The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1915-10-21
Presidential Precedents.

President Wilson Is not the first
bereaved chief executive who has
sOlaced himself with second wife,
while tender hearted ladies who feel
that fourteen months is rather
slight interregnum may take notice
that presidents wives have not felt
bound to limit themselves to one ,hus-
band. One of them, in fact, was so
unfortunate as to be married to two
men at once.
George Washington, himself son
by a second marriage, married
widow with two children, SO Martha
Washington may be said to have set
the White House style of double ven
lures in the matrimonial game.
Thomas Jefferson was the next to
succumb to the charms Of widow.
He married Mrs. Martha Shelton,
who had been bereaved at such an
early date that she was only % years
old when she became Mrs. Jefferson.
She had no children by her first mar
riage, and died at the birth OF the
sixth child to her second union. Mrs.
Jefferson exhibited real feminine con-
sistency, when, with record of two
marriages to her own credit, she ex-
tracted a promise from her husband
Oh; her deathbed that he would never
take another wife. He kept the
promise.
james Madison married only once,
aid he also picked a widow, Mrs.
Dbrothea Payne Todd. but Madison
afIany rate had another engagement
to his credit. When he was 30 years
of. age, he contracted to wed fair
young thing of l6, but she Tilted him
inlfavor of clergyman, and history
records that her view Of the choice
she made was never changed by the
elevation of her first fiance to the
presidency.
At this late date, it is perfectly
safe to discuss the matrimonial adj
ventures of Andrew Jackson. Jack
son was married twice, both times
to the same woman. He was room
ing at the home of Mrs. John Donel-
son and her daughter, Mrs. Rachel
Richards, in Kentucky, when the lat
ter's husband, who was in Virginia,
petitioned the Virginia legislature to
permit him to bring a divorce action
ON the ground that his wife was liv-
ing in adultery with one Andrew
jackson The legislature granted the
petition. Jackson, carelessly assum-
ing that the legislative act was equiv
alent to a divorce, promptly married
Rachel Richards. But Richards did
not bring the divorce suit for full
two years, and Jackson discovered
that he was legally supernumerary
After the decree of divorce was final |
Unsecured, Jackson married his wife
again in order to get the record |
straight. The matter was one con- |
corning which he was very sensitive. |
He had intimated that the coroner |
would be sure to bring in verdict of |
suicide over the remains of anyone |
who spoke of the affair, and it was |
never mentioned in his presence.
John Tyler and Willard Fillmore ,
were each married twice. The for
mer's first wife, Letitia Christian,
died in 1912, and two years later he |
married Miss Julia Gardner. The |
Fillmore presidency provided rec
ord of three marriages, for the presi-
dents second venture was with Mrs.
Caroline c. Mcintosh, widow.
i After Fillmore, the presidency re-
manned a matter of life unions until !
the Cleveland administration was |
reached, and considering the long |
lapse of years without second mar
riage, it is surprising what number
involve men or women still living.
Cleveland only married once, but his
widow, Frances Folsom, is now Mrs !!
Thomas B. Preston. Her husband is
connected with Princeton University.
II Is -Ia.-:5ol presidency contri-
butes a second wedding on each side
of the family Benjamin Harrison
married Miss Carrie Scott, and many n
years after her death, he was united
with Mrs. Mary Lord Dimmick, widow
of former attorney general of the
state of Pennsylvania. She is still
living.
Theodore Roosevelt has been twice
married. His first wife, Alice Hatha-
way Lee died in 1884, and in 1886
Roosevelt married Edith Kermit Car
ow, of New York, the ceremony be-
ing performed in London.
President Wilson, accordingly
finds abundant precedent for the step
els about to take. And presidents of |
the United States seem to have had a
particular penchant for widows
But there is also reverse side to |
the story. Martin Van Buren's wife
died at the age of 81, and although |
Van Buren, survived her fortythree
years, he remained true to her men,
Org. No president ever suffered more
DlCL6r personal dlldCNS tud1 VAN
Buren,, but his worst enemy was
ready to pay a tribute to him as a
husband, and for the reverence he
bore his wife after her death.
James Buchanan is the only bach
elor president the United States has
ever had. He entered politics to es-
cape distraction over the death Of his |
betrothed, but never sufficiently eff
faced her memory to find solace in
another. !,
And in American annals, there is
nothing to surpass the lifelong de-
votion of President Mckinley to his
Invalid wife.