The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1886-07-03
First Ladies of the Land.

Sketches of the Seventeen Who Have
Ruled at the White House from the
Time of Martha Washington to
Mrs. Garfield characteristics
and Personal Notes.
Below will be found short sketches of
the ladies who have ruled at the White
House since the days of Martha Wash
ington.
MARTHA WASHINGTON.
Martha Washington was the daughter
of a Virginian. In her early girlhood
belle at the court of the British Gov
ernor of the colony, she learned there
the punctilious etiquette that she after
ward prescribed, and added to the
haughtiness OF naturally aristocratic
spirit. Wealthy by inheritance, she
married at II man of fortune, and at
about 27 was left the handsomest widow
in Virginia to become the wife of Geo.
Washington. Mrs. Washington was
noted for simplicity of dress, frequently
wearing a gown of homespun, with lace
cap and muslin handkerchief.
ABIGAIL ADAMS.
Abigail Adams was the daughter and
granddaughter of clergymen, and her
marriage at the age of twenty to John
Adams was considered not all fatter-
ing one at the time. On her husband S
election to the Presidency the seat Of
Government was removed to Washing
ton, and although the present Presidents
residence was styled the White House
in honor of Martha Washington, Mrs.
Adams was really the first lady of that
building.
MARTHA JEFFERSON RANDOLPH.
sealhPe The wife Yj&fe. ef f Th9maSSo Sc llsfe6soR died
President, and there was literally no
lady at the White House during the
greater palt of his Presidency. His
daughters were Mrs. Martha Jefferson
Randolph and Mrs. Eppes. The latter,
the younger, is said to have been an ex-
ceedingly sweet and gracious person of
great beauty. One of her sons was the
first child born in the White House.
Mrs. Randolph, less beautiful than her
sister, was more brilliant, and her father
had lavished every care upon her.
DOLLY P. MADISON.
When Mrs. Madison came to the
White House, as its next mistress, quite
another character was added to the cir
Gle of stately danes genial, generous,
bustling, loud laughing woman, with a
big heart in buxom body. Dolly Gales
Payne, brought up in the strict tenets
of the Society of Friends, and married
at nineteen to Mr.. John Todd, men,
Der of the same sect, in less than year
after his death, and at the age of twen-
ty-thrss, married James Madison and
stepped from poverty and insignifcance
to wealth and station. She filled the
White House with children.
Mrs. Monroe, as may be imagined,
was person in strong contrast to her
predecessor, a very quiet and polished
lady, accustomed when she came to the
White House to the reinements OF
courts.
LOUISA KATHERINE ADAMS.
Mrs. Monroe could have resigned her
honors into no hands more fit to receive
them than those of Mrs. John Quincy
Adams, the last of the women of the
Revolutionary era who occupied the
White House. Louisa Katherine John
son, although of American and Southern
lineage, was born, educated and married
in London, her marriage taking place
at the age of 22. Mrs. Adams was
highly educated and accomplished, with
literary tastes, warm feelings, fine man
ners, and sufficient share of beauty.
Representatives of life and expert
ence entirely opposite took possession
of the White House when Mrs. Adams
left it. European education and &C.
quaintance with royal and imperial
courts being supplanted by that coming
cut of the Far West and shaped by the
struggle with the wilderness. Mrs. Jack
son herself, indeed, never entered the
White House, dying just before her hus-
bands Inauguration, doned to death by
his slanderers. Mrs. Andrew Donelson
and Mrs. Andrew Jackson, Jr., Mrs.
Tackson's nieces, reigned in her stead.
ANGELICA SINGLETON.
The next lady Of the White House
was again the daughter-in-law, not the
wife of the President, for Martin Van
Buren's wife died nearly twelve years
before he was called to the Presidency.
Angelica Singleton, young and dark.
eyed South Carolinian of distinguished
family connections and fine educa.
ton, ruled through number of serene
and sunny years.
| JULIA TYLER.
The first Mrs. Tyler entered the
White House only to die there. Sht
was but once seen offering hospitalities
and that on the occasion of her daugh
ter's wedding.
SARAH CH1LDRESS POLK.
Mrs. Sarah Childress Polk, as th'
wife of man who had already held i'm
portant official positions, knew how t.
bear herself perfectly in high station
She early became member of the Pres
byterian church, the strictness of who's
religious observances she carried int
much of her social life.
ABIGAIL POWERS FILLMORE.
Margaret Taylor entered the Whit
House reluctantly, and was succeeds
by Abigail Powers Fillmore, the daugh
ter of a clergyman. She became teach