| E-Book Navigation |
| <<First |
|
<Back |
|
Next> |
|
Last>> |
Upon their arrival Jackson's friends bought land on the creek and
within the bounds of the settlement. Jackson himself was too poor,
however, to do this, and accordingly took up a claim six miles distant
on another little stream known as Twelve-mile Creek. Here, in the fall
of 1765, he built a small cabin, and during the winter he cleared five
or six acres of ground. The next year he was able to raise enough
corn, vegetables, and pork to keep his little household from want. The
tract thus occupied cannot be positively identified, but it lay in
what is now Union County, North Carolina, a few miles from Monroe, the
county seat.
Then came tragedy of a sort in which frontier history abounds. In the
midst of his efforts to hew out a home and a future for those who were
dear to him the father sickened and died, in March, 1767, at the early
age of twenty-nine, less than two years after his arrival at the
settlement. Tradition says that his death was the result of a rupture
suffered in attempting to move a heavy log, and that it was so sudden
that the distracted wife had no opportunity to seek aid from the
distant neighbors. When at last the news got abroad, sympathy and
assistance were lavished in true frontier fashion. Borne in a rude
farm wagon, the remains were taken to the Waxhaw burying ground and
were interred in a spot which tradition, but tradition only, is able
today to point out.
The widow never returned to the desolated homestead. She and her
little ones were taken into the family of one of her married sisters,
where she spent her few remaining years. On the 15th of March, less
than two weeks after her husband's death, she gave birth to a third
son; and the child was promptly christened Andrew, in memory of the
parent he would never know.
Curiously, the seventh President's birthplace has been a matter of
sharp controversy. There is a tradition that the birth occurred while
the mother was visiting a neighboring family by the name of McKemy;
and Parton, one of Jackson's principal biographers, adduces a good
deal of evidence in support of the story. On the other hand, Jackson
always believed that he was born in the home of the aunt with whom his
bereaved mother took up her residence; and several biographers,
including Bassett, the most recent and the best, accept this
contention. It really matters not at all, save for the circumstance
that if the one view is correct Jackson was born in North Carolina,
while if the other is correct he was born in South Carolina. Both
States have persistently claimed the honor. In the famous proclamation
which he addressed to the South Carolina nullifiers in 1832 Jackson
referred to them as "fellow-citizens of my native state"; in his will
he spoke of himself as a South Carolinian; and in correspondence and
conversation he repeatedly declared that he was born on South Carolina
soil. Jackson was far from infallible, even in matters closely
touching his own career. But the preponderance of evidence on the
point lies decidedly with South Carolina.
| E-Book Navigation |
| <<First |
|
<Back |
|
Next> |
|
Last>> |