The Donelson Family Cemetery

The Donelson Family Cemetery. . This cemetery provides a resting place for many members of the Donelson family whose original burial sites have been lost to development. It is not original to the Hermitage Church grounds., In 1948, a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) moved the Donelson Family Cemetery to the Hermitage Church. The cemetery had been located at “Ingleside,” the home and plantation of Rachel Jackson's nephew, William Donelson. The property originally belonged to his father, Rachel's brother, John Donelson., The monument to Rachel Stockley Donelson, Rachel's mother, came from another cemetery located north of Nashville on Gallatin Road, near where her home once stood. The large monument to Lemuel and Eliza Donelson came from a site that was once their farm in Franklin, Tennessee., Burials , . James Rucker Donelson, son of Rachel Jackson's brother, Severn; 1805-1829 , . Elizabeth Rucker Donelson, wife of Rachel Jackson's brother, Severn (biological mother of Andrew Jackson Jr.); 1782-1828 , . Severn Donelson, Rachel Jackson's brother (biological father of Andrew Jackson Jr.), 1773-1818 , . James Martin, husband of Catherine Donelson Martin, 1791-1849 , . Rachel Martin, daughter of James and Catherine Donelson Martin, 1827-1848 , . Lewis Randolph, grandson of James and Catherine Donelson Martin and great-grandson of President Thomas Jefferson, 1836-1.841 , . Catherine Donelson Martin, daughter of John and Mary Purnell Donelson, 1799-1836 , . Ann Handy Martin, daughter of James and Catherine Donelson Martin, 1834-1837 , . Mary Purnell Donelson, wife of Captain John Donelson, 1763-1848 , . Captain John Donelson, Rachel's brother, 1755-1830 , . Susanna Eastin, daughter of William and Rachel Donelson Eastin, (1812-1823) , . Emily Tennessee Donelson, daughter of John and Mary Purnell Donelson and wife of Andrew Jackson Donelson, 1807-1836 , . Phila Ann Lawrence Donelson, daughter-in-law of John and Mary Purnell Donelson and wife of their son, Stockley, 1809-1851 , . William Donelson, son of John and Mary Purnell Donelson, 1795-1864 , . Elizabeth Anderson Donelson, second wife of William Donelson, 1809-1841 , . Elizabeth Glasgow Anderson, mother of Elizabeth Anderson Donelson, 1772-1847 , . Lemuel Donelson, son of John and Mary Purnell Donelson, 1789-1832 , . Eliza Whyte Donelson, wife of Lemuel Donelson, 1802-1832 , . William Eastin, son-in-law of John and Mary Purnell Donelson and husband of their daughter, Rachel, (1784-1829) , . Tabitha Smith Eastin, daughter of William and Rachel Donelson Eastin, (1814-1816) , . Lawrence Donelson, son of Stockley and Phila Ann Lawrence Donelson, (1845-1865) No Marker , . Catherine (Kate) Donelson, daughter of Andrew Jackson Donelson and Elizabeth Martin Donelson, (1850-1868) No Marker , . Rachel Donelson, daughter of Rachel Jackson's brother Severn and first wife of Rachel's nephew, William Donelson, 1803-1824, Captions , (Top) John and Mary Purnell Donelson, Rachel Jackson's brother and sister-in-law, owned much of the land between The Hermitage and the Cumberland River to the west. Their family and their children's families formed an important part of the Jacksons' circle of friends and relatives. Many of them are buried here. One that is not was the Donelson's daughter Mary who married Jackson's good friend John Coffee. The Coffees lived in Alabama and were buried there. , (Bottom, left) During the removal of the Donelson family cemetery to the Hermitage Church, members of the DAR supervised the workmen moving the graves and monuments and made notes about the condition of each burial. , (Bottom, center) Members of the DAR and descendants of Rachel Jackson's mother gather for the placement of a monument at her original gravesite in 1933. The elderly woman in black seated at the right, Emily Donelson Walton, attended Andrew Jackson's funeral as a seven-year-old.