Tag Archives: First Lady History

Dusting Off Franklin Pierce

The Basic Pierce Facts Franklin Pierce (1804-69), Democrat from New Hampshire, was a dark horse nominee, elected President in 1852. It took 49 Ballots to put him on the ballot, which was an exhausting exercise for the convention attendees. Few … Continue reading

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Abigail Adams and The Misdirected Tea

Tea was expensive. Very expensive!! The Colonists and Tea By the time of the Boston Tea Party, tea itself was one of the most expensive commodities traded between Great Britain and her American colonies. It was more than just a … Continue reading

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John Adams and the King

John Adams was a loyal subject of the British Monarch for forty years. The American Colonies and the British Monarchs From the time the first British explorers came to America, the relationship between the colonists and their King/Queen was strong, … Continue reading

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John Quincy and Louisa Adams: The Rouge Story

John Quincy Adams was twenty-nine when he married. His bride was twenty-three. Bride and Groom By the time John Quincy Adams was eighteen and ready to enter Harvard, he was already the most cosmopolitan young man in the country. As … Continue reading

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Aaron Burr and the Madisons

Despite historical innuendos, Aaron Burr was not a suitor for Dolley Payne’s hand. The Promising Burr Aaron Burr (1756-1836) had a childhood mix of tragedy and blessings. His NJ family was reasonably prosperous; his grandfather was the well-known Puritan preacher … Continue reading

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Ida McKinley’s Inaugural Trousseau

Every First Lady is entitled to some new clothes for the inauguration! Clothes Make the Woman… Of course it helps if you are good looking. It helps even more, if you have money. Martha Washington in her late fifties was … Continue reading

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Dolley Madison: Medium Payne

The Promise of Payne Payne Todd had no memory of his natural father who died in a yellow fever epidemic when his toddler son was a year old. Aside from the fact that his mother remarried a year later to … Continue reading

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Civil War Divas: Mary & Julia Part II

After the initial “how-do,” Mary Lincoln and Julia Grant did not meet again for a year. Mary Lincoln: 1864-5 Mary Lincoln took a long time to emerge from her deep grief over her son Willie’s death in early 1862. Custom … Continue reading

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Mary Lincoln’s Bad Hat Story

First the source. When she was a very old lady in 1931, Julia Taft Bayne published a slim volume called Tad Lincoln’s Father. It was her personal memoir of 1861-2, when, as a teenager, she spent a good deal of … Continue reading

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John Tyler’s Sherwood Forest

Nestled in the northern part of Virginia’s Tidewater Peninsula, midway between its original capital of Williamsburg, and Richmond, its capital since 1780, is the retirement house of John Tyler, 10th President of the United States. It has been in the … Continue reading

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