Martha Johnson Patterson

Quite aside from the tragedy of Lincoln's death, Andrew Johnson's wife, Eliza, found little pleasure in her husband's position as president. At the White House, her second-floor room was the center of activities for a large family including two sons, a widowed daughter and her children, and an older daughter Martha Patterson with her husband and their children. As a schoolgirl, Martha had often been the Polks' guest at the Executive Mansion; now she took up its social duties. She was a competent, unpretentious, and gracious hostess even during the impeachment crisis.