Thursday, August 27, 2009

As promised, here is a speculative musing by Peter Garcia on the relationship of Andrew Jackson to the Lancaster family:

When Judge Sonia Sotomayor was appointed by President Obama, there was an article in The New Yorker about the evolution of choices of Supreme Court justices. At one time, the President made appointments that had a geographical basis. The appointments to the Supreme Court later evolved to have ideological foundations and, lately, gender and ethnic considerations.

The author wrote that in 1836 Andrew Jackson appointed Roger Taney to the Supreme Court, making Taney the first Roman Catholic justice. I had remembered that our family is related to Taney, through General David B. Morgan, our grandfather's grandfather (David B. Morgan's daughter was Joseph B. Lancaster's mother). I wondered about the relationship between Jackson and Taney: Were they connected through Morgan? Jackson and Morgan were fellow defenders of New Orleans during the War of 1812. Who introduced Jackson to Taney? Did Taney come to have a seat on the Supreme Court of the United States because he was related to our great-great grandfather?


Peter refers to the June 8, 2009 article by Jeffrey Toobin entitled, "Diverse Opinions." If anyone finds more information about this topic, please submit it! Meanwhile, I will research the issue, too.