Jun 21, 2018 - Sale 2483

Sale 2483 - Lot 149

Price Realized: $ 9,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000
"I HAD A LONG TIME WISHED TO JOIN THE CHURCH PUBLICKLY" JACKSON, ANDREW. Autograph Letter Signed, twice (in full and "A.J."), to his wife's niece Sarah Knox Sevier ("Dear Sarah"), complaining of health problems, relating the circumstances of the death of his companion Mr. [Ralph Eleaser Whiteside] Earl, explaining why he had not previously joined the Church, expecting soon to meet Earl in "a happy immortality," sending regards from himself, son, and daughter-in-law, and in a postscript signed with initials: "present me kindly to your mother & Mrs. Jackson and all their families." 4 pages, 4to, written on a folded sheet; pages 2-3 silked, smudging to initial "A" and moderate staining to "w" of full signature, few scattered closed tears repaired with silk reinforcement, some loss at lower right of second page affecting a few words repaired with paper, minor scattered staining and smudging. "Hermitage" [Nashville], 15 October 1838

Additional Details

"Your kind and pious letter . . . found me confined by another attack of Hemorhage [sic] from [sic] which, & other causes, has prevented me from acknowledging it until now. I was very much debilitated by my last attack but thanks to a kind providence I have slowly regained my strength and am again able to wield my pen, but write with some difficulty--my vision being a good deal impaired for the first time. My hand shakes.
". . . [O]ur mutual friend Mr. Earle took sick--he complained of slight pain in the head and pains in his limbs. I wanted him to be bled & take calomel--he opposed the lancet, but took calomel--it operated well and he said he was better . . . . [O]n the third day after he was taken, I prevailed upon the Doctor to bleed him, and he was much better. . . . [O]n Friday evening we discovered his fingers cold, a fine pulse & every other part sufficiently warm, & covered with a gentle sweat. I began to be alarmed, sent for another Doctor but all their blisters & steaming failed to restore a general circulation, and on Sunday morning he died without a groan or complaint--he died without knowing he was sick--it was congestive fever that crept upon him imperceptibly until it seized his vital parts and hastily carried him from us. This was a severe shock to us all, being taken from us so suddenly and unexpectedly--to me a great bereavement--he was my friend & companion--a good man & worthy of all confidence. But he is taken from us--'The Lord give[th] and the Lord taketh away, and blessed be the name of the Lord, he doeth all things well.' I am preparing to follow him well convinced that my time has nearly run its course, and hope to meet him in a happy immortality where the wicked cease to trouble, the weary are at rest, and there unite with the saints redeemed by the . . . blood of our Saviour, and join with them in singing praises to the father, son & holy spirit forever & ever, amen.
"I sincerely thank you for your pious wishes & benedictions. I had a long time wished to join the church publickly [sic], but my political situation prevented me. The censorious would have charged me with hypocracy [sic], and that I had joined the church to obtain popularity. I therefore postponed this public act until my worst enemies could not have room to charge me with hypocracy. I pray God to make me a worthy member, & to give me grace to continue to the end, and to receive that crown of glory prepared for all his true followers by our savior & redeemer, the lord jesus christ.
"My dear Sarah and Mrs. S. Donelson went with me to the table of the Lord--there publickly plighted our solemn vows to take up his cross and follow him through good & bad report, and I trust in his devine [sic] grace that we will be able to continue faithful to the end and not falter or turn back.
"It is very doubtful whether I will ever to be able to travel from home. It would give me pleasure to visit all my friends before I go hence. . . ."
While he was raised by Presbyterian parents and married the deeply religious Rachel Donelson, Jackson did not officially join the Church until 1838, when he became a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Nashville.