Thursday, December 6, 2007

Martha Dandridge Custis Washington; 1789-1797

Born: 1731
Died: 1802

Martha Dandridge was the oldest of seven children of a prominent Virginia planter. Like other young women of her background, she had limited formal education, but she was able and pleasant and took a positive view of life. At 18, she married 38-year-old tobacco heir Daniel Parke Custis, inheriting his fortune when he died eight years later. She and Custis had four children; two died in childhood, a daughter died at 17, and a son died at 26. Two years after Custis's death. Martha married 26-year-old Colonel George Washington, bringing her wealth and two young children to his Mount Vernon plantation. Though Martha had no children with George, they raised her son and daughter and later two of her grandchildren.

For 43 years, Mount Vernon was Martha's home. She ran the plantation while George was away, but traveled to his northern encampments every winter of the Revolutionary War. Welcomed by the soldiers as "Lady Washington," Martha never forgot the nation's veterans, giving many financial aid later on. When her husband became President, Martha joined him at the nation's first capital, New York, and then Philadelphia, where she acted as dignified hostess to the numerous visitors and official guests who came to call. When George retired, the couple returned to private life at Mount Vernon, where they enjoyed their final days.

First President
George Washington

Abigail Smith Adams; 1797-1801

Born: 1744
Died: 1818

Abigail Smith and John Adams had much in common. Both were New Englanders steeped in the Puritan ethic, with strong political views. Abigail came from a respected Massachusetts family, her father a Congregational minister, her grandfather a judge. Since formal education was reserved for men, Abigail went to her family's library to study government and philosophy -- interests she shared with young lawyer John Adams. The two wed in 1764 when John was 29 and Abigail 20. Devoted partners for 54 years, they had five children, including future President John Quincy Adams.

The revolutionary cause often separated John from his family. While he served in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, and later in diplomatic posts abroad, Abigail raised the children and ran their Quincy, Massachusetts farm, at one point not seeing John for over four years. But the two kept up a vivid correspondence, with Abigail advocating the abolition of slavery and equal rights for women. In 1784 Abigail joined her husband in Europe, returning to America when he became Vice President. Though she liked and admired Martha Washington, Abigail steered a different course when she became First Lady. She freely expressed her political views, prompting critics to call her "Mrs. President." But she was also an able hostess, and enjoyed entertaining in the new, albeit unfinished, White House.

Second President
John Adams

Martha Jefferson Randolph; 1801-1809

Born: 1772
Died: 1836

Martha Wayles Skelton was a 22-year-old widow and mother from a wealthy Virginia family when she married the 29-year-old Thomas Jefferson in 1772. Though no likeness of Martha now exists, she was described as auburn-haired and graceful, a harpsichordist who shared Jefferson's love of music. The couple had six children, but only two daughters lived to adulthood and Martha's own health steadily worsened. In 1780, Jefferson refused an appointment to Paris because of Martha's fragile condition. Two years later, at 33, she died -- 20 years before her husband became President. By all accounts, Jefferson was devastated by the loss. He never remarried.

During Jefferson's Presidency, his eldest child, Martha -- nicknamed Patsy -- served as hostess during her winter visits to the White House. Born in 1772, Patsy attended convent schools in Paris while her father served as Minister to France (1784-1789). In 1790, she married fellow Virginian Thomas Mann Randolph, who joined Patsy at her father's Monticello home. Over the years they had 12 children, including the first baby born in the White House. Besides Patsy, Jefferson sometimes asked his Virginia neighbor Dolley Madison (whose husband, James, he'd appointed Secretary of the State) to act as White House hostess.

Third President
Thomas Jefferson

Dolley Payne Todd Madison; 1809-1817

Born: 1768
Died: 1849

Dolley Madison was warm, joyful and generous, and both her husband and her country adored her. Her parents were Virginia Quakers whose opposition to slavery prompted their move north to Philadelphia in 1783. One of eight children, Dolley attended Quaker schools open to both sexes. At 21, she married lawyer John Todd and had two sons. At 25, she lost both John and her baby to yellow fever. The next year, she wed the acclaimed Virginia Congressman James Madison. Seventeen years her senior, he was in many ways her opposite -- slight and formal while she was robust and outgoing -- but their 42-year marriage, though childless, was famously happy.

Dolley's love of people and activity served her well at the White House during the Jefferson and Madison Administrations. Though she favored French fashions and fancy turbans, she genuinely welcomed one and all, regardless of their background or station. Her rapport with diplomats and politicians won allies for her husband, and she helped found a home for orphan girls. But Dolley is best known for fleeing with George Washington's portrait before the British burned the White House in 1814. When James retired, the couple returned to Montpelier, their Virginia plantation, and lived there for 20 years. But Dolley moved back to Washington, at 68, when James died. There she remained as popular as ever, visiting Presidents and receiving an honorary seat in Congress.

Fourth President
James Madison

Elizabeth Kortright Monroe; 1817-1825

Born: 1768
Died: 1830

Aristocratic and aloof, Elizabeth Monroe presented a sharp contrast to her predecessor, Dolley Madison. She came from a wealthy, old New York family of Dutch descent; her father was a founder of the Chamber of Commerce and a British sympathizer during the Revolution. At 17, Elizabeth married 27-year-old James Monroe, a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress in New York. The couple had three children, two who survived infancy. The lived in New York, In Philadelphia when James was a Senator, and at their Virginia home near Monticello, before James's diplomatic assignment took them to Paris in the midst of the French Revolution. There Elizabeth helped secure the release from prison of Mme. Lafayette, whose husband had aided General Washington in the Revolutionary War.

Known in France as "la belle Americaine," Elizabeth lived in Europe off and on for 25 years while James served in various diplomatic posts. As First Lady, she brought her European style and taste to the White House, making it a more formal and elegant place. but she rarely attended dinners or other public functions, preferring the private company of family and close friends. Citing ill health, she discontinued Dolley Madison's practice of paying social calls, and spent months at a time away from Washington.

Fifth President
James Monroe

Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams; 1825-1829

Born: 1775
Died: 1852

Born in London to a British mother and American father, Louisa Catherine Johnson grew up comfortably in the "Old World" of England and France. One of nine children, she attended convent schools, spoke fluent French, and was an accomplished harpist who loved music. At 20, she married John Quincy Adams, the 28-year-old son of America's Vice President then serving as a diplomat in London. John's peripatetic career took Louisa to Germany, Massachusetts, Russia, England and Washington, where she distinguished herself time and again as a skillful and popular hostess. It wasn't easy. She found New England rustic and lonely. In Russia, she was separated for seven years from two of her three sons since John insisted the boys remain in America with his parents. A daughter born in Russia died in 1812. And in the winter of 1814, during Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, Louisa, with only her young son and a few servants, rode 40 days by carriage from St. Petersburg to Paris where John was waiting.

Louisa helped John's Presidential campaign, hosting parties and paying calls, but she herself had no wish for the office and suffered depression during her White House years. Complaining in her diary of isolation and of the inferior status of women, Louisa nonetheless performed her social duties with grace, often presenting programs of music.

Sixth President
John Quincy Adams

Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson; 1829-1837

Born: 1767
Died: 1828

Andrew Jackson met Rachel Donelson in the frontier town of Nashville, Tennessee, when he was a 23-year-old prosecutor living at her mother's boarding house. Rachel, a spirited 23-year-old was back home from Kentucky awaiting a divorce from her jealous and abusive husband of five years, Lewis Robards. Rachel and Andrew fell in love and wed in 1791, only to learn afterward that Robards hadn't divorced Rachel. Robards then did so, claiming adultery, and Rachel and Andrew rewed in 1794. But the Robards matter followed them, used later by Andrew's political enemies who called Rachel a bigamist and adulteress. The attacks always enraged Andrew who took a bullet in the shoulder defending Rachel's honor.

A devoted couple for 37 years, the Jackson's lived at the Hermitage, their pioneer farm outside Nashville. Though they were childless, their house was full of the many people "Aunt Rachel" took in. She was devout, charitable, and overweight -- a good country woman who smoked a pipe. Ridiculed by Andrew's opponents in his 1824 and 1828 Presidential campaigns, Rachel dreaded moving to Washington when he finally won. As fate would have it, she didn't have to. Just months before the inauguration, she died of a heart attack and was buried in her intended inaugural gown. Two of her nieces served as Andrew's White House hostesses. He missed Rachel till the day he died.

Seventh President
Andrew Jackson