Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur; 1881-1885

Born: 1837
Died: 1880

When Ellen Arthur died of pneumonia at home in New York at age 43, she didn't know that a few months later, the Republicans would choose her husband for Vice-President, and the next year, he'd be President. The only child of a prominent Virginia naval officer, Ellen grew up in Washington, D.C., where she was taught by tutors and attended St. John's Episcopal Church across from the White House. At 20, she moved with her family to New York where she met Chester Arthur, an ambitious 24-year-old-lawyer. They wed in 1859 and had two children who lived to adulthood. During the Civil War, Ellen's loyalty to the south caused a temporary rift with "Chet," who served as a Union quartermaster in New York. But politics was otherwise of little interest to Ellen. Music was her passion. She was an accomplished soprano who performed frequently with the Mendelssohn Glee Club of New York.

When Arthur became President upon Garfield's assassination, he asked his sister, Mary McElroy, to act as hostess and help care for his daughter, Nell. An avid opponent of women's suffrage, Mary often invited former First Ladies Julia Tyler and Harriet Lane to receive guests with her at the White House. To honor Ellen's memory, Arthur donated a stained-glass window to St. John's Church and asked that it be placed in the south transept, facing the White House, so he could see it illuminated at night.

Twenty-First President
Chester Arthur