Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1907-05-16
tOIDsBORO n. c., THURSDAY. MAY 16, 1907
BELLE OF The FORTIES.
Daughter Of President Tyler
Now Old and Blind.
All the Worlds a Stage and Its TFag-
edieS aPe Sad and Relentless.


Washington, D. O., May ia hap
by Virginia bride at nineteen, mistress
of the White House at twenty and
totally blind and an inmate of the
Louise Home in this city at eighty
seven. Steh is the life story of Mrs.
Letitia Tyler sempla, daughter of for
mer President Tyler, who was eighty
seven years old today.
When it is remembered that Mrs, 7
5empIe was a little girl when Lafayette I
made his last visit to America, and q
young woman before the Seminole In F
dians were finally pacified in Florida, F
it would seem that she almost belongs /
/ to another age. She saw the first tele-
/ graph wire IN the United States stretch
ed from Washington to Baltimore, and
later was given a p1oce of the original
Atlantic cable by S. f B. Morse HIM
SELF She was present a the launch
ing of the Allegheny, the first iron ship
IN the United States navy to be pro
PEELED by steam. She was acquainted
with such notable figures in public lie
as Daniel Webster, John c. Calhoun,
Henry Clay, Washington Irving, An
drew Jackson, John Quincy Adams
and numerous others.
Mrs. Semple in her youth was her
fathers constant companion. She was
a good musician and the life and spirit
of his household. At the age of nine
teen she became the wife of Mr.. Sem
pie.
When the death Of William Henry
Harrison made Tyler President he
brought large and interesting family
to the White House. Mrs. Tyler was
an invalid and could never discharge
the duties of mistress Of the White
House. During the first few months OF
TyIer's administration Mrs. Robert
Tyler, wife Of son of the President,
acted as his hostess, with the Presi-
dents daughter, Letitia, remained at
their Virginia home with her mother.
Some months later Mrs. Tyler made
the trip to Washington, accompanied
by her daughter, now Mrs. Semple, but
succumbed to her malady very shortly
O afterward and was buried from the
G White House, of which she had never
been able to assume the duties of mis-
tress. After the death of her mother
Mrs. Semple assumed the duties of
mistress of the White House, which
she discharged with grace and tact un-
til her fathers second marriage only a
few months before his term ofof1ice ex-
pired His second bride was Miss
Julia Gardner, of New York.
+ Like most elderly people, Mrs. Sem
y pie lives in the past. Her last visit to
= the White House was during the ad-
ministration of President Pierce, whose
family were intimate friends. Since
that time, although invitations have
come to her for every function given
there and are still coming, she has
paid no attention to them. She leads a
g quiet life in the Louise Home for the
Aged, which is filled with Southern
:, ladies with gentle birth and culture.
The home is not a charita BILE institu-
). ton, for each woman must pay for her
= board and room. The charge is mod
T est, as the institution was handsomely
endowed by the founder, the late phil
e anthropist, W. w. Corcoran, who gave
= it in memory of his daughter Louise,
who died in her youth.