The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-11
MRS. sEMT'LE PREsmENT
 TYLERS DAUGHTER

The following interesting story ox one of the most interesting women ot the day, a former mistress of the Whlte TIouse. is from The Memphis Commer- ciaI- Anncal. Mrs. Lelitia Tyler Sem pIe has two neices among the prom nent women of Alabama Mrs. Albert Goodwin and Mrs. T. Gardner roster So the story Is of local as well as na- ttonal interest. Mrs. Semple Is spend ing her last days in the Louise Home. The article in The Appeal Is the foi- lowing:
 ''on Thursday next. May II. Mrs: Le- titia Tyler Semple, daughter Of Presi- dent Tyler, and former mistress of the White House, celebrates her S4th birth day. and despite her wonderful vitality one may see how the burden Of more than four score years weighs upon her. She receives her friends for the most
 part now lying upon lounge, her sishtless eyes half closed. her strong face as colorless as the clustering curls
 which frame 1t, saying in reply to their
 inouiries: T never pass comfortable hour"
 Three years ago. being deta.oed by
 a shower one morning, while making her a visit, she drew mahogany ta-
 ble to the center of the room exclaim- ing with sudden animation: wen have luncheon together"
  cloth and odd bits of china and glass. Then, setting out bottle of wine with fruit and cake. the impromptu neal pe- gan. At it's conclusion she said:
 Now you can say that you nave lunched at a table 300 years old, around which Patrick Henry, John Randolph of Roanoke, and many another notanis has gathered. It was made in Englaho from a tree which grew near me pay of Campeachy, brought over by mer- | chantman as ballast for his snip. ls was used first at Jamestown py my great grandfather, John Tyler. the last colonial marshal of Virginia, aiter
 wards going witf him to Ihe ra.aso s 1, at WilliaTsbufg, where !" suppo .oa uias
 water from which afterwafu his ~arved From him it descended 10 .4sS
 soa Tobn TvIer. "the patriot, judge
 of inc Court of Appeals, member or tne House of Burgesses, three times elected csovernor of Virginia, and mover ~ Annapolis of the resolutions resuitins in our present Constitution. lts heAe owner. John Tyler, President CT United states, used 1t at the GoVernoI mansion in Richmond. ana oeseenus n"ehs to me 1t has accompahieo ni0
 out my career. Tn the history of the table--after- wards bought by MT. Waggaman oI washfneton, who paid Mrs. Se'hpie dollar for every year or us ase' nave a partial genealogical record aa- the Virginia Tylers, said 10 han anneadad scended from Wat Tyler, who SSs. tbe ..peasant's revolt" in iTons' Io't' To q against Richard II of Eng ea',r pres- famiIv which has furnie ,s.,o.,ar .s.. to .le O-,sArd states, hoWcVoa
 ,@ue @ Nsonroe, William Henry Aarri-
 san sohn Tyler and Ben1amlo Harl son,-the mothers could scarcely nave heep fnsignificant factors. The first Of these the wife of the marshal, was' daughter of Dr. Hugh Comptesse, or France who came to America areer the revocation of the Edict of Nantas. The second, who married "the patriot, was one of the Armisteads of "Buckroe, now Buckroe Beach, the well known Virginia seaside resort, Wnlie MES' Senple's mother, Letitia Christian also came of good colonial and ReVolu
 tionary stock. The distinguished lady herself was born at Woodbourne, Charles Clty County, Va, May Il, 1891, among her wayne recollections being Vislt Tn 1sea to Richmond. where her parents went to assist in the reception of Gen l eral Lafayette. In 1926 her father was made Governor of the State, and she remembers standing in one or lne oesS | window seats of the Governors man sion and seeing the crowd gather m the Capitol Square to listen 10 ms Lu' neral oration of Jefferson. .- As little child she had a passion TOT music. and when awakened by hei | fathers violin or flute would steal down in her night dress and stand nS I his side while he played She aIter- | wards developed a delightrul voice | 'sin sing naturally" as she says, as bird does, without any of the modefn | affectation and artificialfty. when hei l husband was stationed at Annapohs | she led the choir in the Naval AcademS chanel. and she is fond of recalling how sine sang songs with her father as the | two wandered together through a Wooe now occupied by the Louise Home. | Until she was 14 she was taught al | home. Then she went to boarding | school, but her older sister marrying a | the end of the term and her mother health failing, her father, then a mem l her of the United States Senate, aban' doned plantation life, and removing tt | Williamsburg, occupied house Whici is still pointed out to tourists. Ther' she continued her studies under pro | fessors, and in 1889 married Pursel
 James Semple of the navy.
 The following year Tyler was elected 1 Vtce-President on the ticket with VII | liam Henry Harrison, and the lattel dying a month after his inauguration he succeeded to the presidency. Ill:
 wife, then an invalid, was obliged t'
 surrender her social duties to Mrs semple and her sister, Elizabeth, ant to their sister -in-law, Mrs. Robert Ty Ter. a daughter of Cooper, the trase dian, who was herself before her mar riage upon the stage. These' t' ouote Mrs. Semples own words. WV performed alternately or together with ont thought of rivalry. When m! mother died, on Sept. 10. 1S42. however
 my sister, having returned to her WIT
 ginia home, Mrs. Robert Tyler being in Pbiladelphia. and Purser Semple a
 sea I accepted a formal invitation iron
 mv father to become the mistress O
 the White House, filling the position
 until his second marriage during tn spring of 1S44, and presiding, amohl other functions, at a card reception am
 banquet to the Prince de JolnVlIle' soi of Louis Philippe of France
 "At that time" Mrs. Semple says
 "Washington was like a village. Ther
 was no gas. The streets, Whlch wer llipbted at the corners with oil lamps
 were muddy and full of holes, and thos
 not owning carriages had no means o
 getting about except by Walklhe' Ohl' one railroad entered the place ana ther
 was no connection with the South ant
 Southwest except by a stage road U
 Wheeling. W. Va. Visitors from thos
 points came by stage or private car
 riage with their trunks strapped pc
 hind. Southern families bringing thel
 servants with them.
 After her fathers second marrlag
 Mrs, Semple lived for a time in Rlch
 mond, and her older sister dying, tool
 charge of her two little boys, late
 adopting the three orphan children O
 two young sisters, all of whom sh | IneSE