So... Why Does the College Have a Grave on Campus?

How did CofC get so lucky as to be the home of Elizabeth Jackson's headstone? 

Unfortunately, not much is known about the life of Andrew Jackson's mother- not even her final resting place. 

All that is really known is that she died in Charleston in 1781 after arriving in the area to assist in caring for some family on a ship.  She succumbed to what was presumably cholera.

Her son, Andrew Jackson

It is also known that President Jackson spent much of his life in regret and agony over the death of his mother, spending years to find where she was buried and never succeeding.

The marker on Cougar Mall states that she was buried "near this spot"; However, in a letter addressed to President Jackson, a man named James Witherspoon informs him that his "mother is buried... about one mile from Governor's Gate, which is in and about the forks  of Meeting and Kingstreet roads".

Plus, the marker was moved two and a half miles from its original placement uptown to arrive on campus.  It was moved in 1967 after a plethora of complaints about the condition of the stone and how no one tended to it.   

No one has ever found Mrs. Jackson's grave, although many believe her legacy and final words are more important than actually finding her- words live longer than a person does.

Her headstone is engraved with an epitaph of her last words to her son- an important message teaching him to "never tell a lie nor take what is not your own nor sue for slander. Settle those cases yourself".

Elizabeth Jackson's headstone at the College