Former US President's Mother Buried on my College Campus??

Born around 1740 in Carrickfergus, Ireland, Elizabeth Huntchinson, was the mother of the seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson. Escaping religious prosecution from the ruling Anglican faction in the United Kingdom, Elizabeth and her family, along with the Crawford family, fled to America. A few weeks before Andrew Jackson II was born, Elizabeth's husband passed away. "A few weeks later, Elizabeth and her sons moved to the house of her sister and brother-in-law, Jane and James Crawford, just over the border in South Carolina. Jane’s health had greatly deteriorated after she moved to America, and she was now and invalid" (Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson para 6). 

During the Revolutionary War, the British invaded South Carolina and captured Charleston in addition to Andrew and Robert, Elizabeth's son and nephew. This caused Elizabeth to move to Charleston and bargain for their lives. "As a result of this incident, Andrew and Robert were held prisoner at Camden, South Carolina. Both boys became infected with smallpox and would have likely died, but Elizabeth arranged a prisoner transfer – the patriots turned over thirteen redcoats and the British freed seven prisoners, including the two Jacksons" (Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson para 13). Up until her death, she spent the her time tending to the soldiers that had escaped from the British warship. 

Elizabeth Jackson's grave marker memorial on Cougar Mall at the College of Charleston. 

Following her death as a result of the cholera epidemic, Elizabeth was buried in 1781 near what is now Magnolia Cemetery. However, there is a grave marker on the College of Charleston's campus that many people believe is where she is actually buried. Originally, her memorial grave marker was not located on C of C's campus. About 2.5 miles away, some "well-intended folks" wanted to move the marker from it's location as a result of it's neglected state. "In 1942, several service members at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island responded to a newspaper’s call to honor Mrs. Jackson. These men, who mostly hailed from Columbia, commissioned the marker and placed it in a railroad right of way -- a sort of no man’s land just east of King Street Extension and Heriot Street. They didn’t choose the site by chance: An 1825 letter from James H. Witherspoon of Lancaster tells Jackson: “Your mother is buried in the suburbs of Charleston about one mile from what was then called the Governor’s Gate, which is in and about the forks of Meeting and Kingstreet Roads” (This History is a Mystery para 6). 

Fast forward to 1967, due to the headstone's "unkept roadside surroundings," local historians succeeded in moving the headstone to the College of Charleston's main campus prior to Ted Stern becoming president of the college. Although she is not buried on the the College of Charleston's campus, the Daughters of the American Revolution took it upon themselves to create a statue by, making a best guess at the location of her grave, and then erecting a statue in her memory of the woman they imagined she resembled. It serves as a monument to all the forgotten, long-suffering mothers of Presidents, past, present, and future" (Statue of Andrew Jackson's Mom para 1). 

Statue of Elizabeth Jackson