ExclusiveEmily Donelson and Sarah Yorke Jackson: Rival Acting First Ladies

Andrew Jackson’s wife, Rachel, died between his election and the inauguration, leaving the devastated president to rely on relatives to be hostess of the White House. His original acting first lady was Emily Donelson, his wife’s niece and his private secretary’s wife. After they clashed over the Petticoat Affair, when Emily joined all the cabinet wives in ostracizing Secretary of War John Eaton’s wife because of her supposed pre-marital affair, Jackson gradually replaced Donelson with his new daughter-in-law, Sarah Jackson Yorke. For a while, the two ladies acted as co-hostesses, partly due to Emily’s weakening health.


#americanlegends #firstladies #whitehousehistory #presidentialfamilies #19thcenturywomen #quietstrength #presidentialhistory #classicamericanhistory #history #historyandculture #historyfacts #historyandcuture #american #uncoveringhistory #uncoverthetruth