Perspectives: Robards | Jackson
Marriage in Natchez | Divorce Laws

TIMELINES: Official | Remini's

No Record Survives
Who performed the marriage in Natchez is unknown. Judge Overton does not say. Overton merely says 'In the summer of 1791, General Jackson returned to Natchez, & as I understand, married Mrs. Robards.' Natchez was under Spanish rule at the time, which meant that all legal marriages had to be performed by the Catholic Church under the supervision of a duly ordained Catholic priest. During the spring and summer of 1791 the spiritual needs of the people in the Natchez area were ministered by Father Guillermo Savage, an Irish priest who took up his duties in May 1791. It is unlikely he performed the marriage; he would have recorded it if he had, and no such record exists. Furthermore, Rachel was a married woman (albeit thought to be divorced) and no Catholic priest would solemnize a marital union while the husband of one of the partners still lived.

Both Rachel and Andrew were Protestant. Even so, the Spanish would not have permitted a contractual obligation to take place within their jurisdiction without their knowledge and approval. And such approval, if given, would have been recorded. Thus this "marriage" if one took place—was doubly illegal; not only was Rachel still married to Robards but the civil authority in Natchez did not give its permission for a marriage service to take place.

It was possible that a Protestant minister living in the district could have performed marriage ceremonies, but the marriage would, in the eyes of the Spanish, be illegal.

Source:

Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson, Volume One, The Course of the American Empire, 1767-1821 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998) Chapter 5, "Marriage."