232 ANDREW JACKSON 



became more prosperous and more orderly; and in 

 the general prosperity Jackson had an ample share, 

 partly through the diligent practice of his profession, 

 partly through judicious purchase and sales of land. 



With most men marriage is the most important 

 event of life ; in Jackson's career his marriage was 

 peculiarly important. Rachel Donelson was a native 

 of North Carolina, daughter of Colonel John Donel- 

 son, a Virginia surveyor in good circumstances, who 

 in 1 780 migrated to the neighbourhood of Nashville in 

 a very remarkable boat journey of two thousand miles, 

 down the Holston and Tennessee rivers, and up the 

 Cumberland. During an expedition to Kentucky 

 some time afterward, the blooming Rachel was 

 wooed and won by Captain Lewis Robards. She was 

 a sprightly girl, the best horsewoman and best dancer 

 in that country ; she was, moreover, a person of strong 

 character, excellent heart, and most sincere piety ; her 

 husband was a young man of tyrannical and unreason- 

 ably jealous disposition. In Kentucky they lived with 

 Mrs. Robards, the husband's mother; and, as was 

 common in a new society where houses were too few 

 and far between, there were other boarders in the 

 family, among them Judge Overton of Tennessee 

 and a Mr. Stone. Presently Robards made complaints 

 against his wife, in which he implicated Stone. He 

 was even so abusive that his wife became an object of 

 sympathy to the whole neighbourhood, and every one, 

 including Captain Robards's own mother, condemned 

 his behaviour. He had already quarrelled with his 

 wife and sent her home to Nashville before Jackson 

 became acquainted with her. Presently there was a 

 reconciliation, and Robards came to live in Nashville. 



