Sarah Polk Fall

{{Infobox person

| name = Sarah Polk Fall

| image = Fall_Hermitage(cropped).jpg

| image_upright = 1.1

| caption = Fall between 1915 and 1919

| birth_name = Sarah Polk Jetton

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1847|04|01|}}

| death_date = {{death date|1924|07|22|}} (aged 77)

| birth_place = Rutherford County, Tennessee U.S.

| death_place = Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.

| resting_place = Mount Olivet Cemetery

| nationality = American

| known_for = Fostered daughter of
Sarah Childress Polk

| spouse = {{marriage|George William Fall|1865|1909|end=died}}

| children = Saidee Fall Grant{{efn|Born Sarah Polk Fall, she was called Saidee to distinguish her from her mother and her mother's great-aunt.{{cite book |last1=Greenberg |first1=Amy S. |title=Lady First: The World of Mrs. James K. Polk |date=2019 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=9780385354134 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-KCDwAAQBAJ&q=saidee&pg=PA251 |access-date=March 30, 2019}}{{rp|251}} She was also known as Saidee Fall Gardner.{{cite web |title=Prominent Banker Weds |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0G_nAAAAMAAJ&q=rollin+p+grant+gardner&pg=PA1649 |website=Google Books |publisher=Financier |ref=Volume 109 |location=New York |pages=1649 |date=1917}}|name=name|group=lower-alpha}}

| signature =

}}

Sarah Polk Jetton Fall{{efn|Although she was born with the name "Sarah" she mostly went by Sallie. The Library of Congress uses the alternate spelling "Sally".}} (April 1, 1847 – July 22, 1924) was a wealthy Nashville socialite and philanthropist. She was the great-niece and unofficially adopted daughter of former First Lady Sarah Childress Polk. Sallie's mother died when she was only a few months old. Sallie lived with her great-grandmother, who gave Sallie to her daughter Sarah after the death of Sarah's husband President James K. Polk.

Sallie was raised at the Polks' private residence Polk Place. She married George Fall in 1865, and they had a daughter Saidee. Sallie inherited the Polk estate upon Sarah's death in 1891, including several artifacts and papers from the late president which she later sold and donated to the Library of Congress. Sarah also willed some of the president's items to Saidee. Shortly before Sallie died in 1924, she and her daughter co-founded the James K. Polk Memorial Association. In 1929 Saidee worked with the state of Tennessee to acquire the president's home in Columbia which was then opened to the public as a museum.

Biography

File:SallieTomb.jpg in 1864|alt=|203x203px|left]]

Sallie Jetton was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee in 1847 to Mary Childress and Robert Jetton, a planter and land owner.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWgZAQAAIAAJ&q=Sarah+Polk+Fall+mary+jetton&pg=PA302|title=Lineage Book - National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution|date=1899|publisher=Daughters of the American Revolution|pages=302|language=en}} Mary Childress was the daughter of Anderson Childress, the older brother of First Lady Sarah Childress Polk.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hmx5cMwRQhsC&q=Sarah+Polk+siblings+anderson&pg=PA1|title=Sarah Childress Polk, First Lady of Tennessee and Washington|last1=Peterson|first1=Barbara|date=2002|publisher=Nova|isbn=9781590331453}}{{Rp|1}}

Sallie's mother died a few months after her birth from childbirth complications. Her father was unable to raise her alone, so she was taken in by her great-grandmother Elizabeth Childress. She stayed with her great-grandmother for a short period until the death of President James K. Polk in 1849. The president's wife Sarah mourned her husband's death deeply and became a recluse, rarely leaving her home Polk Place. Elizabeth, who was in her 70s, brought Sallie to Polk Place and suggested Sarah should care for her. Sarah agreed and assumed guardianship of Sallie after 1850.{{cite web|last1=History.com|first1=Staff|title=Sarah Polk|url=https://www.history.com/topics/first-ladies/sarah-polk|website=History.com|date=21 August 2018 |publisher=A+E Networks}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.jameskpolk.com/sarah-polk-biography.php|title=Sarah Childress Polk, James K. Polk Home|website=www.jameskpolk.com|access-date=2018-03-30}}

Many who knew Sarah seemed skeptical of her bringing a child into her home. Judge John Catron would make the comment, "You are not the one Madam, to have charge of a little child; you, who have always been absorbed in the political and social affairs..."{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=owz1wGg_R00C&q=You+are+not+the+one+Madam%2C+to+have+charge+of+a+little+child%3B+you%2C+who+have+always+been+absorbed+in+the+political+and+social+affairs.&pg=PA72|title=Rating The First Ladies: The Women Who Influenced The Presidency|last=Roberts|first=John B. B.|date=2004|publisher=Citadel Press|isbn=9780806526089|pages=72|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/memorialsofsarahc00nels|quote=You are not the one Madam, to have charge of a little child; you, who have always been absorbed in the political and social affairs.|title=Memorials of Sarah Childress Polk: Wife of the Eleventh President of the United States|last1=Nelson|first1=Anson|last2=Nelson|first2=Fanny|date=1892|publisher=A.D.F. Randolph|pages=[https://archive.org/details/memorialsofsarahc00nels/page/161 161]-162|language=en}} But nonetheless Sarah still assumed guardianship, and brought in a nurse and maid to watch the young girl. Sarah would often refer to Sallie as her daughter, and newspapers referred to Sallie as her adopted daughter.{{Cite news|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1914-03-08/ed-1/seq-48/|title=Famous Gowns of First Ladies of the Land|date=March 8, 1914|work=Evening star.|access-date=March 30, 2019|pages=2|issn=2331-9968}}{{Cite news|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1922-02-27/ed-1/seq-12/|title=James K. Polk's Gift Recovered by Bellboy|date=February 27, 1922|work=The Washington times|access-date=March 30, 2019|pages=12|issn=1941-0697}} Sarah would take great pride in raising Sallie. Sallie stayed with Sarah for the rest of the former First Lady's life. In 1865, Sarah hosted Sallie's marriage to George Fall in the main Parlor of Polk Place.{{Cite web|url=https://sharetngov.tnsosfiles.com/tsla/educationoutreach/Civil%20War%20Resources/Lindsley%20diary%201861-1865.pdf|title=Diary of John Berrien Lindsley|website=sharetngov.tnsosfiles.com|page=25}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2012/12/sarah-polk.html|title=Sarah Polk, History of American Women|date=2012-12-03|work=History of American Women|access-date=2018-03-30|language=en-US}} The newlyweds moved in with Sarah until after the birth of their child Saidee in 1868.{{Rp|186}} Sarah greatly adored the little girl.{{Rp|251}}

After Sarah's death in 1891 Sallie became the sole heir to the Polk estate as Sarah willed the Polk belongings, the contents of Polk Place along with the presidential papers to Sallie.{{Cite FTP |url=ftp://read.gov/pub/mss/msspub/fa/p/polk.txt|server=read.gov|url-status=dead|title=James K. Polk, A register of additions to his papers in the Library of Congress|year=1996}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8ufqRJuwy8C&q=sarah+polk+fall&pg=PA56|title=James K. Polk: A Biographical Companion|last=Byrnes|first=Mark Eaton|date=2001|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781576070567|pages=56|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4OZsBQAAQBAJ&q=mrs.+fall+home+nashville&pg=PA165|title=Government Publications: Key Papers|last1=Fry|first1=Bernard M.|last2=Hernon|first2=Peter|date=2013-10-02|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=9781483156019|language=en}} Sarah bequeathed some of the personal items of the President to Sallie's daughter Saidee, including the president's watch and glasses.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/memorialssarahc00nelsgoog|quote=spectacles.|title=Memorials of Sarah Childress Polk: Wife of the Eleventh President of the United States|last1=Nelson|first1=Anson|last2=Nelson|first2=Fanny|date=1892|publisher=A.D.F. Randolph|pages=[https://archive.org/details/memorialssarahc00nelsgoog/page/n273 235]}} Sallie sold and donated the presidential papers to the Library of Congress in the early 1900s.{{cite web|title=James K. Polk Papers.|url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/james-k-polk-papers/about-this-collection/|website=www.loc.gov/|publisher=Library of Congress}} She also donated one of Sarah's inaugural gowns and a fan to the Smithsonian.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bgc1AQAAMAAJ&q=sarah+Polk+fall&pg=PA6|title=Catalogue of American Historical Costumes: Including Those of the Mistresses of the White House, as Shown in the United States National Museum|date=1915|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://siris-sihistory.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!sichronology&uri=full=3100001~!8455~!0#focus|title=Sarah Polk's Lace Fan|last=Unknown}}{{Cite web|url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/first-ladies/first-ladies-fashions|title=- First Ladies' Fashions|website=National Museum of American History|language=en|access-date=2018-04-04|archive-date=2021-02-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208063613/https://americanhistory.si.edu/first-ladies/first-ladies-fashions|url-status=dead}} In 1905 Sallie opened her own home in Nashville for social gatherings to exhibit the items she had inherited from Sarah and to tell the legacy of her great-uncle president Polk.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ihGST3_ifYMC&q=Sarah+Polk+Jetton&pg=PA655|title=The Taylor-Trotwood Magazine|last1=Taylor|first1=Robert Love|last2=Moore|first2=John Trotwood|last3=Jacobs|first3=Thornwell|date=1905|publisher=Taylor Publishing Company|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=63gUAAAAYAAJ&q=sarah+Polk+Jetton+fall&pg=PA40|title=All about Nashville: A Complete Historical Guide Book to the City|date=1912|publisher=Marshall & Bruce Company|language=en}} During these gatherings and other social events she would introduce herself as the daughter to the president.{{efn|Throughout her life she seldom used her maiden name of Jetton, she always referred to herself as "Sarah Polk Fall".|name=|group=lower-alpha}} Sallie continued living in Nashville after Sarah's death throughout her later life.

Death and legacy

File:Sallie's Home (1).jpgSallie fell ill in 1924 and died July 22, at the age of 77. Newspapers throughout the country published "The Adopted daughter of President Polk Dies."{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/352576218/?terms=adopted+daughter+polk|title=Adopted Daughter of President Polk Dies|work=Newspapers.com|access-date=2018-07-28|language=en}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/178419703/?terms=Sarah+Fall|title=Foster daughter of President Polk to be buried.|date=1924|work=Newspapers.com|publisher=The Tennessean}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6LW3-B55?i=145&cc=1417505|title=Sarah Falls's Death Certificate|website=www.familysearch.org|publisher=State of Tennessee|year=1924}} The vast majority of the items she did not donate to the Library of Congress or the Smithsonian were left to her daughter, Saidee. Shortly before her death she helped her daughter Saidee found the James K. Polk Memorial Association along with other Nashville women, with the main intent of preserving the president's legacy.{{Cite web|url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1068|title=James K. Polk Ancestral Home {{!}} Entries {{!}} Tennessee Encyclopedia|website=tennesseeencyclopedia.net|language=en|access-date=2018-03-30}}

In 1929 Sallie's daughter Saidee worked together with the state of Tennessee to purchase the only surviving private residence which the president lived in. The home, located in Columbia, Tennessee, was constructed by the president's father Samuel in 1816, and was the president's home for six years before his marriage to Sarah Childress in 1824. On acquisition of the home in 1929 The James K. Polk Memorial Association founded the James K. Polk Home, the presidential museum of James K. Polk. The contents of Polk Place that Sallie inherited and later left to her daughter Saidee would be brought to the museum. Later the fountain, the garden urns, and a gate from the exterior of Polk Place were moved to the property.{{Cite web|url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1068|title=James K. Polk Ancestral Home Tennessee Encyclopedia|last=Holtzapple|first=John C.|date=March 1, 2018|website=tennesseeencyclopedia.net|language=en|access-date=2018-03-30}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/brent_nashville/31334702554|title=James K. Polk's Fountain|work=Flickr|access-date=2018-03-30|language=en-us}}