Mary Todd Lincoln is one of the most famous of the First Ladies. Hers is an interesting tale, sometimes thrilling, sometimes tragic, but always adventurous and captivating. Here is her true tale, the...
Category - America’s First Ladies
Harriet Lane: America’s First Ladies #15
Harriet Lane was the niece of 15th US President James Buchannan and served as the bachelor president’s First Lady. She was popular, well-known, and admired here and in England. Besides that, she left...
Martha Washington: America’s First Ladies #1
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...
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...