LETITIA
TYLER .
Letitia
Tyler had been confined to an invalid's chair for two
years when her husband unexpectedly became president.
After taking the oath of office as vice president in 1841,
John had planned to fill his duties from his home in Williamsburg
where Letitia was most comfortable, her Bible, prayer
book, and knitting at her side.
Born on
a Tidewater Virginia plantation in 1790, Letitia received
no formal education, but she learned all the skills
of managing a plantation, rearing a family, and presiding
over a home that would be John Tyler's refuge during
an active political life. They were married on March
29, 1813. Thereafter, whether he served in Congress
or as governor of Virginia, she attended to domestic
duties. Only once did she join him for the winter social
season in Washington. Of the eight children she bore,
seven survived; but after 1839 she was a cripple, though
"still beautiful now in her declining years."
Her daughter-in-law,
Pricilla, described her as, "the most entirely unselfish
person you can imagine.... Notwithstanding her very
delicate health, mother attends to and regulates all
the household affairs and all so quietly that you can't
tell when she does it."
In a second-floor
room at the White House, Letitia Tyler kept her quiet
but pivotal role in family activities. She did not take
part in the social affairs of the administration. Priscilla,
at age 24, assumed the position of White House hostess.
She met its demands with spirit and success, and enjoyed
it. Daughter of a well-known tragedian, Priscilla Cooper
had won the interest of Robert Tyler, whom she married
in 1839. Intelligent and beautiful, with dark brown
hair, she charmed the president's guests. Pricilla enjoyed
the expert advice of Dolley Madison, and the companionship
of her young sister-in-law Elizabeth.
JULIA
TYLER .
Born in 1820,
Julia Gardiner by the age of 20 was already famous as
the "Rose of Long Island." Descended from prominent
and wealthy New York families, she was trained for a
life in society. A European tour with her family gave
her glimpses of social splendors. Late in 1842 the Gardiners
went to Washington for the winter social season, and
Julia became the undisputed darling of the capital.
She attracted the most eminent men in the city, among
them President Tyler, a widower since September.
Tragedy
brought Tyler’s courtship poignant success the
next winter. Julia’s father lost his life in the
explosion of a huge naval gun. Tyler comforted Julia
in her grief and won her consent to a secret engagement.
The first
president to marry in office took his vows in New York
on June 26, 1844. The news was then broken to the American
people, who greeted it with keen interest, much publicity,
and some criticism about the couple's difference in
age: 30 years.
As young
Mrs. Tyler said herself, she "reigned" as first lady
for the last eight months of her husband's term. She
enjoyed her position immensely, and filled it with grace.
For receptions she revived the formality of the Van
Buren administration, welcoming guests with plumes in
her hair and attended by maids of honor. She once declared,
"Nothing appears to delight the President more than...to
hear people sing my praises."
The Tylers'
happiness was unshaken when they retired to their home
at Sherwood Forest in Virginia. There, Julia bore five
of her seven children and acted as mistress of the plantation
until the Civil War. She defended both states' rights
and the institution of slavery. She championed the political
views of her husband, who remained for her "the President"
until the end of his life. His death in 1862 came as
a severe blow to her.
As a refugee
in New York, she devoted herself to volunteer work for
the Confederacy. Its defeat found her impoverished.
Congress in 1870 voted a pension for Mary Lincoln, and
Julia Tyler used this precedent in seeking help. In
December 1880 Congress voted her $1,200 a year - and
after Garfield's assassination it passed bills to grant
uniform amounts of $5,000 annually to Mrs. Garfield,
Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Polk, and Mrs. Tyler. Living out
her last years comfortably in Richmond, Julia died there
in 1889 and was buried there at her husband's side.
SARAH
POLK .
Born in 1803,
Sarah Childress grew up on a plantation near Murfreesboro,
Tennessee. Elder daughter of a Captain, she gained something
rare from her father's wealth: he sent her away to school.
She went first to Nashville, then to the Moravians'
"female academy" at Salem, North Carolina, one of the
very few institutions of higher learning available to
women in the early 19th century. Sarah acquired an education
that made her especially fitted to assist a man with
a political career.
James K.
Polk was laying the foundation for that career in Tennessee
when he met her. They were married on New Year's Day,
1824. The story goes that Andrew Jackson had encouraged
their romance.
In an age
when motherhood gave a woman her only acknowledged career,
Sarah Polk had to resign herself to childlessness. Moreover,
no lady would admit to a political role of her own,
but Mrs. Polk found scope for her astute mind as well
as her social skills. She accompanied her husband to
Washington whenever she could, and they soon won a place
in its most select social circles. Privately, Sarah
was helping with his speeches, copying his correspondence
and giving him advice.
A devout
Presbyterian, she refused to attend horse races or the
theater, but maintained social contacts of value to
James. When he returned to Washington as president in
1845, she stepped to her high position with ease and
evident pleasure. She appeared at the inaugural ball,
but did not dance.
Her entertainments
were famous for sedateness and sobriety. Some accounts
say that the Polks never served wine, but an 1845 diary
tells of how, at a dinner for 40 at the White House,
glasses for six different wines "formed a rainbow around
each plate."
Only three
months after retirement to their fine new home "Polk
Place" in Nashville, her husband died, worn out by years
of public service. Clad always in black, Sarah Polk
lived on in that home for 42 more years, guarding the
memory of her husband and accepting honors paid to her
as honors due to him. The house became a place of pilgrimage.
During the
Civil War, she held herself above sectional strife and
received with dignity leaders of both Confederate and
Union armies. All respected Polk Place as neutral ground.
Sarah Polk presided over her house until her death in
her 88th year.
MARGARET
TAYLOR .
After the
election of 1848, a riverboat passenger struck up a
conversation with President Zachary Taylor, not knowing
his identity. The passenger asked if he was "a Taylor
man." "Not much of a one," the General replied, saying
he had not voted for Taylor because his wife was opposed
to sending "Old Zack" to Washington, "where she would
be obliged to go with him!" It was a truthful answer.
Moreover,
the story goes that Margaret Taylor had taken a vow
during the Mexican War that if her husband returned
safely, she would never go into society again. In fact
she never did, though prepared for it by genteel upbringing.
"Peggy"
Smith was born in 1788 in Calvert County, Maryland,
daughter of a major in the Revolutionary War. In 1809
while visiting in Kentucky she met young Lieutenant
Taylor. They were married the following June, and for
a while the young wife stayed on the farm given them
by Zachary's father. She bore her first baby there,
then followed her husband from one remote garrison to
another along the western frontier of civilization.
Two small
girls died in 1820 of what Taylor called "a violent
bilious fever," which left Margaret’s health impaired.
Three girls and a boy grew up. Knowing the hardships
of a military wife, Taylor opposed his daughters' marrying
career soldiers, but each eventually married into the
Army.
The second
daughter, Knox, married Lieutenant Jefferson Davis in
gentle defiance of her parents. Within three months
of her wedding, Knox died of malaria. Zachary Taylor
was not reconciled to Davis until they fought together
in Mexico. The second Mrs. Davis became a good friend
of Margaret Taylor, often calling on her at the White
House.
As a president’s
wife, Mrs. Taylor took no part in formal social functions.
She relegated all the duties of official hostess to
her youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth, recent bride
of Lieutenant Colonel William W. S. Bliss. "Betty" Bliss
filled her role admirably. One observer thought that
her manner blended "the artlessness of a rustic belle
and the grace of a duchess."
For Mrs.
Taylor, her husband's death on July 9, 1850 was an appalling
blow. Never again did she speak of the White House.
She spent her last days with the Blisses, dying on August
18, 1852.
