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Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson, born Rachel Donelson (June 15, 1767 – December 22, 1828, aged 61)...

Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson, born Rachel Donelson (June 15, 1767 – December 22, 1828, aged 61) wife of the 7th President of the United States, Andrew Jackson. Born in present-day Halifax County, Virginia, Rachel was the daughter of Colonel John Donelson and Rachel Stockley-Donelson. John Donelson was a surveyor and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses at the time of Rachel's birth. Her father moved the family to Tennessee, and then later, to Kentucky. In 1780, John Donelson co-founded the fort of Nashborough in 1780, on the Tennessee frontier. We know Nashborough today as the city of Nashville. Although a dowdy, forlorn figure in middle age, famous for smoking a corncob pipe, Rachel Donelson in her youth was a comely, vivacious woman. She was known for her intelligence and wit. She was clearly able to "hold her own" in any conversation and was popular with the men she met. At 18, Rachel Donelson married Colonel Lewis Robards. He was from a prominent Mercer County, Kentucky family. Robards's jealousy of a young boarder named Peyton Short, though, made it impossible for Rachel live with him. They separated in 1790. Despite her pleas of innocence, Robards ordered her to