Martha Washington was the very first 1st lady of the United States. We all know this about her, and that she married George Washington. But, what about her life before him, and after him? Do you...
Category - America’s First Ladies
Abigail Powers Fillmore: America’s First Ladies #13
Abigail Powers Fillmore was among the most educated of the early First Ladies, and her influence on working women and education can still be felt in the atmosphere of the White House today. The White...
Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor: America’s First Ladies #12
Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor was the wife of 12th US President Zachary Taylor. While not much is known about her childhood, her decades of marriage to the future president are well-documented and...
Sarah Childress Polk: America’s First Ladies #11
Sarah Childress Polk was the wife of James K. Polk, our 11th U.S. president. She was a prized catch on the political marriage market from the beginning, and made her own, unique mark on the office of...
Julia Gardiner Tyler: America’s First Ladies #10
Julia Gardiner Tyler, second wife and First Lady of 10th U.S. president John Tyler, was known as a spirited and independent woman. Thirty years the president’s junior, she caused scandals and made...
Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison: America’s First Ladies #9
Though she was only First Lady for a month, and never actually went to D.C. during her husband’s brief presidency, Anna Symmes, the wife of ninth U.S. President William Henry Harrison, was an...
Angelica Singleton Van Buren: America’s First Ladies #8
Like several other early presidents, Martin Van Buren was a widower. His beautiful, accomplished daughter-in-law, Angelica, stepped in to fill that role. A daughter of a wealthy southern family, she...
Rachel Donelson Jackson, Emily Donelson, and Sarah Yorke Jackson: America’s First Ladies #7
Andrew Jackson, our seventh president, is unique in presidential history in that he had more than one First Lady. He had three, in fact. Here are the stories of Rachel Donelson Jackson, Emily...
Louisa Johnson Adams: America’s First Ladies #6
Louisa Johnson Adams was the wife of John Quincy Adams, the 6th president of the United States. Born in England, she was the only First Lady to be born on foreign soil until Melania Trump. With her...
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe: America’s First Ladies #5
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe was our nation’s fifth First Lady. Not as much is known about her as previous First Ladies, but she was a more private person. She still has an interesting story that is...
Dolley Madison: America’s First Ladies #4
Dolley Madison was the 4th First Lady of the United States. The wife of James Madison, she is famous for saving the portrait of George Washington from the White House during the War of 1812. However...
Martha Jefferson Randolph: America’s First Ladies #3
Who was Thomas Jefferson’s First Lady? His wife had died twenty years prior to him becoming president. In fact, his eldest daughter, Martha, filled in the First Lady duties during Jefferson’s...
Abigail Adams: America’s First Ladies #2
Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams, the second president of the United States. Much is known about her life because of the extensive correspondence she left behind. Rather than burning it to...
America’s First Ladies, #45: Melania Knavs Trump
Born Melanija Knavs in Novo Mesto, Slovenia (which was a part of Yugoslavia at the time) on April 26, 1970, our future First Lady was the daughter of Viktor Knavs and Amalija Ulcnik. Her father was a...
America’s First Ladies, #44: Michelle Robinson Obama
Our forty-fourth First Lady, Michelle Obama, was born Michelle LaVaughn Robinson on January 17, 1964 in Chicago, Illinois. Her father was Fraser Robinson, who worked as a secretary at the Spiegel...
America’s First Ladies, #43: Laura Welch Bush
Our forty-third First Lady was born Laura Lane Welch in Midland, Texas on November 4, 1946. An only child, her father was named Harold Welch and was a builder and real estate developer, while her...
America’s First Ladies, #42: Hillary Rodham Clinton
Our forty-second First Lady is still well known today from her ongoing political and public careers independent of her husband since leaving the White House. She is best known, after being First...
America’s First Ladies, #41: Barbara Pierce Bush
Barbara Pierce would one day become our forty-first, First Lady. She was born on June 8, 1925, in Flushing, New York. Her parents were Marvin Pierce and Pauline Robinson. Her father was president of...
America’s First Ladies, #40: Nancy Robbins Davis Reagan
Nancy Reagan, our fortieth First Lady, was born Anne Frances Robbins (Nancy is a common nickname for Anne) on July 6, 1921, in Manhattan, New York. The only child of Kenneth Robbins and Edith...
America’s First Ladies, #39 – Rosalynn Smith Carter
Our thirty-ninth First Lady, Rosalynn Carter, was born Eleanor Rosalynn Smith on August 18, 1927, in Plains, Georgia. She was the eldest child of four children born to Wilburn Smith and Allethea...
America’s First Ladies, #38 — Elizabeth “Betty” Bloomer Ford
The thirty-eighth First Lady of the United States, Elizabeth Anne “Betty” Bloomer Ford, was born on April 18, 1918, in Chicago, Illinois. She was the third child and only daughter of her parents...
America’s First Ladies, #37 — Thelma “Pat” Ryan Nixon
Thelma Ryan was called “Pat” from an early age, and eventually became Pat Nixon, the thirty-seventh First Lady of the United States. A farmer’s daughter, she worked her whole life until her first...
America’s First Ladies, #36 — Claudia “Lady Bird” Taylor Johnson
Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson was the wife of US President Lyndon B. Johnson, and the daughter of a wealthy Texas family with roots in Alabama. Her childhood was unconventional, as was her school...
America’s First Ladies, #35 — Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy
Jacqueline “Jackie” Bouvier Kennedy was the 35th First Lady of the United States, being married to John F. Kennedy. She came from a wealthy socialite family from New York City, and went on to become...
America’s First Ladies, #34 — Mamie Doud Eisenhower
Mamie Doud Eisenhower was the 34th First Lady of the United States. From a wealthy Iowa family, she became an Army wife to Dwight D. Eisenhower, and then First Lady of the USA, and the 1st First Lady...
America’s First Ladies, #33 – Bess Wallace Truman
Bess Wallace Truman was the 33rd First Lady of the United States. The wife of Harry Truman, Bess never wanted the publicity and public scrutiny that came with being the First Lady, but she did what...
America’s First Ladies, #32 – Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt was more than just the 32nd First Lady of the United States. She was a force of nature. From her hard childhood to the unconventional nature of her relationship with her husband...
America’s First Ladies, #31 – Lou Henry Hoover
Lou Henry Hoover was the 31st First Lady of the United States. The wife of Herbert Hoover, she was First Lady when the Great Depression began. She was athletic and confident, and introduced some...
America’s First Ladies, #30 – Grace Goodhue Coolidge
Grace Goodhue Coolidge was our 30th First Lady. Wife to US President Calvin Coolidge, she was known for her vivacious, outgoing personality, and for her simple, dignified White House dinners and...
America’s First Ladies #29 – Florence Kling Harding
The wife of 29th US President Warren G. Harding, Florence Kling was born on August 15, 1860, in Marion, Ohio. She was the eldest of three children born to Amos Kling, a successful banker in Marion...