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From:
Subject: [TSALAGI-MB] ANDREW JACKSON "FYI"
Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 19:34:48 EDT
{The assumption about Jackson liking boys is unfounded - just someone's
passing thoughts. Don't know if he did or did not}
"I feel much alarmed at the prospect of seeing General Jackson
(become) President. He is one the most unfit men I know of for such a place."
-- Thomas Jefferson to Daniel Webster, 1824.
"Andrew Jackson adopted an orphaned Cherokee (actually Creek) boy whose
family members
were killed by Jackson's own troops."
This astonishing statement was found while examining Indian-related
digitized documents and notes at a University of Georgia website
http://mars.libs.uga.edu/index.html
[Click on the following links in order: Digital Library of Georgia,
Public Databases, Southeastern Native American Documents (1730-1842),
Did You Know?]
http://rosecity.net/tears/trail/jackson.html
The first photo in upper right corner is Lyncoya.
http://www.angelfire.com/tn/andrewjackson/photos.html
-------------------
>From the Univ of GA:
These are some of the sources that mention Jackson's adoption (albeit
probably not a legal one) of the orphaned Indian boy, Lyncoya:
Moser, Harold D. and Sharon MacPherson, Eds. *The Papers of Andrew
Jackson*. V.II, 1804-1813. Knoxville, U. of TN. Press, 1984.
(see pgs. 444, 494-495, 515-516 -- letters from Jackson to his
wife, Rachel, mentioning the boy.)
Remini, Robert V. *Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Empire,
1767-1821*. NY: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1977.
(see Index entry for "Lyncoya")
Parton, James. *Life of Andrew Jackson*. V.I. NY: Mason Brothers,
1861.
(see pgs. 439-440 -- Parton spells the boy's name "Lincoyer")
It is probable that this boy does not appear on genealogical records
as one of Jackson's descendants for one or all of the following
reasons: he is of Native American ancestry; the adoption was not a
formal one; he died very young (at 17 yrs. according to one source.)
One correction needs to be noted: Lyncoya was of Creek, not Cherokee,
ancestry. He was taken from the Creek village of Tallushatchee by
Jackson after a bloody battle there in November of 1813.
I hope you find this information helpful. Thank you again for your
inquiry-
Tara Hottenstein
Southeastern Native American Documents
Digital Library of Georgia
Main Library
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
(706)542-3003
Jackson took the boy from "Tallushatchee", which is today's "Tallaseehatchee"
located near Talledega, Alabama. The battle is described about a third of the
way down the webpage at:
http://www.state.tn.us/sos/statelib/pubsvs/tn1812.htm
The following letter from Andrew Jackson to wife Rachel, Sept 18, 1816,
mentions Lyncoya
affectionately.
http://www.americanpresidents.org/letters/07.asp
---------------------
"Having rescued after a battle a Creek child named Lyncoya, Jackson sent
the orphan to Rachel in Nashville. Recalling his own baptism of horror
in the Revolution, the general declared, "when I reflect that he as to
his relations is so much like myself I feel an unusual sympathy for
him." Although treated as a full member of the house, Lyncoya ran away
more than once to rejoin the Creeks. Then, in his seventeenth year, he
died of tuberculosis."
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/bwyattb/jackson2.htm
The Creek child adopted by Andrew Jackson was named Lyncoya. He was
probably between 1-3 years of age when sent home to The Hermitage.
Jackson educated him and apprenticed him to a saddlemaker in Nashville.
Lyncoya died of tuberculosis in 1828.
Jackson's wife Rachel died in 1828, shortly before he
became President.
Andrew Jackson apparently rescued the child from the battlefield at
Tallushatchee (now Tallaseehatchee) after his mother had been killed by a
stray bullet. [Jackson commanded the attack on the village of Red Stick
Creeks.] When the other Red Stick (Creek) women would not take the orphan
[this is unlikely], saying an evil spirit would haunt anyone who befriended
him since his kin were all dead. "They said 'Kill him.'"
Jackson supposedly wrapped the boy in his greatcoat and took him to his tent
to feed him water and brown sugar. "For days the boy would eat for no one but
General Jackson." When they finally broke camp, "Colonel Pope took the boy to
Huntsville (Alabama) where he was cared for through the winter. The Colonel's
daughter gave him his name, Lyncoya." [As indicated earlier Lyncoya was
apparently sent directly to the Hermitage, which at that time existed only as
a plan in Jackson's mind. They lived in a log cabin on the property until the
Hermitage was completed.]
Andrew Jackson, Jr. (Rachel's nephew whom they adopted) was apparently the
same age as Lyncoya. Andrew Jr's brother (supposedly a twin brother,
http://www.hermitage.org/rach.htm) apparently had died. I find nothing about
Andrew Jr's parents.
Andrew, Sr., Rachel, and the children lived in a log cabin at the plantation
while the formal home (the Hermitage) was being built. The original property
was purchased in 1804, however work on the mansion did not begin until 1819.
They moved in in 1821. http://www.thehermitage.com/mans.htm
Jack Donelson was an older boy who stayed at the Hermitage for some time.
Apparently this was Andrew Jackson Donelson, Rachel's nephew who later became
Jackson's secretary.
http://www.bestreadguide.com/nashville/stories/19990621/att_hermitage.shtml
The following website has the text from some of Jackson's Congressional
Addresses regarding Indian removal, along with some additional info
about westward expansion. It also has the text of the Indian Removal
Act.
http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/jackson.htm
following medical article about Andrew Jackson's consumption of lead and
mercury compounds as medications during his lifetime.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v282n6/abs/jbr90155.html
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