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

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

Born: 1800, Cayuga County, NY
Died: 1874

Millard Fillmore became President after the sudden death of Zachary Taylor. Son of a poor farmer, Fillmore was apprenticed to a cloth maker, but studied law and entered politics, serving as Comptroller of New York, U.S. Congressman, and Vice-President. Although he personally opposed slavery, President Fillmore supported Henry Clay’s Compromise of 1850. The Compromise allowed California to join the Union as a free state in exchange for Congressional enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act, which helped slaveholders recapture runaway slaves. Abolitionists were outraged, including many Northern Whigs, and passions were further inflamed by the 1852 publican of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom Cabin.

Fillmore did manage to secure a trade agreement with Japan, but he came under increasing attack from both pro- and anti-slavery factions, and his ineptitude in resolving the slavery issue led to his demise. The Whigs nominated another candidate in 1852. the party eventually disintegrated, ruined by the same forces that were tearing the nation apart. In 1856 Fillmore ran unsuccessfully for President on the xenophobic American (nicknamed “Know-Nothing”) party ticket.

Thirteenth President
Whig

Born: 1784, Montebello, VA
Died: 1850

Popularly known as “Old Rough and Ready,” General Zachary Taylor was long admired as a leader of fighting men. Courageous and principled, he distinguished himself in the Indian campaigns and against the British in the War of 1812. Key victories during the Mexican War made him a national hero and brought him to the attention of the Whig Party. Though a slave-owning southerner, Taylor was also a strong nationalist. He won a close victory over the Democrats, whose votes were siphoned off by a third candidate, Free-Soiler Martin Van Buren.

Tensions between North and South were mounting when President Taylor took office. The addition of new territories such as California and New Mexico caused the unraveling of the Missouri Compromise. When Taylor opposed extending slavery of these territories, southern states threatened secession. The President’s response was swift — he threatened war, saying he’d lead the Army himself and hang the rebels. But Taylor’s sudden death turned the crisis over to his Vice-President, Millard Fillmore, whose feeble attempt at yet another compromise only delayed the inevitable bloody conflict.

Twelfth President
Whig