Tar Heel Spotlight
Old Hickory: Tar Heel? Palmettoan?
Where was Andrew Jackson
born?
Nobody knows. The seventh
president of the United States
was born March 15, 1767,
either in North or South
Carolina. Nobody knows for
sure, and the puzzle has in
terested historians and
biographers for more than 150
years.
Each of the two states has a
viable claim to the birth and
each has been accepted widely
at separates times during the
years. Jackson himself never
really tried to settle the
controversy and several of his
own statements concerning
his place of birth remain
ambiguous.
The Jacksons were among a
wave of Scotch-Irish
Presbyterian families
arriving from three directions
during the years before the
revolution. Some came by way
of Pennsylvania, Maryland
and Virginia. Others arrived
from Charleston, and the third
group came from the old
country, the north of Ireland.
All settled in the Waxhaws
district — an area astride the
vague and disputed boundary
area of the colonies of North
and South Carolina. There
they settled down to raise
some of the most
people in southern and
Americn history, with Andrew
Jackson the best known.
WAXHAWS
The elder Andrew Jackson
and his wife, Elizabeth,
arrived by way of Penn
sylvania and settled in the
Waxhaws, close to where five
of Mrs. Jackson’s sisters and
their families already were
living. The arrival of Andrew
and Elizabeth and their two
small sons, Hugh and Robert,
made a total of six Hutchison
sisters living in the same
general area, three on one side
of the boundary, and three on
the other side.
Some two years after
arriving, either in February
or March, 1767, Andrew (the
elder) wrenched his back
removing a stump. He went to
bed, contracted influenza or
pneumonia, and died. Mrs.
Jackson was expecting her
third child.
Mrs. Jackson and friends
and relatives took the body in
a pine box by wagon to the Old
Waxhaw Presbyterian Church
cemetery for burial, some 12
miles away from the Jackson
cabin, and about four miles
inside the South Carolina line.
Tradition says that on the
way the party came to
Waxhaw Creek with a steep
bank and while hauling the
body up on the other side,
“lost the coffin and body,
either in the creek or among
the thickets on the bank.
The men in the burial party
had been drinking whiskey to
‘fight the cold’ and the group
traveled about a mile before
realizing their loss. The
party immediately turned
back, found the coffin with the
elotr Andrew Jackson’s body,
and proceeded to the chur
chyard, where the unborn
general’s father was buried.”
Here is where the question
of the birthplace really begins.
At the death of her husband
the stage of Mrs. Jackson’s
pregnancy is not known.
Did Mrs. Jackson return to
her own cabin 12 miles from
the cemetery? Or did she stop
at her sister, Jennet
Crawford’s, at the Crawford
plantation in South Carolina,
or did she travel further on to
the cabin of her sister
Margaret McCamie in North
Carolina.
CONFLICTS
Some sources state that she
returned from the funeral, and
Andrew was born that very
night. Some say the birth
occurred at James Crawford’s
plantation, and other say that
Andrew the younger was born
at George McCamie’s cabin,
then lying 407 yards over the
line in what is present-day
Union County, N. C.
Others insist the birth of
Jackson could have taken
place anytime within a two or
three day period if Mrs.
Jackson stopped at either of
her sisters’ houses following
the funeral.
Other biographers insist
that Mrs. Jackson returned to
her own cabin for a while — a
period of anywhere from two
weeks to two months. Then
she packed her household
goods, her two young boys and
proceeded to her sister’s —
but which sister’s — home?
North Carolina claimants
argue she intended going to
sister Jennet Crawford’s, but
stopped en route at sister
Margaret McCamie’s cabin,
and there arrived Andrew
Jackson.
South Carolina diehards
contend she reached the
Crawford plantation before
the baby arrived.
Some support is given the
claim for the McCamie cabin
from the statement, years
later, of a cousin of Andrew’s.
She insists that her mother,
Elizabeth’s sister Sarah
Leslie, was summoned
“across the fields” to assist in
the delivery, and young
daughter Sarah, then seven,
accompanied her. North
Carolinians point to the
statement “across the fields”
as proof that the birthplace
was the McCamie cabin, since
from the Leslie home to the
Crawfords would have been
through woodlands.
So, on and on the con
troversy rages, albeit politely
from both states and research
continues. It is agreed that
either claim would be ac
cepted by - his historians,
except for the claim by the
other state.
STILL HOPE
Proofs are offered here and
there for both claims, and it is
hoped further indications
pinpointing the birthplace will
turn up in later years.
There is no question
surrounding Jackson’s life.
Young Andy lived with both
Uncle George McCamie and
Uncle James Crawford at
least for awhile during his
boyhood. Then came the
Revolution when Andrew was
13. From that war he carried a
scar all his life, received from
a British officer’s sword when
Andrew refused to clean the
officer’s boots. Older brothers
Hugh and Robert died in the
Revolution. Mother Elizabeth
also died during the same time
after nursing wounded in
Charleston.
At age 17, Andrew studied
law in Salisbury, and in 1788
he journeyed over the
mountains while the land was
still part of North Carolina. In
1789, the North Carolina
legislature ceded the area to
the federal government, and it
became the state of Tennessee
in 1796.
Andrew Jackson, dubbed
“Old Hickory” by his soldiers
for his toughness, lived to be
78 years old, though plagued
with all kinds of disorders. He
served as solicitor,
representative, judge, mer
chant, governor, and senator
(twice), as well as general and
president (twice).
And ail the while, nobody
knows with certainty where he
was born.
Social
—Continned From Page One
goals toward which a state’s
programs should be directed:
Economic self-support.
Self-sufficiency.
Protection of children and
adults from neglect and
abuse.
De-institutionalization to the
greatest extent.
Institutional placement and
services only as needed.
This law allows North
Carolina to offer more ser
vices to more people than ever
before.
School-Public Idea
Pipeline Is Sought
How can Transylvania
County’s school system
establish contact with the
people it serves?
Transylvania County has
been awarded a Federal grant
of $17,000-plus with which to
attempt to establish a pipeline
through which ideas about
school betterment can flow
freely to and fro between the
educational offices and the
public, Superintendent Harry
Corbin said Thursday night.
He was explaining a pilot
program for N. C. to an ad hoc
committee of Transylvania
leaders in a session at the new
Middle School.
“We were fortunate to have
been chosen for this pilot
program,” the school leader
said. “After the results of our
communications program are
in and known, then other
counties will use this in
formation: in effect, they’ll be
saying: ‘This is how Tran
sylvania County did it.”
With the top school ad
ministration officials and
county school principals on
hand, along with members of
the School Board, Prinipal
Richard Voso of the Brevard
Elementary School asked
members of the committee
present to sound off on any
issues about which they were
concerned with the
educational system.
And sound off, they did.
Among the complaints:
*
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McCRARY
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Hundreds Of Dollars On Cars These Units Must Go
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SALE PRICE
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6 cyl., 3 speed transmission
RETAIL PRICE SALE PRICE
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1966 Chevrolet
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transmission, power steering
1969 Ford LTD
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air conditioning
RETAIL PRICE SALE PRICE
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SALE PRICE
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See These And Many More Today At
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Pupils need better math
instruction.
Black students do not have
persons to identify with. More
black teachers are needed.
The county has two actually
teaching, although three are
employed in the education
system.
Parents need to be educated
along with pupils — more
conferences between parents
and teachers are needed.
The curriculum should be
geared to the average and
slower learners instead of the
gifted.
Vocational and technical
training should be stressed to
prepare young people for life.
Students finish high school
who cannot read and cannot
spell.
The three R’s need to be
emphasized.
When you think of
prescriptions, think of
VARNER’S, adv
SENATOR, PAGE — Philip
Jerome, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jerry
H. Jerome, will serve as a page in
the N.C. Senate during the week of
March 23. He was appointed by
Senator Cecil Hill of Brevard, with
whom he is shown chatting here.
for'5'1
15'.'?.
,19
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This cokimn of questions and answers on federal tax
matters is provided by the local office of the U. S. Internal
Revenue Service and is published as a public service to
taxpayers. The column answers questions most frequently
asked by taxpayers.
Q. I participate in a work re
training program sponsored by
the State welfare agency where
I live. Are the payments I re
ceive in this program taxable?
A. No. Such payments are
not taxable (exclusive of extra
allowances for transportation,
etc.) provided they do not ex
ceed the public welfare benefits
you might be receiving other
wise.
y. I am receiving taxable
unemployment benefits from
which tax has not been with
held. Should I file a Declaration
of Estimated Tax for 1975?
A. You must file a declara
tion of estimated income tax.
Form 1040-ES, if your esti
mated tax (line 11 of the esti
mated tax worksheet) is $100
or more and your estimated
gross income for 1975 include!
more than $500 in income no
subject to withholding. Othe
circumstances of marital statui
and amount of gross income
affect whether you must file
Form 1040-ES. For further in
formation call the IRS toll free
with the number listed in the
tax forms package you receive*
in the mail.
When you think of
prescriptions, think of
VARNER’S, adv.
BRING THE FAMILY TO THE BIG
FISH FRY
With All The Trimmings
FRIDAY, MARCH 21st
AT THE
Pisgah Forest Elementary School
SERVING FROM
5:30 P. M. to 8 P. M.
TAKE-OUT ORDERS AVAILABLE
Phone 883-9220
Entertainment And Door Prizes Will Also
Be A Part Of This Delicious Meal!
SPONSORED BY THE
PISGAH FOREST
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PT-A
—.—*
THI3 PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE IS CONTRIBUTED BY
CORPORATION
PiSGAH FOREST. N. C