Abigail Powers Fillmore had first met husband President Millard Fillmore when he was her student, and as a teacher she had been the first First Lady to have held a job after marriage. During her time as a First Lady (1850-1853), she made certain the White House had a music room and three pianos, and she further made additions to the White House library. She was born in Saratoga County, New York, in 1798, while it was still on the fringe of civilization. Her father, a locally prominent Baptist preacher named Lemuel Powers, died shortly thereafter. Courageously, her mother moved on westward, thinking her scanty funds would go further in a less settled region, and ably educated her small son and daughter beyond the usual frontier level with the help of her husband’s library.
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