Andrew Jackson and Me

This week takes me back into the “Walton Thicket” where I was ensnared last week when I wrote about Henry Clay.   As a refresher, here’s the Geni link between me and Henry Clay.

This is the relationship that fell apart when I examined it closely – and the problem was that this link relied on the “wrong” William Walton.  So my question has to be – does my connection to Andrew Jackson fall because of the same problem?

Some easy research allayed my fears; the WikiTree connection to Andrew Jackson relies on the “right” William Walton; and because I haven’t yet worked to correct the Geni profile to include the correct individual, that platform doesn’t suggest this connection. 

This time WikiTree got it right – #6 is “my” William Walton.  The other connections check out – at least through the cursory investigation I was able to do in the past couple of days.  

• William Walton had a brother named Martin.

• Martin had a son named Simeon. 

• Simeon’s wife was Mary Henry.

• Mary’s grandmother was Mary Donelson.

• Mary Donelson had a brother named John.

• John had a daughter named Rachel.

• Rachel Donelson married Andrew Jackson.

I want to highlight two stories out of this connection.

First, let’s talk about Andrew Jackson’s wife, Rachel.  Her backstory is simple enough.  She was born in Virginia, but her family moved to Tennessee in 1780 before relocating to Kentucky.  It was there that Rachel married Lewis Robards; however, their marriage didn’t go well.  The fact that Rachel’s mother had returned to Nashville after Rachel’s father was killed under mysterious circumstances plays a role in this story.

Lewis and Rachel quarreled (probably because Lewis was jealous of Rachel’s “lively” disposition, accusing her of flirting with every man she came across), and Rachel soon joined her mother in Nashville.  After coming to Nashville to seek a reconciliation with Rachel, Robards soon returned to Kentucky, vowing never to see Rachel again.  It was then that Rachel first met Andrew Jackson. 

This is where the problem started.  Jackson believed that Robards and Rachel had divorced, and he set to wooing her.  After reconnecting with Rachel in Natchez, Mississippi, Jackson and Rachel returned to Nashville as a married couple, although no record has been found of their marriage.  The entire story is muddled by the attacks that were waged against Jackson (and against Rachel) in the 1820s. 

After Robards was finally granted his divorce from Rachel in 1793, Andrew and Rachel legally married in January of 1794.  Rachel died in 1828, just before Jackson went to Washington to assume the Presidency.   Jackson apparently mourned her loss for the rest of his life.

The other story I want to tell you focuses on Martin Walton (#7 on the chart, the brother of William Walton).  This makes him my 4^th great-granduncle.  I have never researched him before – the Walton Thicket is difficult enough without bringing in collateral ancestors.  But in proving the connection between my Walton family and Andrew Jackson, I became aware of Martin Walton.  His story is interesting.  

Here’s what was written about him in The Connection, a local newspaper for Robertson County, Tennessee (north of Nashville on the border between Tennessee and Kentucky):

Revolutionary War hero Martin Walton made impact on Robertson Co.

October 13, 2022

BY ANNE SMITH Charlotte Reeves Robertson DAR Chapter

This home, built in 1809 by Dr. Martin Walton still stands in the Cross Plains community today. The house was placed on the National Historical Register in 1996.

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of stories submitted in the American Patriot series, researched and authored by the Charlotte Reeves Robertson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The United States of America is 246 years old.

Two hundred forty-five years ago Martin Walton, from Louisa County, Va., entered the service of the army of the American Revolution as a militiaman. He was 16 years old and had 12 siblings.

He served several three-month tours from the years of 1777 through 1781. His grave marker indicates he was in Taylor’s VA Regiment. Colonial Virginia did not maintain a standing army. Nearly everyone was engaged in agriculture and needed to plant in the spring and harvest in the fall. The Virginians were not wealthy enough to afford full-time soldiers. Whenever there were colonial “alarms” about pirates or Indians, riders on horses would spread the word to various farms and the men would assemble as needed. Walton was one of these men.

During his tours, Martin was endlessly marched from pillar to post, he guarded prisoners, and on one occasion he lay in wait with his regiment in a failed attempt to ambush Colonel Banastre Tarleton and the British force, as Tarleton visited his favorite place to exercise his horse and his troops. Private Martin’s cumulative war service amounted to 19 months and 10 days.

Martin was known to have stated that he saw General Marquis de Lafayette before his retreat into Culpepper County and also on his return from Culpepper County through Louisa County, as he was encamped on the south side of the south fork of Pamunkey River near Anderson’s Bridge.

Martin Walton married Elizabeth Johnson on April 15, 1788 in Louisa County, Va., located in the north-central region of the Commonwealth, and named to honor the Queen of Denmark, daughter of King George II. The Waltons made their home in that area and while living there, had five children.

In 1802, having obtained a land grant, Martin left his native Virginia and moved his family to Robertson County, Tennessee. His widowed mother travelled along with the family, as they followed other family members who had traveled to Robertson County before him — his brother, Meredith, and his married sisters Ann (William) Edwards and Temperance (Richard) Nuckolls. They all settled in the eastern part of the county.

In 1809 Martin built a large brick home on the property. He was now a physician and a large landowner. The family grew corn and cotton and he also made whiskey. He was instrumental in helping to organize Hopewell Baptist Church and could occasionally be found preaching there. The community welcomed him as a leader.

The beautiful home Martin built is still standing and occupied today at 6354 State Highway 25 E. in Cross Plains. It was initially built on what was then the Springfield to Gallatin Road, a main travel route from the county seat of Robertson County and the seat of justice for Sumner County. The home’s original floor plan had a central hall with a large room on one side and two smaller rooms on the opposite side. The second floor had an identical layout. The basement was stone-lined to provide storage for meal, meats and wines. In 1996 it was approved for the National Register of Historic Places.

Martin and Elizabeth raised all five of their children in this house. At his death, his son David J. Walton assumed responsibility for the property as administrator. However, David was murdered on the property in 1845, and in 1846 it was then sold.

Dr. Walton was a respected physician and attended residents west of his home in Springfield as well as to the east in Cross Plains. Two of his sons became educators in Robertson County. His grandson founded Neophogen College in Cross Plains and his great-grandson, J.W. Huey, was Springfield’s first superintendent of public schools.

Martin died at 83 years of age, and was buried in the Walton Family Cemetery, located at 6358 Hwy 25E. He left his mark in Robertson County through his many descendants, who in turn, left their mark. When you next drive the distance between Cross Plains and Springfield, look for these ghosts of the past in the form of the land and the lives of the residents of today.

Mrs. William H. (Frances W.) Simmons, a citizen of Springfield, TN and the organizing Regent of Charlotte Reeves Robertson Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution was Dr. Walton’s great-granddaughter. The DAR chapter was organized October 29, 1927, some 146 years after Martin Walton’s service to America. In October 1933 Mrs. Simmons helped to honor this local pioneer patriot, when handsome markers erected to his memory were unveiled at his gravesite.

I was interested to learn about Great-Uncle Martin.  I have other ancestors (ono my mother’s side) that lived in neighboring Overton County, Tennessee, at the same time that Martin was building his home and career in Robertson County.  In addition, I have family in Nashville and some surrounding areas.  My husband Tim’s brother Warren did his residency at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville and spent the rest of his life in Nashville and nearby Murfressboro, Tennessee.  We visited his home often for family reunions he and his wife Beverly hosted for 15 or more years.  Beverly died in 2019, and Warren passed away on January 1 of this year.

And although Geni didn’t support the connection through the Walton family to Andrew Jackson , it does suggest another link, as you see here:

I’m not going to spend any time on this proposed connection; it goes way too far back to be provable.  As an example – Margaret Coningsby, in the middle of this chart, was purportedly born in 1490, although the profile provides no documents to support her profile.