State

rew Jackson’s Birthplace The conirovery Iwlucen North Carol in a anil Soulli Carolina probably will continue for а 1опц' >»»<* I» come, but l)r. Henderson in the accompanying' article presents a strong case for North Carolina. By Bit. ARCHIBALD HENDERSON THE controversy regarding An¬ drew Jackson's birthplace has continued vigorously if inter¬ mittently even since 1858 when Samuel H. Walkup. a prominent lawyer of Union County. North Carolina, published fifteen affida¬ vits. in the weekly newspaper, the North Carolina Argus i Wadcs- boro). September 23. 1858. Thir¬ teen years earlier, in a fourth of July oration on Andrew Jackson, who died June 8, 1845. Mr. Walkup read aloud to the audience the signed statements of two aged men. Benjamin Massey and John Carnes, bearing on the matter. The sum and substance of this evidence is given below : Massey interviewed Mrs. Sarah Leslie Lathan. niece of Andrew Jackson, to employ Massey’s own words "about the year 1822 . . . Mrs. Lathan states that when the father of Andrew died Mrs. Jackson left home and came to her brother-in- law’s. McKemey's, previous to the birth of Andrew; after living at Mr. McKemey’s awhile Andrew was born and she was present at his birth; as soon as Mrs. Jackson was restored to health and strength she came to Mr. James Crawford’s, in South Carolina and there re¬ mained.” Carnes testified that Sarah Leslie herself "has often told that Gen¬ eral Jackson was born at George McKemey’s, in North Carolina, and that his mother, soon after his birth, moved over to James Craw¬ ford’s, in South Carolina; and I think she told me she was present at his birth; but -at* any rate, she knew well he was born at Mc¬ Kemey’s and that the impression that he was born at Crawford's arose from his mother moving over there so soon after his birth. Mrs. Leslie was a lady of unblemished character and excellent reputa¬ tion." James Faulkner, grandson of Sarah Leslie, Mrs. Andrew Jack¬ son’s sister, affirmed that he had "particularly heard his aunt Sarah Lathan often speak of it and assert that she was present at his. Jack¬ son’s birth; that she said her mother. Mrs. Leslie, was sent for on that occasion and took her, Mrs. Lathan. then a small girl about seven years old, with her, and that she recollected well of going the near way through the fields to get there; and that afterwards, when Mrs. Jackson became able to travel, she continued her trip to Mrs. Crawford’s and took her son An¬ drew with her, and there re¬ mained." Samuel McWhorter affirmed that his grandmother, Elizabeth Mc¬ Whorter, a near neighbor of George McKemey’s. had frequently told him that "Mrs. Jackson was on her wav from her residence on Twelve Mile Creek. N. C., to her relations in Waxhaw, and stopped to stay all night with her sister. Mrs. Mc- Kemey, and was taken in labor there, and that she. Mrs. Mc¬ Whorter. was present at the birth of Andrew, at the house of George McKemey in North Carolina; and that she took my father with her the next day when she visited Mrs. Jackson at McKemey’s.’’ The above incidents had been matters of common knowledge in the neighborhood for thirty-odd years prior to the publication of Walkup’s article in 1858. The first reference to these matters in print, so far as is now known, is in a note, signed "K," to the editor of the Columbia (South Carolina! Telescope , copies on November 24, 1824, in the Charleston Courier: "There has been much uncertainty in regard to General Jackson’s birthplace ... I am glad that I have it in my power to settle this question . . . After the death of his father, his mother . . . went to live with her brother-in-law. a Mr. Mc- Amey . . . General Jackson was born at the house of Mr. McAmey, and therefore in the State of North Carolina. When he was about six weeks old his mother removed with him to the house of Mr. James Crawford, another brother-in-law. on the South Carolina side of the road." In this same year Andrew Jack- son. in response to the point-blank query by James H. Witherspoon, THE STATE. October 8. 1949 This is the South Carolina monument, supposed to he at Jackson’s birthplace. 6