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Region: Middle Tennessee
1817 Emily Tennessee Donelson
Clover Bottom and Franklin, Davidson and Williamson Co.
The Hermitage: Home of President Andrew Jackson, Nashville

1512"V x 1634"H © TSS 047
fibers: silk
ground: 28 ct. linen
Biography:
Emily Donelson was the last of 13 children born to John Donelson and Mary Purnell. She grew up at Clover Bottom Farm in a two story log home. In 1817, she traveled with her mother to Franklin to be with her sister, Rachel Donelson Eastin, who was awaiting the birth of a child. There Emily made her sampler under the tutelage of her mother or sister. She entered the Nashville Female Academy in 1818. When she was 17, Emily married her first cousin, Andrew Jackson Donelson. When Andrew Jackson was elected to the Presidency and his wife Rachel died, Emily and her husband went to Washington with him. She served as First Lady of the White House while her husband was Andrew Jackson’s private secretary. Emily gave birth to four children, three of whom were born at the White House. By 1834 she was longing for a home of her own in Tennessee, so the couple began to build Poplar Grove, now known as Tulip Grove, near the Hermitage. She died of tuberculosis there in 1836 shortly after moving into the house. She is buried at the Hermitage Churchyard Cemetery nearby.
Description:
Emily’s text is a couplet from Alexander Pope:

Tis education formz the common mind
Just as the twig is bent the trees inclind
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