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29 chapters
PRESIDING LADIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE
PRESIDING LADIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE
CONTAINING BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATIONS TOGETHER WITH A SHORT HISTORY OF THE EXECUTIVE MANSION AND A TREATISE ON ITS ETIQUETTE AND CUSTOMS BY LILA G. A. WOOLFALL WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER ILLUSTRATED WITH SYMBOLIC BORDERS AND REPRODUCTIONS IN PHOTOGRAVURE OF THE FIRST LADIES OF THE LAND Published by Bureau of National Literature and Art Washington, D. C. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER ILLUSTRATED WITH SYMBOLIC BORDERS AND REPRODUCTIONS IN PHOTOGRAVURE OF THE FIRST
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
America stands to-day among the greatest and most progressive of the nations of the earth; and as the law of nations from earliest times has been the decline and fall of one, as another rises to prëeminence, it would seem that this great land of ours is fast soaring towards the highest pinnacle of national attainment. If a nation is great, it is made so by the men who make and enforce its laws, who fill its positions of trust, who manipulate its finances, and who prove worthy citizens of the lan
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Martha Washington
Martha Washington
FIRST PRESIDING LADY 1789-1797 Martha Dandridge, of Virginia, was married at nineteen years of age to Daniel Parke Custis. At an early age she was left a widow with two children, Martha and John Parke Custis. In 1759 she married George Washington, thus becoming the wife of the first President of the United States. Accomplished, wealthy and fascinating, fond of ceremony, yet hospitable, her entertainments at Mt. Vernon were world-famous. The White House was not erected until after Washington’s de
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Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams
SECOND PRESIDING LADY 1797-1801 Abigail Smith, of Weymouth, Mass., became the wife of John Adams at twenty. Ill health during her early years retarded her education, but her strong mind overcame this difficulty. Her letters to her husband and her son prove her mental powers and strong character, and many of them have been published on account of their literary and historical value. During her husband’s term the Capital was removed to Washington, and, though the White House was not yet completed,
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Martha Jefferson Randolph
Martha Jefferson Randolph
THIRD PRESIDING LADY 1801-1809 Martha Jefferson Randolph, the elder of the President’s two daughters, presided at the White House whenever possible during her father’s administrations, his wife having died nineteen years before his election. The White House, however, during his terms, was practically without a mistress, although at times Mrs. Madison also acted in that capacity. Mrs. Randolph was eminently fitted for such a sphere, but was able to assume its duties only twice. Having received th
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Dorothy Paine Madison
Dorothy Paine Madison
FOURTH PRESIDING LADY 1809-1817 Dorothy Paine, a Quaker, first married at nineteen, John Todd, a young lawyer of Philadelphia. One year after his death, when twenty-two, she married James Madison. Her kind heart, frank, cordial manners, and personal beauty made her very popular. When she presided at the White House her tact, ready recognition of every one, and her remembrance of events concerning them increased this feeling. Although her entertainments lacked the ceremony of past administrations
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Elizabeth Kortright Monroe
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe
FIFTH PRESIDING LADY 1817-1825 Elizabeth Kortright was the daughter of a retired captain in the British Army, who, after the peace of 1783, remained in New York. She married Mr. Monroe there during a session of Congress, but later the seat of government was removed to Philadelphia, where they resided until 1794, when Monroe was made Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to France. Her husband’s several foreign positions of trust obliged them to live much abroad. She saved the life of
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Louisa Catherine Adams
Louisa Catherine Adams
SIXTH PRESIDING LADY 1825-1829 Louisa Catherine Johnson was born and educated in London. She met John Quincy Adams there, and they were married in 1797. His father, becoming President, transferred him to Berlin, where she accompanied him. During Jefferson’s terms America was their home, after which Monroe appointed Mr. Adams Minister to Russia, where nearly six years were spent. In 1815 he was made Minister to England. When Napoleon was returning from Elba, Mrs. Adams, traveling from Russia to r
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Rachel Donelson Jackson
Rachel Donelson Jackson
SEVENTH PRESIDING LADY Rachel Donelson, wife of Andrew Jackson, died the December before the inauguration. Therefore the position of Presiding Lady was accorded to her niece, Emily Donelson, wife of Major Andrew J. Donelson, private secretary to the President. His adopted son’s wife, Sarah Yorke Jackson, presided at the Hermitage then, and for many years. Mrs. Donelson was very young when called upon to fulfil her social duties; but innate refinement, ease, grace, dignity and various accomplishm
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Angelica Van Buren
Angelica Van Buren
EIGHTH PRESIDING LADY 1839-1841 Angelica Singleton was presented by her cousin, Mrs. Madison, to President Van Buren, in 1837, and in the following year married his son, Major Van Buren. On New Year’s day, 1839, she assumed her place as hostess of the White House, as Hannah Hoes, the wife of Martin Van Buren had died in 1819, leaving him a widower when elected President. This was a great loss, for she would have filled well the exalted position occupied in later years by her eldest son’s wife. T
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Anna Symmes Harrison
Anna Symmes Harrison
NINTH PRESIDING LADY 1841 Anna Symmes was born near Morristown, N. J., and early in life was left motherless. Her father, disguised as a British officer, successfully carried her to her grandparents on Long Island, where she remained until the evacuation of New York. Trained in godliness, her whole life echoed her early teachings. When nearly twenty she married Captain Harrison, later General, and afterwards President. While he was Governor of the Indiana Territory she dispensed liberal hospital
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Letitia Christian Tyler
Letitia Christian Tyler
TENTH PRESIDING LADY 1841-1842 Letitia Christian, of Virginia, President Tyler’s first wife, was extremely delicate, and lived scarcely two years after his inauguration. She was lovely and gentle, highly accomplished and beautiful, greatly beloved by her husband and family, but seldom seen in public, therefore during his administration the White House had several mistresses. The duties of hostess sometimes devolved upon his married daughter, but were generally assumed by his daughter-in-law, Mrs
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Sarah Childress Polk
Sarah Childress Polk
ELEVENTH PRESIDING LADY 1845-1849 Sarah Childress, of Tennessee, when nineteen years old married James Knox Polk, a member of the Legislature of that State. The next year he was elected to Congress, continuing fourteen sessions in Washington, and Mrs. Polk held a high social position there owing to her courteous manners, dignity and many accomplishments. When she returned to Washington as the wife of the President, having no children, she devoted herself exclusively to her duties in that positio
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Margaret Smith Taylor
Margaret Smith Taylor
TWELFTH PRESIDING LADY 1849-1850 Margaret Smith, wife of General Zachary Taylor, was the daughter of a Maryland planter. Domestic in taste and devoted to her husband, she lived much in garrisons and afield, making a home anywhere. She was without social ambition, and therefore had no desire to preside at the White House, preferring her quiet home at Baton Rouge, where she and her youngest daughter, “Miss Betty,” were widely known and liked, and where she permanently established an Episcopal chur
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Abigail Fillmore
Abigail Fillmore
THIRTEENTH PRESIDING LADY 1850-1853 Abigail Powers was born in Saratoga County, New York, and reared in poverty. In order to help her widowed mother she taught from very early youth, although still a student herself. Fine health, height, fair coloring, delicate features, kindly eyes and an expression of humor, made her attractive, if not classically beautiful. At twenty-eight she married Millard Fillmore. In his early professional struggles her varied talents were devoted to his interests. When
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Jane Appleton Pierce
Jane Appleton Pierce
FOURTEENTH PRESIDING LADY 1853-1857 Jane Means Appleton, daughter of the President of Bowdoin College, and later wife of Franklin Pierce, was delicate in her physical and nervous organizations from early childhood. She was rendered more so, however, at the time of her husband’s inauguration, by the death of their only remaining child, a son of fourteen, in a railway accident. Nevertheless she did not give way to her personal grief, but dispensed cordial hospitality from the White House, presidin
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Harriet Lane
Harriet Lane
FIFTEENTH PRESIDING LADY 1857-1861 Harriet Lane was left an orphan at nine years of age, and was brought up by her uncle, James Buchanan, who took great pains with her education. When he became Minister to England in 1852, she accompanied him and was a marked favorite in court and diplomatic circles. She was a handsome blonde of twenty, dignified, graceful, clever and an engaging talker. On her uncle’s return to America, and his subsequent election she became mistress of the White House and was
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Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Todd Lincoln
SIXTEENTH PRESIDING LADY 1861-1865 Mary Todd, born in Lexington, Ky., had from girlhood a supreme desire to become mistress of the White House, which, however, did not seem probable when she married Abraham Lincoln in 1842, but later her ambition was realized. She was small, attractive in appearance, inclined to stoutness, self possessed in manner, and would have enjoyed her high position had not the troublous events of the Rebellion prevented all festivities and converted the White House into a
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Eliza McCardle Johnson
Eliza McCardle Johnson
SEVENTEENTH PRESIDING LADY 1865-1869 Eliza McCardle, of Tennessee, married in 1826 Andrew Johnson, a tailor, eighteen years old, whose early education she superintended perseveringly until his learning exceeded her own. Her character was simple, true and unostentatious, the duties of wife and mother being always conscientiously fulfilled. Her health being undermined by suffering during the Rebellion, she was a confirmed invalid when called to the White House, therefore Mrs. Patterson, her eldest
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Julia Dent Grant
Julia Dent Grant
EIGHTEENTH PRESIDING LADY 1869-1877 Julia Dent, in 1844, became engaged to Lieut. Grant. The Mexican war separated them, but they married in 1848. Years of failure and poverty followed, but her faith in his ability survived, and when his military prowess made him famous, she shared his triumphs. Later, as the President’s wife, she was most hospitable, entertaining extensively in private as well as in public life, making Grant’s administrations, socially, very notable. When his term expired, Gene
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Lucy Ware Webb Hayes
Lucy Ware Webb Hayes
NINETEENTH PRESIDING LADY 1877-1881 Lucy Ware Webb was born in Ohio, and married Mr. Hayes in 1852, the union resulting most happily. During her husband’s military career she often visited him in the field and endeared herself to the soldiers by her gracious sympathy. Frank, cordial, hospitable and beautiful, she freely expressed her pleasure at becoming mistress of the Executive Mansion, winning many friends by her sunny smile and sincere greeting. She was very popular, although she displeased
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Lucretia Randolph Garfield
Lucretia Randolph Garfield
TWENTIETH PRESIDING LADY 1881 Lucretia Rudolph, born in Hiram, Ohio, married James Abram Garfield in 1868, soon after he became President of Hiram College, where both studied. The marriage was ideal, his wife’s intelligent sympathy and co-operative ability aiding greatly in his advancement to his high office. Through the terrible ordeal of his assassination, painful illness and death, Mrs. Garfield was vastly sustained by her power of self-control. Her short stay at the White House proved her ta
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Mary Arthur McElroy
Mary Arthur McElroy
TWENTY-FIRST PRESIDING LADY 1881-1885 Mary Arthur McElroy presided at the White House when her brother, Chester Alan Arthur succeeded to the Executive office upon the death of President Garfield. In 1859 he had married Ellen Lewis Herndon, daughter of Commander William Lewis Herndon, who, by order of the Government, explored the Amazon River in 1857, but she died in January, 1880, less than one year previous to his election as Vice-President. Mrs. McElroy was specially adapted to fill such a pos
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Frances Folsom Cleveland
Frances Folsom Cleveland
TWENTY-SECOND PRESIDING LADY 1885-89—1893-97 Frances Folsom, ward of Grover Cleveland and daughter of his late law partner became his wife in 1886. She was the first President’s wife to be married in the White House and to give birth to a child there, the second daughter being born during her father’s second term. As President Cleveland was a bachelor when elected his sister, Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, presided at the White House. Beside being a literary woman she earnestly and creditably fulfill
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Caroline Scott Harrison
Caroline Scott Harrison
TWENTY-THIRD PRESIDING LADY 1889-1892 Caroline Lavinia Scott, daughter of Prof. Scott, President of Oxford Seminary, was born in Oxford, Ohio. She married Benjamin Harrison in 1853, before he attained his majority. Nearly forty years passed in congenial companionship, before death deprived him of a faithful and devoted wife. She was talented in music and painting and had decided literary taste. She was also an earnest church worker and truly charitable. Her social bearing in her high station was
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Ida Saxton McKinley
Ida Saxton McKinley
TWENTY-FOURTH PRESIDING LADY 1897-1901 Ida Saxton, daughter of a prominent banker of Canton, Ohio, married Wm. McKinley in January, 1871. She was a devoted wife and inspiring companion in whose sound judgment her husband placed entire faith, while her personal attractions were also great. An enduring sorrow, caused by the deaths, in infancy, of the two children born to them, added to a chronic physical ailment, rendered her an invalid. Therefore, when appearing at public functions she received h
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Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt
Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt
TWENTY-FIFTH PRESIDING LADY 1901 Edith Kermit Carow, the playmate of her husband in childhood and “perfect comrade” since their marriage in 1886, has transformed the White House into an ideal American home. She is a model housekeeper, and in spite of the exactions of time and duties, tunes her household in perfect accord amid the unusual stir of young life there. She is splendidly equipped for her arduous task by her delightful charm of manner, tact, and an unusual ability to connect names, face
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THE WHITE HOUSE
THE WHITE HOUSE
The site for the erection of the White House, or the “President’s Palace” as it was termed on some of the earlier maps, was selected by President Washington and General L’Enfant when they laid out the city of Washington in 1792. The corner stone was placed in that year. The plans were procured by competition, which gave the award to James Hoban, a distinguished young architect from Dublin, afterward identified for many years with the architectural work of the capital city. By the architects of t
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OFFICIAL ETIQUETTE
OFFICIAL ETIQUETTE
As the State social functions in America are not hedged about by the privileges and prerogatives to which rank, station and birth alone entitle the holder in monarchical courts, the ceremonies, observances and ritual are, in comparison, simple and meagre. No special lessons are required nor are rehearsals needed to carry off with proper dignity any of the observances of state courtesy. Nevertheless, while there is an absence of that ostentatious display that marks the ceremonies of the courts of
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