She started to give piano lessons and started earning. However, her father did not like her daughter working and earning in this way. It was difficult for her to watch her son, and to give piano lessons. So she agreed to a proposal of his father. He gave her son to her parents to raise him. But, she continued to give piano lessons.
Charity (Chat) Harding was one of her students. She was the eldest sister of Warren G. Harding. Harding was the young publisher of the town’s only newspaper named Marion Daily Star. Now, this paper’s name is the Marion Star. Florence became closer to Warren G. Harding. The two married in 1891. The couple did not get any children of their own. But, Florence’s son Marshall Eugene De Wolfe sometimes lived with them.
Florence started to help her husband and his newspaper. Once she told: "I have only one real hobby - my husband." The newspaper’s circulation grew. Harding was also rising in politics of Ohio. He became a senator of the United States. In 1920, he won the US presidential elections.
When the Harding couple moved into the White House, she opened the grounds to the public. Earlier, due to the illness of President Woodrow Wilson the grounds and the mansion had been closed. In 1920, she suffered kidney problems. But, still she continued as an active First lady.
In the summer of 1923, the Harding couple started on their nationwide "Voyage of Understanding". During this journey, the President died in San Francisco, California in August 1923.
After the death of her husband, she tried to make a new life for her. She wanted to live in Washington for some time. However, her kidney problems increased. She returned to Marion for treatment and recovery. The treatment continued for months but could not save her life. She died on 21st November 1924.
She lies buried alongside her husband in the Harding Memorial in Marion, Ohio. Many historians think this be the most beautiful of Presidential Tombs in the United States.
Lou Henry Hoover
Louise "Lou" Henry Hoover (March 29, 1874 - January 7, 1944) was the wife of Herbert Hoover, the President of the United States. As the wife of the president, she acted as the First Lady of the United States from 1929 to 1933.
Her birthplace is Waterloo, Iowa. Her parents were Charles D. Henry and Florence. She spent her first ten years of her life at Iowa. Then, her father thought that the climate of southern California would be good for the health of Florence, his wife. The family came to live in Whittier, California. The place was later the childhood home of President Richard Nixon.
Her father, Charles Henry took her on camping trips. She became a very good horsewoman. She also hunted. She also developed interest for rocks, mineral, and mining.
She studied in two schools and got a certificate in teaching. Then she came to study at the Stanford University in 1894. She completed her course and became the first woman in Stanford's geology department. There she had met in a laboratory Herbert Hoover, her senior at the University.
Lou and Herbert Hoover married in 1899. Once Herbert Hoover said that her blue eyes and broad grins had attracted him.
The newlywed couple went to China where her husband became famous as a mining engineer. He also worked in many other countries and places of the world: for examples, in places in Ceylon, Burma, Siberia, Australia, Egypt, Japan, and Europe.
She had two sons: Herbert Charles Hoover (August 4, 1903 - July 9, 1969) and Allan Hoover (July 17, 1907 - November 4, 1993).
Her husband, Herbert Hoover earned a lot of fame after the First World War. He became famous for his good work in managing emergency relief programs. She lived with him, but sometimes spent time with her two sons in California. In 1919, the couple started constructing a house at Palo Alto, California. By this time, her husband became United States Secretary of Commerce. The couple lived in Washington for eight years. She did well socially as a wife of the Cabinet Secretary. She also took an active role in the Girl Scouts of the USA. She also served as the president of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
In 1929, the Hoover couple came to live into the White House. Lou Henry Hoover had a long experience as wife of a famous man who had worked in the United States and in many foreign countries. She started her role as the First Lady. She was charming and dressed handsomely. She did it very well all through the term of her husband as the President. However, during this period, the Hoovers broke a tradition. On the New Year’s Day of 1933, they were away from the White House. Thus, they were not present to greet the public personally. Their absence ended the tradition of the President and the First Lady greeting the public on the New Year’s Day.
In 1933, the Hoovers couple retired to Palo Alto. But, they also kept an apartment in New York. Mrs. Hoover died on 7th January 1944 at the age of 69. She died of a heart attack. After her death, Mr. Hoover came to know of many gifts given by his wife. She had helped many boys and girls to get education. Mr. Hoover described her as: "a symbol of everything wholesome in American life."
Now, their house in Palo Alto is the official residence of the President of Stanford University. The house is one of the National Historic Landmarks. Lou Henry Hoover Elementary School in Whittier (built in 1938) bears her name in her honor. Her statue stands at the place where her childhood home was at Waterloo, Iowa.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11, 1884 − November 7, 1962) was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, holding the post from 1933 to 1945 during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office.
She was also a political leader in her own right. She supported the civil rights movement. After the death of her husband in 1945, she started her career, as an author, speaker and spokesperson for human rights. She became a new role model for First Lady. President Harry S. Truman called her the "First Lady of the World", in honor of her many travels to help promote human rights.
Roosevelt received 35 honorary degrees during her life.
Her birthplace is 56 West 37th Street, New York City, New York. Her parents were Elliott Roosevelt I and Anna Hall Roosevelt. Two brothers followed young Anna Roosevelt. The Roosevelt family was completed with the addition of Elliott Jr. (1889-1893) and Hall Roosevelt (1891-1941). She is a fifth-cousin, once removed of Franklin Roosevelt, who later became her husband.
She was a favorite niece of Theodore Roosevelt, one of the Presidents of the United States.
Her family was a descendant of Claes Martenszen van Rosenvelt. He had came to New Amsterdam, Manhattan from the Netherlands in the 1640s. His grandsons, Johannes and Jacobus, began two branches of the Roosevelt family. Descendants of Johannes were Roosevelt family of the Oyster Bay, New York. Descendants of Jacobus were Roosevelt family of Hyde Park, New York. Eleanor was a descendant of the Johannes branch. Her future husband, Franklin was descended from the Jacobus branch.
Theodore Roosevelt, one of the Presidents of the United States, was her uncle. He was like a father to Eleanor, the future First Lady. Anna Eleanor liked to use the name Eleanor, using her name as Anna Eleanor only in official papers and for signing bank checks. From her mother side, she was a descendent of William Livingston, a signer of the U.S. Constitution.
Her parents died early. After this, her maternal grandmother, Marry Ludlow Hall (1843-1919) raised her. She spent her childhood in Tivoli, New York. Most of her mother’s family members tended to look down at her, perhaps because of her plain looks and six-foot tall frame. Even her Hyde Park Roosevelts, including her future mother-in-law, Sara Delano Roosevelt, would remark to her about the Manhattan Roosevelts: "we got all the looks and the money."