Andrew Jackson won the presidency by a landslide (both popular and electoral vote) in December of 1828 against an incumbent president. Shortly after on December 22, 1828, his wife died. Sentiment for this soon-to-be president was high, so it would be understandable when people named their newly born sons after him. Apparently, Hiram and Eliza Handy followed this practice.
Hiram and Eliza had a son born January 6, 1829. According to a notation in the *diary of Dr. Samuel Beach Bradley, physician in the Parma, NY area, this son was give the name “Andrew Jackson”.
For whatever reason, the name given at birth did not stick. It could be that the president fell out of favor with HIram and Eliza Handy or the child just didn’t look like an Andrew. Or maybe after all the sentimental hype died down, Hiram and Eliza came to their senses. Regardless of the reason, we now know that the child born January 6, 1829 and named “Andrew Jackson Handy” in the physician’s *diary became “George Handy“, father of Lida Handy Duguid.
*Alphabetic Family Groupings from 1821 – 1876
Birth Records of Dr. Samuel Beach Bradley
for Adjacent Parts of the Towns of Greece, Parma, Ogden, and Gates in Monroe County, New York
Compiled by Grace Goodell Witty from the S. B. Bradley manuscript in the Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, John M. Olin Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, for the Parma-Hilton Historical Society, Inc. 1973