Andrew Jackson is rated in numerous historical polls as our sixth greatest president. South Carolina and North Carolina each claim to be his birth state. Which state is correct? Andrew Jackson (father of the future president), a farmer from Ireland and his wife Elizabeth decided to seek a new life in America. “In 1765, the Jackson’s settled in the Scotch-Irish farming community in the Waxhaw region straddling the border between North Carolina and South Carolina.” Elizabeth, with two young boys, advised her husband that she was again pregnant and that the baby would arrive before Spring. Jackson “doubled his efforts to plow additional land. His desire exceeded his strength as he lifted a log that was too heavy for him – he was forced to bed and soon died.” Elizabeth, facing “the daunting prospect of raising three children without the support of a man,” was fortunate to have two married sisters living nearby. As her delivery day neared, Elizabeth and her boys moved in with her sister Mrs. Jane Crawford in present day Lancaster County, South Carolina, where many believe she gave birth on March 15, 1767. Elizabeth named her new son after her late husband. Even though Jackson believed he was born at the Crawford home in South Carolina, some respected historians argue that enroute to the Crawfords, Mrs. Jackson stopped nearby to visit her other sister, Mrs. Margaret McCamie, in what is now Union County, North Carolina, where she suddenly went into labor and there gave birth to the future president. Google adds to the birth state controversy, as it simply defines Jackson’s birth place as “The Waxhaw region of the Carolinas.”
According to historian, William A. DeGregorio, “In 1979, local officials in the two counties decided to settle the matter in a most unique way: Each year high school football teams from Union County and Lancaster County square off in the Old Hickory (Jackson’s nickname) Football Classic. The victorious county wins the right to claim the seventh president as a native son and to place a 17-inch stoneware bust of Jackson in its courthouse for one year.”
