashville.
Rachel Jackson died a few months before her husband’s inauguration. Her niece, Emily Donelson, agreed to serve as official hostess in the White House.
Andrew Jackson Foundation