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Emily Donelson Portrait

Emily Donelson Portrait

Credit: White House Historical Association (White House Collection)

Creator: Ralph E. W. Earl, 1830.

Emily Donelson was Andrew Jackson's favorite niece, and her husband was the President's private secretary. When Rachel Jackson died shortly before the inauguration, Emily, only twenty-one, was asked to be the White House hostess. Though young, she was an able mother and household manager.

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