Elizabeth Jackson, hero of the Revolution and mother to a Presedent

“Andy, never tell a lie nor take what is not your own nor sue for slander. Settle those cases yourself.”
This is what it says on the headstone located on the College of Charleston campus right off of the cougar mall. It was made to mark the life of Elizabeth Jackson, mother of President Andrew Jackson. But how did it come to make its way onto the campus, and is she really buried there? The story of how she made her way to Charleston and her eventual death is very important to the life of our seventh president

The headstone on the cougar mall

 Elizabeth Hutchinson was born in 1740 in Ireland. She married Andrew Jackson Sr. in 1761 and the couple emigrated to America in 1765 to escape religious persecution. In February 1767 Andrew Jackson Sr. died unexpectedly aged 29 while Elizabeth was pregnant with Andrew Jackson and three weeks later he was born. In 1780, the British launched an invasion of South Carolina and captured Charleston on May 12. Groups of soldiers and Tory sympathizers began to loot and pillage the countryside with soldiers leveling settlements and killing more than a hundred patriots. 

The Jackson family tended to the wounds and administered first aid. After the attacks, Andrew (age 13) and his brothers Hugh and Robert joined a patriot regiment. Soon thereafter, Hugh and Robert both died due to Revoluntary war involvement
Having already had lost her two eldest sons, Elizabeth traveled to Charleston to care for two ill nephews. She also reportedly tended other sick soldiers on a prisoner-of-war ship off the Charleston harbor before succumbing to yellow fever, typhus or some other illness and dying in Charleston in the fall of 1781. Sadly, that is all we know about her death. Nobody is quite sure of the whereabouts of her body

Elizabeth's son Andrew Jackson, 7th president

The mystery of Mrs. Jackson’s burial site is more than just a historical footnote; Andrew later in life went on a sort of mission to find her bones and bring them back to be buried with his family. A Jackson biographer Jon Meacham’s describes how Jackson tried in vain to find her final resting place.“He long sought the whereabouts of his mother’s grave but to no avail. Perhaps partly in reaction to what he may have viewed as the lack of respect or care others had taken with his mother’s burial, he became a careful steward of such things -- a devotee of souvenirs, a keeper of tombs, and an observer of anniversaries.”In 1942, several service members responded to a newspaper’s call to honor Mrs. Jackson. These men commissioned the marker and placed it in a railroad right of way.

They didn’t choose the site by chance. According to an 1825 letter from James H. Witherspoon to Jackson himself said that: "Your mother is buried in the suburbs of Charleston about one mile from what was then called the Governor’s Gate, which is in and about the forks of Meeting and Kingstreet Roads.”Sadly, it wasn't quite a scenic place and the stone quickly fell into disrepair as early as 1947. eventually, local historians succeeded in getting it moved to the College of Charleston in 1967 around when Ted Stern became president. It again fell into disrepair until in 2005 when it was revealed and brought back forward in cougar mall for anyone passing by to see.The story of Elizabeth Jackson and the tragic tale of her life and how her stone came to be on our campus is one that will intrigue and inspire others for generations

My Great-Grandmother may have worked for the mob?

Recently, my great aunt Nancy, my grandmother’s sister who our family is so close to we all just call “Aunt Nancy”, started getting into genealogy and finding old photographs of our relatives. Last Christmas I remember her sitting us all down in front of our computer while we looked through some of the photos she found from her own childhood. Some of the photos of her own mother intrigued me and I recently called her and asked her to tell me more about her, my great-grandmother.

Me and my brother with Cele in 2005

Cele in 1921 aged 9

My great-grandmother's full name was Mary Cecelia Loftus Dole, but she always went by Cele Dole. She was born June 20, 1912, and died in February of 2007, both in Cincinnati, Ohio, and she is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery. I was able to meet her a couple times before she died, but I don’t remember much of it because I was so young. She died when I was 6 and in a sad twist of fate, she died just months before our family moved from Phoenix, Arizona to Cincinnati where she lived. I’m sure I would have gotten to know her better if she had lived a little longer since we would have been living so close.

Cele on the far left

According to my Dad, people who met her apparently “would have met a very feisty and opinionated woman”, which according to him “wasn't always a good thing for a woman in the mid-century midwest”. She stood at a solid 5”9 and, as you can see in the photos, towered over her friends. She played basketball in high school and, as a woman in the 1930’s, that was almost unheard of. She had a lifelong love for sports, especially UC Basketball and Cincinnati Reds baseball, and one of the only memories I have of her is of her wearing a Red’s baseball hat in her retirement home.

Some of the fun stories I have of her is that when she first married my great-grandfather in the 1930s, they lived in New York City. According to Aunt Nancy, the trash hauler company Cele worked for at that time may have had mob connections. Nancy says that “business like that usually had “connections” although (Nancy) did not think Cele realized this at the time. She would make bank deposits by carrying the money in a paper bag to the bank. Whether it was mob-related or not, I think it is so cool to think my great-grandmother could have been involved in something as exciting as the mob scene in New York City during the height of organized crime.

Another fun story from my aunt is in the mid 30’s, Cele worked for the fledgling American Airlines at the Lunken Airport in Cincinnati. Apparently, the company ran into financial difficulties (this was during the height of the Great Depression) and could not afford to pay her. They, instead, offered to pay her in flying lessons but, sadly, Cele needed the money so she had to leave the job. 

Cele and Harvey with my Grandmother

As a mother to my grandmother and great aunt, she was apparently very conservative and strict. She even banned my grandmother from listening to The Beatles, which I always thought was quite funny. She was very religious, attending her methodist church regularly, but she wasn't pious or crazy, according to my dad. I have no idea how Cele handled my aunt, however, as my aunt is quite younger than my grandmother and is a generic hippie woman to this day, as she never took her husband’s last name and keeping her maiden name of Nancy Dole. I’m sure that probably drove Cele crazy, but I think it was just her daughter taking after her headstrong mother, a trait I think I inherited

I chose to do my great grandmother because I was curious about the woman who I never got to know, the woman who raised my grandmother and aunt, two women I respect and admire greatly. I’m glad I chose her because now I know some facts about my family from a time before I was born, and I have stories I can pass down to my children someday.

Bethel Graveyard

We took a trip to Bethel Methodist Cemetary this last monday, and it gave us a very good insight to the many types of gravestones that people have and what they mean. It was a very well kept cemetary and it was so fun to walk around at sunset, esspeclly since it is currently October. They have a Find-A-Grave that was very intresting as well.

This gravestone is a great representation of an broken flower gravestone. The broken flower  is used to symbolize death

This headstone has an example of a weeping willow. This is used to represent sorrowful mourning 

The pedastool and the open book isusually used to represent a preacher or a learned man. The  open book usually represents the holy book, the bible, and the open book means a life that was lived

This is a greart example of a pedastool gravestone. They werre usually large and dramatic and expensive and usually only wealthier famlies could afford them

The dramaric fabric draped over the headstone is usually representive of a life snuffed out. It was a fashionable trend durning the victorian era.

The usuage of a Wreath symbolizes victory and redemption, while the dove ususally represents the Holy Spirit, along with love and purity.

The usage of the cross though a crown is quite common. The cross represents the holy suffering of jesus and the crown is the redemption to heaven

The usage of flowers and lilies usually are used with women and symbolize the purity and kindess of heart of the women. This along with the dove symboklizes extreame purity

The usage of angels on this gravestone symbolizes holyness and devotion to religion.

The obalisk cut off at the top was a common symbol in the Victorian era. They susalyh represented a life cut short.

Ancestor proposal

My ancestor proposal is my great grabndmother Mary Cecelia Loftus Dole

Darty in the Graveyard!

On Saturday the 28th of september we took a fun field trip to visit Coming Street (Hebrew) Cemeraty to meet with the lovely Anita Rosenberg and Randi Serrins, both of who were very reputable sorcies and knowlagebale about this partucilar cementary. The link for the Jewish Cemetary is here and it was very intrugeing to hear and see the story of a cemetary that is not christian, as all of the ones we have previously seen are christian. All of these gravestones I'm about to talk about are from the Coming Street cemetary.

This gravestone is one of the last ones I saw, as it had quite a few carvings on it to talk about. Sadly, I am unable to read any of the words on the gravestone, but the carvings are very intriguing in themselves. The hand pointing up usually symbolizes the soul ascending into heaven, and the wreath usually symbolizes remembrance or holiness in the person buried here. the obelisk was quite a popular trend in the victorian era, so it is safe to assume this gravestone is from that era.









This gravestone was interesting for many reasons. The first is because it was so new, it looked diffrent from the others. It also had part of carvings writen in Hebrew, which is diffrent from christian cemetaries for odvious reasons. Lastly, it seems that on the left is burried the remains of Ira Rosenberg who was born March 11th 1937 and died just recently on January 21st 2017. On the other side, however, is writen the name Anita Moise Rosefield Rosenberg, and it had no birth and death date. This seems to be Ira's wife, and it appears that she is still alive today.









This tomb to the right is gorgeously crafted in almost gothic medieval-style architecture and, from what Anita and Randi say, was build as a giant diss to the original Jewish cemetery. According to the story, this Jewish man's wife who never converted to judicial died giving birth to his child. The synagogue didn't allow her or her infant child to be buried in the synagogue because neither had converted before they died. (Idk how they expected this three-day-old infant to convert to Judaism but whatever). Enraged by this, the husband bought a sliver of land next to the Jewish cemetery and build the most elaborate tomb for his wife and child in the whole cemetery. According to Anita, "The walls on the inside show traces that they were originally painted baby blue" and she also said, regarding the architecture, that "It looks almost like a medieval castle-like there should be banners flying from the top". I think this is truly a fascinating story and I am glad that the husband got to have the last laugh in the end.


This gravestone is one of the older ones in the cemetery, dating from the 18th century, and what is interesting is the carving of the hands on the stone. The hands are making the "Live long and prosper" gesture that Mr. Spock used on Star Trek. Leonard Nimoy is Jewish, so that's where he got it from. It is a form of a Jewish blessing used by the priestly caste to represent luck and good fortune. Sadly I am unable to read the carvings, but I believe that this gravestone is for an American revolutionary solder.









This stone was very simple but very elegent in my opinion. Acording to the story that was told to us by our tour guides, this is the only gravestone in the whole cemetary that is written in French. Unfortuntally, this means I cannot read what is written, ledgable or not, but from what they said this is the headstone of a little girl. The depiction of the lily ususally symbolizes innocence, purity, and resurrection. It often is associated with the Virgin Mary and resurrection and is usually used on women's graves. 






This particular gravestone was very intresting. It is in near perfect condition and it hasent been touched since it was made in the early 1800's. compared to the other headstones surrounding it, all made around the same time, it looks practicly brand new. Why does it look almost new? Its made out of zinc! It's completly hollow! I thought that was so cool because it's held up so well over the years. Acording to our guides, this is the headstone of the young wife of a sailor with a lot of money. As you can see on the stone, it depicts an ancor hinting at the sefairing trade. Also, zinc was super expensive so that tells us that the sailor was quite well off.

 This gravestone isnt quite as dramatic or elegent as many of the others, but it is just as interesting. Similar to quite a few of the gravestone in this cemetary, they have the decriptions inscribed in both hebrew and engligh. This is unique only to this cemetary compared to any of the others in the city of charleston, as they were all some denomination of christianity. This gravestone also has a small plaque under it stating that the man burried here, Sampson Simons 1750-1811, was a solder who fought in the american revolution.









Finally, a gravestone I could read! This one says MIRIAM L. Daughter of J.L & R.J Moses. Born Jany. 24th, 1866. Died Dec. 15, 1881. This would have made Miriam around 15 years old when she died. This gravestone has held up bvery well over time and is a great example of the victorian era gravestone with its style and carving. It also has a carving of a lily which, as I mentiond before, ususally symbolizes innocence, purity, the Virgin Mary, and is usually used on women's graves. 

This gravestone is intrersting in many ways. For one, what I could make out, it says "in memory of our darling son JOSH(IA). J . F (ALES) September 24th 1855 Aged 1 year and 7 days." This grave is quite small as was customary for young children who died, and irt shows a sleeping child holding a wreith surronded by what looks like flowers? The sleeping child was commen for child deaths and the wreith is used to symolize remberence. This grave is unique however due to its sickly blue color seeming to come from inside the headstone itself. Our tour guides explained that when gravemakers would attach the headstones to the base part, if they happend to accadently use copper nails, over time the nails would rust and turn the headstone a slightlhy teal color. This would explain the







This gravestone is packed with victorian symbolisim. It says "In memory of  SELINA DAVECA the beloved wife of HERMAN LEIDLOFF Died Nov. 7, 1886" This is beautiful carving of an alter of sorts covered with fabric. On top of it sit the caving of a closed book. This may represent a prechers pulpit and the holy book of the bible, but the fact that it is closed is ususally used to represent that the person's life has ended.