This portrait of Sarah Yorke Jackson was completed by Mayna Treanor Avent circa 1921, after a Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl portrait from circa 1833. Sarah Yorke Jackson was the wife of Andrew Jackson Jr., who was the adopted son of President Andrew Jackson. Sarah filled the role of White House hostess during the last months of the Jackson administration after the death of Emily Tennessee Donelson, wife of President Jackson's orphaned nephew Andrew Jackson Donelson. President Jackson and his wife, the late Rachel Jackson, served as guardians for Andrew Jackson Donelson and his siblings. Rachel never fulfilled the duties of first lady as she passed away just three months before President Jackson took office. Emily Tennessee Donelson and Sarah Yorke Jackson stepped in to fill that role and serve as White House hostess during his eight year administration.
Artist
Mayna Treanor Avent
Date of Work
ca. 1921
Medium
oil paint, canvas
Type
Portrait
Credit
White House Collection/White House Historical Association
Sarah Yorke was born ca. 1803/05 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to parents Peter and Mary.1 Relatives raised Sarah after she was orphaned as a child.2 She married Andrew Jackson Jr., the adopted son of President Andrew Jackson, in 1831.3 Sarah lived at Jackson’s plantation, The Hermitage, and oversaw the operation of the household and the enslaved laborers there, during his presidency. She an
Wearing the white dress she had purchased for her husband’s inaugural ceremonies in March 1829, Rachel Donelson Jackson was buried in the garden at the Hermitage, her home near Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas Eve in 1828. Lines from her epitaph—A being so gentle and so virtuous slander might wound, but could not dishonor—reflected Andrew Jackson’s bitterness at campaign slurs th
Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767 near Lancaster, South Carolina, to a family of Scotch-Irish immigrants. His father, Andrew, passed away just a few weeks before his son's birth. All three Jackson boys—Hugh, Robert, and Andrew—were raised by their mother Elizabeth. The family settled in the Waxhaws near the North and South Carolina border, where they joined a larg
Okay – so he didn’t exactly go to the beach but he did spend four long vacations on the Virginia coast indulging in sea air, privacy, and “bathing.” Close enough!
In 1829, during the first summer of Andrew Jackson’s presidency, he went on an inspection tour of several military projects around Norfolk, Virginia. One of the places he visited was a man-made
On November 24, 1831, Andrew Jackson, Jr. married Sarah Yorke. President Andrew Jackson, a devoted father, wanted to give his son’s new bride a wedding present. In March of 1832, he purchased what he thought would be most helpful for a young woman setting up her own domestic household for the first time – an enslaved woman named Gracy Bradley.1
In January 1829, less than two months before he became president, Andrew Jackson ordered an inventory of his slaves. The inventory recorded the names, ages, and familial relationships of ninety-five enslaved individuals who lived and worked at The Hermitage, his Tennessee plantation.1 When President-elect Jackson left for the White House, he brought some of these enslaved people with him. The 1830 census
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First ladies hold a unique place in American history. The collection of first ladies' gowns and artifacts remains one of the most popular exhibitions, visited by millions of annual visitors at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C..1 First ladies are the focus of documentaries, podcasts, books, and scholarly works that examine their lives and contributions
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued a presidential proclamation, declaring the week of March 8, 1980 to be Women’s History Week. Eight years later in 1988, Congress passed Public Law 100-9, which proclaimed March as Women’s History Month. In light of Women’s History Month, the White House Historical Association has created a White House Women digital collection of stories highlighting women who sh