Born: 1832
Died: 1892

Caroline Harrison was a multi-talented woman who made the most of her role as First Lady. Keenly interested in history, she became a founder and the first President-General of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She agreed to head a fund drive for Johns Hopkins Medical School on condition that the School admit women. These pursuits were balanced by a near dogged domesticity. A grandmother when she entered the White House, “Carrie” invited her extended family to live there too. Finding the mansion in dire need of repair, she managed its first overhaul in 70 years, adding electricity. She sewed, played the piano, raised orchids and painted. A gifted watercolorist, she designed her own White House china and collected the patterns of prior Presidents.

Carrie’s varied interests were encouraged by her father, a minister and Ohio college professor who made sure his three only daughters got a fine education. Carrie’s wit and exuberance captivated the reserved Benjamin Harrison, a freshman at her father’s school. They wed in 1853 and had two children. During Ben’s rise in Indianapolis law and politics, Carrie taught Sunday school and led the Women’s Club. She continued her volunteer work in Washington when Ben was a Senator and then President, but her health declined. Two weeks before Ben lost his rematch against Grover Cleveland, Carried died of tuberculosis.

Twenty-Third President
Benjamin Harrison

Born: 1864
Died: 1947

At 21, Frances “Frankie” Folsom became the youngest First Lady in history when she married the 48-year-old President, Grover Cleveland, in a White House ceremony. She had known him all her life. Her father had been Grover’s law partner in Buffalo, NY. He died when Frankie was 11 and Grover became an unofficial guardian to Frankie and her mother. By the time Frankie entered Wells College, Grover, by then President, wrote and sent weekly flowers. Upon her graduation, they became secretly engaged and wed following her tour of Europe. Despite the age difference, they were by all accounts well matched.

America loved its beautiful First Lady. Women copied her hairstyle and clothes, and clever merchandisers used her face to sell their products. She started receptions on Saturdays so working women could attend, and promoted women’s higher education. When Grover lost reelection to Benjamin Harrison in 1889, Frankie predicted they’d be back in the White House in four years time. She was right. In the interim, she bore her first child, a daughter who died at 12. Her next two girls arrived during Grover’s second stint in office — highlights in an otherwise difficult term. The Clevelands retired to Princeton, NJ where they completed their family with two sons. Five years after Grover died, Frankie married an archeology professor.

Twenty-Second President & Twenty-Fourth President
Grover Cleveland

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

Born: 1832
Died: 1918

Lucretia Rudolph, nicknamed “Crete,” grew up in a religious household. Her father was an Ohio farmer and part-time preacher for the Disciples of Christ Church. An excellent student, Crete attended college at the Disciples’ “Ecletic Institute” where she met classmate James Garfield. Sharing an interest in literature and philosophy, the couple had a long and unsteady courtship before marrying in 1858. At first the marriage was shaky. Jim was away most of the time — teaching, serving in the Union Army, then going to Congress. Crete was left to raise the children and later cope with the death of their three-year-old daughter. Resolved to strengthen their marriage, the Garfield’s relocated their family to Washington in 1867. Over the next 14 years while Jim served in Congress, the couple grew increasingly close. They joined a literary society, read, dined and traveled together and enjoyed being home with their five children.

Just months after the Garfields moved into the White House, 49-year-old Crete contracted malaria. She was convalescing at the New Jersey shore when word came that the president had been shot. For three months, he vainly fought for life while Crete kept constant vigil by his bedside. She also attended his funeral, which no prior Presidential widow had done. The public admired her courage and raised $385,000 for her family’s financial security.

Twentieth President
James A. Garfield

Born: 1831
Died: 1889

Lucy Webb grew up in a family of Ohio abolitionists and temperance advocates. After graduating from Cincinnati’s Wesleyan Female College, the 21-year-old Lucy married longtime beau Rutherford Hayes, a 30-year-old lawyer (their mothers had introduced them). Lucy eventually gave birth to eight children, three who died in infancy. Early in her marriage, she took an interest in politics, espousing abolition and supporting Lincoln and the Republican party. When her husband volunteered for the Union Army, Lucy visited his encampments and served as a nurse. During his two terms as Congressman, she was an able Washington hostess. And back home in Ohio during “Ruddy’s” tenure as Governor, Lucy helped found a home for soldiers’ and sailors’ orphans and visited various state welfare institutions.

By the time Lucy got to the White House, the First Presidential wife to hold a college degree was being hailed as a shining symbol of the “New Woman.” But as First Lady, Lucy studiously avoided controversy and refused to be drawn into public debate on women’s suffrage or other political issues. In keeping with her long held beliefs, she did ban alcohol from the White House — prompting the famous nickname, “Lemonade Lucy” — but otherwise, she assumed the traditional role of hostess, wife and mother. It was Lucy who began the popular children’s Easter Egg roll on the White House lawn.

Nineteenth President
Rutherford B. Hayes

Born: 1826
Died: 1902

Julia Grant often said that her eight years as First Lady were the happiest of her life. The fourth child and first daughter of a prosperous St. Louis slaveholder, Julia was warm and outgoing despite a birth defect that left her with a badly crossed eye. She met Ulysses, her brother’s handsome but insecure West Point classmate, when she was 18 and he 22. They wed four years later, after “Ulys” returned from the Mexican War, and eventually had four children. The Grants were an unusually close family, thanks in large part to Julia’s indomitable good humor. She believed always that Ulys was destined for greatness despite his string of business and professional failures.

Never meant for business or even politics, Ulys was at his best on the battlefield. During his service as the Union Army’s commanding general, Julia frequently joined him in camp, some say to prevent his drinking. whatever the reason, the results were good — his record propelled him to the White House.l As First Lady, Julia advised her husband on several Cabinet appointments though sadly her judgment was no better than his. In step with the “Gilded Age,” Julia entertained lavishly at the White House, particularly for her daughter’s wedding, and was disappointed when Ulys wouldn’t seek a third term. After a two-year trip around the world, the couple moved to New York where Ulys was swindled. But his bestselling memoir left Julia a comfortable widow.

Eighteenth President
Ulysses S. Grant

Born: 1810
Died: 1876

It was in the mountains of east Tennessee in the town of Greeneville that Eliza McCardle and Andrew Johnson met, married and made their home. Eliza was a cobbler’s daughter who attended school until her father’s death forced her to go to work. Andrew had left his poor North Carolina home to become a tailor’s apprentice. They married while both were in their teens and eventually raised five children. Eliza taught Andrew to write and give speeches, and managed the family finances.

When Andrew was elected to Congress in 1842 Eliza stayed home to educate their children. During the Civil War, she was forced from her home by a Confederate general while Andrew was serving as Lincoln’s military governor in Nashville. The travails of the war years took their toll. By the time she became First Lady following Lincoln’s assassination, Eliza was ill with tuberculosis and fearful for her husband’s safety. She let her daughters serve as White House hostesses while she kept to her private quarters and monitored the President’s days. She kept a scrapbook of newspaper articles for him to read and offered advice on matters ranging from Reconstruction policy to cabinet appointments. Throughout Andrew’s impeachment trial Eliza remained steadfast in her belief that justice would prevail and he would not be thrown from office. She was right, but only by one vote.

Seventeenth President
Andrew Johnson

Born: 1818
Died: 1882

Mary Todd Lincoln was the most maligned and misunderstood First Lady of the 19th century. High spirited and high strung, Mary was subject to violent mood swings and sudden outbursts of temper. But she was also intelligent, determined and ambitious, and had an unwavering faith in Abraham Lincoln. Born into a prominent Kentucky family, Mary lost her mother when she was six. Her father remarried and though he gave Mary every material comfort, including a fine education, hers was not a happy childhood. At 21 Mary joined her sister in Illinois and met Abe Lincoln, a poor 30-year-old country lawyer who battled depression.

Though she encouraged Abe’s quest for the Presidency, Mary’s White House years proved trying. Always a spendthrift, Mary’s profligacy drew criticism at a time of war and privation. Despite her work in Union hospitals, rumors spread that she was Confederate spy. And in 1862 her 11-year-old son died. All these traumas took their toll, but Abe’s assassination left her shattered. She refused to leave her White House room for a month. Then, she worried obsessively about money, even after Congress granted her a widow’s pension. Spending years in Europe with her young son Tad, Mary became even more unstable after Tad died at 18. Eventually committed to a mental hospital, she hired a lawyer and got herself released. Mary died at 63 at her sister’s Illinois home.

Sixteenth President
Abraham Lincoln

Born: 1830
Died: 1903

Harriet Lane was born in rural Pennsylvania, the sixth of seven children of Jane Buchanan and Elliot Lane, a prosperous merchant. Orphaned at 11, Harriet chose her favorite uncle, U.S. Senator james Buchanan, to be her guardian. Educated at a Washington convent while “Nunc” served as Secretary of State under Polk, Harriet became a poised and skillful hostess, admired for her political savvy and her gracious manners. When Buchanan became Ambassador to England in 1853, he took Harriet with him and she formed a personal friendship with Queen Victoria. When Buchanan became President, his 26-year-old niece brought a welcome gaiety to the White House after the somber Pierce years. A popular figure, Harriet used her psotion to promote the arts and to further the cause of Native Americans. but the nation was grappling with a more immediate and explosive issue and in Nunc’s final year in office, the Civil War began.

When Nunc retired Harriet looked after him at his Pennsylvania farm. At 35, she married Baltimore banker Henry Johnston with whom she had two sons. All predeceased her, leaving Harriet, at 54, on her own once more. She moved back to Washington and devoted herself to worthy causes. She founded a home for invalid children at Johns Hopkins University, and bequeathed her extensive art collection to the government for display in a national museum.

Fifteenth President
James Buchanan

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