Hannah, Born: 1783, Died: 1819
Angelica, Born: 1816, Died: 1877
Hannah Hoes and Martin Van Buren were distant cousins who grew up in the small and insular Dutch community of Kinderhook, New York. They married when both were 24, but had only a decade together before Hannah died of tuberculosis. Gentle in manner with auburn curls and doe-like eyes, Hannah had five sons, four of whom survived her, and was active in charity work for the Presbyterian church. Little else is known about her life. Martin never remarried.
When Martin went to the White House 18 years after Hannah's death, he brought his four bachelor sons with him. Dolley Madison introduced the oldest, Abraham, to her 21-year-old cousin from South Carolina, Angelica Singleton, the daughter of a wealthy planter. The two wed in 1838 and toured the courts of Europe on their honeymoon. Angelica thereafter served as Martin's White House hostess, adopting some of the social customs of European royalty. Such practices contributed to the Van Buren family's image as "aristocrats" -- a political liability at a time of national depression. After Martin lost reelection, he returned to Lindenwald, his Hudson River estate, where Angelica and Abraham visited frequently from their home in New York City. A society figure, Angelica raised three sons, none of whom married.
Eighth President
Martin Van Buren
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison; 1841
Born: 1775
Died: 1864
The only child of a New Jersey chief justice, Anna Tuthill Symmes was a well-educated 19-year-old when her father took her to the Indiana Territory, where he had purchased a half million acres for settlement. There she met and married 22-year-old Lt. William Henry Harrison, who had left his family's Virginia plantation to pursue a military career. Anna's father opposed the match, worried about the hardships of frontier life, but Anna adjusted nicely. After one year in a log cabin on the Ohio River, Anna and William built ever grander homes in the settlements of North Bend, Ohio, and Vincennes, Indiana. Anna raised ten children (nine died before her) and managed the family's land holdings while William rose in politics and the military.
Though she shared her husband's interest in government and public affairs, Anna, at age 65, did not want William to run for President in 1840. When he won, she was too ill to accompany him to the White House, grieving over the recent loss of a child. She was packing for the long trip to Washington when she received word of her husband's death of pneumonia one month after taking office. Anna remained in Ohio and eventually moved in with son John, whose own son Benjamin would become President in 1888. Anna encouraged her grandson Benjamin to fight for the Union Army.
Ninth President
William. H. Harrison
Died: 1864
The only child of a New Jersey chief justice, Anna Tuthill Symmes was a well-educated 19-year-old when her father took her to the Indiana Territory, where he had purchased a half million acres for settlement. There she met and married 22-year-old Lt. William Henry Harrison, who had left his family's Virginia plantation to pursue a military career. Anna's father opposed the match, worried about the hardships of frontier life, but Anna adjusted nicely. After one year in a log cabin on the Ohio River, Anna and William built ever grander homes in the settlements of North Bend, Ohio, and Vincennes, Indiana. Anna raised ten children (nine died before her) and managed the family's land holdings while William rose in politics and the military.
Though she shared her husband's interest in government and public affairs, Anna, at age 65, did not want William to run for President in 1840. When he won, she was too ill to accompany him to the White House, grieving over the recent loss of a child. She was packing for the long trip to Washington when she received word of her husband's death of pneumonia one month after taking office. Anna remained in Ohio and eventually moved in with son John, whose own son Benjamin would become President in 1888. Anna encouraged her grandson Benjamin to fight for the Union Army.
Ninth President
William. H. Harrison
Julia Gardiner Tyler; 1841-1845
Born: 1820
Died: 1889
Letitia Christian Tyler was in failing health when her husband, John, suddenly became president one month into William Henry Harrison's first term. Letitia and John had married in 1813, when both were 23. Both came from wealthy Virginia planter families. The pious Letitia focused on the domestic sphere, raising seven children and managing finances, while John pursued a political career. In 1839, she suffered a debilitating stroke. Though she accompanied John to the White House, she was in seclusion and died the following year. Her daughter-in-law acted as hostess until John remarried in 1844.
Known as the "Rose of Long Island," Julia Gardiner was a lively and flirtatious 22-year-old when she met the 52-year-old widower President. Visiting Washington with her wealthy parents (the Gardiners owned their own island in New York), Julia was wooed by many, but won by John. She reveled in her brief "reign" as First lady. She entertained lavishly, spent Gardiner money to refurbish the White House, helped relatives win key government posts, and pushed John's plan to annex Texas. She also began the tradition of playing "Hail to the Chief." After leaving office, the Tylers moved to John's Virginia plantation where Julia had seven children. A staunch supporter of the Confederacy, she lobbied Congress for a widow's pension after John's death in 1864.
Tenth President
John Tyler
Died: 1889
Letitia Christian Tyler was in failing health when her husband, John, suddenly became president one month into William Henry Harrison's first term. Letitia and John had married in 1813, when both were 23. Both came from wealthy Virginia planter families. The pious Letitia focused on the domestic sphere, raising seven children and managing finances, while John pursued a political career. In 1839, she suffered a debilitating stroke. Though she accompanied John to the White House, she was in seclusion and died the following year. Her daughter-in-law acted as hostess until John remarried in 1844.
Known as the "Rose of Long Island," Julia Gardiner was a lively and flirtatious 22-year-old when she met the 52-year-old widower President. Visiting Washington with her wealthy parents (the Gardiners owned their own island in New York), Julia was wooed by many, but won by John. She reveled in her brief "reign" as First lady. She entertained lavishly, spent Gardiner money to refurbish the White House, helped relatives win key government posts, and pushed John's plan to annex Texas. She also began the tradition of playing "Hail to the Chief." After leaving office, the Tylers moved to John's Virginia plantation where Julia had seven children. A staunch supporter of the Confederacy, she lobbied Congress for a widow's pension after John's death in 1864.
Tenth President
John Tyler
Sarah Childress Polk; 1845-1849
Born: 1803
Died: 1891
Sarah Childress Polk was a First Lady in the tradition of Abigail Adams -- confident, outspoken, and politically involved. Her parents were wealthy Tennessee Presbyterians who sent Sarah to the best girls' school in the South. At 20, Sarah married 28-year-old James Polk, a Tennessee legislator and Andrew Jackson protege who had prospered in real estate. The two had no children but shared a love of politics, participating jointly in James' career and in the management of his distant cotton plantations.
During Polk's 14 years in Congress, Sarah developed friendships with influential politicians. Behind the scenes, she gave her husband advice, reviewed his speeches, copied his correspondence, and highlighted newspaper articles for him to read. She continued this practice as First Lady. A believer in America's God-given "destiny" to expand across the continent, Sarah shunned dancing, drinking, and card-playing on religious grounds. Even so, she enjoyed entertaining -- albeit sedately -- at the White House, but worried constantly about James' frail health. Widowed just three months after James left office, Sarah lived on for another 42 years in the couple's Nashville home and devoted herself to preserving her husband's memory.
Eleventh President
James Knox Polk
Died: 1891
Sarah Childress Polk was a First Lady in the tradition of Abigail Adams -- confident, outspoken, and politically involved. Her parents were wealthy Tennessee Presbyterians who sent Sarah to the best girls' school in the South. At 20, Sarah married 28-year-old James Polk, a Tennessee legislator and Andrew Jackson protege who had prospered in real estate. The two had no children but shared a love of politics, participating jointly in James' career and in the management of his distant cotton plantations.
During Polk's 14 years in Congress, Sarah developed friendships with influential politicians. Behind the scenes, she gave her husband advice, reviewed his speeches, copied his correspondence, and highlighted newspaper articles for him to read. She continued this practice as First Lady. A believer in America's God-given "destiny" to expand across the continent, Sarah shunned dancing, drinking, and card-playing on religious grounds. Even so, she enjoyed entertaining -- albeit sedately -- at the White House, but worried constantly about James' frail health. Widowed just three months after James left office, Sarah lived on for another 42 years in the couple's Nashville home and devoted herself to preserving her husband's memory.
Eleventh President
James Knox Polk
Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor, Mary Elizabeth Taylor Bliss (daughter); 1849-1850
Margaret, Born: 1788, Died: 1852
Mary, Born: 1825, Died: 1909
Margaret Mackall Smith, known as "Peggy," grew up amid the comforts of a Maryland plantation and attended finishing school in New York. At 21, while visiting her sister in Kentucky, Peggy met 28-year-old Lt. Zachary Taylor. They wed in 1810 and soon adopted the Army's itinerant lifestyle. They traveled from fort to fort -- in Florida, Arkansas, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Mississippi -- always bringing their good furniture and fine china along. But life on the frontier was hard. In 1820, a fever claimed two of their six children and left Peggy's health impaired. (A third daughter died later, soon after she wed Lt. Jefferson Davis.)
During Zachary's valorous service in the Mexican War of 1846-48, Peggy lived in Baton Rouge on a cotton plantation the couple had bought for retirement. It was there Zachary returned after the War and there he learned of his nomination for and election to the Presidency -- a job neither he nor Peggy wanted. At the white House, Peggy received family and friends privately upstairs. But she assigned all public hostessing duties to her 23-year-old daughter, Betty, the recent bride of Lt. Col. William Bliss. when Zachary died 16 months into office, Peggy was too distraught to attend his funeral. She died two years later. No likeness of her survives.
Twelfth President
Zachary Taylor
Mary, Born: 1825, Died: 1909
Margaret Mackall Smith, known as "Peggy," grew up amid the comforts of a Maryland plantation and attended finishing school in New York. At 21, while visiting her sister in Kentucky, Peggy met 28-year-old Lt. Zachary Taylor. They wed in 1810 and soon adopted the Army's itinerant lifestyle. They traveled from fort to fort -- in Florida, Arkansas, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Mississippi -- always bringing their good furniture and fine china along. But life on the frontier was hard. In 1820, a fever claimed two of their six children and left Peggy's health impaired. (A third daughter died later, soon after she wed Lt. Jefferson Davis.)
During Zachary's valorous service in the Mexican War of 1846-48, Peggy lived in Baton Rouge on a cotton plantation the couple had bought for retirement. It was there Zachary returned after the War and there he learned of his nomination for and election to the Presidency -- a job neither he nor Peggy wanted. At the white House, Peggy received family and friends privately upstairs. But she assigned all public hostessing duties to her 23-year-old daughter, Betty, the recent bride of Lt. Col. William Bliss. when Zachary died 16 months into office, Peggy was too distraught to attend his funeral. She died two years later. No likeness of her survives.
Twelfth President
Zachary Taylor
Abigail Powers Fillmore; 1850-1853
Born: 1798
Died: 1853
Abigail Powers was raised by her widowed mother in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Money was scarce, but Abigail got a good education at home, and later became a student and then, a teacher, at a nearby academy. It was there she met 19-year-old Millard Fillmore, an out-of-work clothmaker two years her junior who aspired to a legal career. Abigail encouraged Millard, sharing his love of learning. The two became engaged, but it was eight years before they could afford to wed in 1826. Abigail continued working until the first of her two children was born. She also taught herself to speak French, play the piano and the harp. When Millard went to Albany as an Assemblyman, and then to Washington as a Congressman and Vice-President, Abigail remained at home, but she regularly corresponded with him on everything from geography to government.
When Millard became President upon Zachary Taylor's sudden death, Abigail joined him in Washington. She successfully lobbied Congress to fund the first White House library and selected books for the collection. Often in poor health, she delegated some of her social duties to her daughter Mary Abigail. A staunch abolitionist, Abigail was unable to persuade her husband to veto the Fugitive Slave Bill. She caught a chill watching Franklin Pierce's inauguration and died of pneumonia 26 days later.
Thirteenth President
Millard Fillmore
Died: 1853
Abigail Powers was raised by her widowed mother in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Money was scarce, but Abigail got a good education at home, and later became a student and then, a teacher, at a nearby academy. It was there she met 19-year-old Millard Fillmore, an out-of-work clothmaker two years her junior who aspired to a legal career. Abigail encouraged Millard, sharing his love of learning. The two became engaged, but it was eight years before they could afford to wed in 1826. Abigail continued working until the first of her two children was born. She also taught herself to speak French, play the piano and the harp. When Millard went to Albany as an Assemblyman, and then to Washington as a Congressman and Vice-President, Abigail remained at home, but she regularly corresponded with him on everything from geography to government.
When Millard became President upon Zachary Taylor's sudden death, Abigail joined him in Washington. She successfully lobbied Congress to fund the first White House library and selected books for the collection. Often in poor health, she delegated some of her social duties to her daughter Mary Abigail. A staunch abolitionist, Abigail was unable to persuade her husband to veto the Fugitive Slave Bill. She caught a chill watching Franklin Pierce's inauguration and died of pneumonia 26 days later.
Thirteenth President
Millard Fillmore
Jane Means Appleton Pierce; 1853-1857
Born: 1806
Died: 1863
Jane Appleton came from a prominent New Hampshire family. Her mother had wealth, her father, prestige. He was a Congregationalist minister and president of Bowdoin College who died when Jane was only 13. But he instilled in her a rigid and puritanical outlook on life that did not bode well for a future in politics. Nonetheless, at 28, Jane defied her family's wishes and married longtime beau Franklin Pierce, a gregarious 29-year-old New Hampshire Congressman. It did not take Jane long to develop a distaste for politics. Her discomfort hardened into contempt once Franklin became a Senator, and in 1842, she persuaded him to quit politics for a lucrative private law practice back home.
When she learned that Franklin had accepted his party's 1852 nomination for President, Jane was so dismayed she fainted. Family life became her refuge. She doted on her only child; Benny, having lost her first in infancy and her second when he was four. Just weeks after Franklin's election, Benny was killed in a train wreck before his parents' eyes. Jane fell into a permanent depression. For her first two years as First Lady, she lived as a recluse, shunning social contact and writing letters to her dead son. A trusted relative, Abby Means, looked after her in the White House and assumed the hostessing role. Later on, Franklin managed to coax his wife into limited entertaining, dressed always in black.
Fourteenth President
Franklin Pierce
Died: 1863
Jane Appleton came from a prominent New Hampshire family. Her mother had wealth, her father, prestige. He was a Congregationalist minister and president of Bowdoin College who died when Jane was only 13. But he instilled in her a rigid and puritanical outlook on life that did not bode well for a future in politics. Nonetheless, at 28, Jane defied her family's wishes and married longtime beau Franklin Pierce, a gregarious 29-year-old New Hampshire Congressman. It did not take Jane long to develop a distaste for politics. Her discomfort hardened into contempt once Franklin became a Senator, and in 1842, she persuaded him to quit politics for a lucrative private law practice back home.
When she learned that Franklin had accepted his party's 1852 nomination for President, Jane was so dismayed she fainted. Family life became her refuge. She doted on her only child; Benny, having lost her first in infancy and her second when he was four. Just weeks after Franklin's election, Benny was killed in a train wreck before his parents' eyes. Jane fell into a permanent depression. For her first two years as First Lady, she lived as a recluse, shunning social contact and writing letters to her dead son. A trusted relative, Abby Means, looked after her in the White House and assumed the hostessing role. Later on, Franklin managed to coax his wife into limited entertaining, dressed always in black.
Fourteenth President
Franklin Pierce
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