geeky
Harriet Rebecca Lane was born on May 9, 1830 in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Her father was Elliot Tole Lane and her mother was Jane Buchanan Lane, the sister of James Buchanan. She had four brothers and one sister. She is described as being tall with blonde or ash colored hair and with violet-blue eyes. She was also described as being a very good dancer (not in the sense of suggesting that anything was wrong with her.) She was raised in the Episcopalian faith.
Her mother and father died in 1839 and 1840 respectively, and Harriet Lane went to live with "Nunc" as she called James Buchanan. As a child, she was more prone to climb trees than to read books, something that alarmed her guardian uncle. He saw to it that she received a good education. She lived at Buchanan's home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he provided her with a piano. Harriet was sent to a day school run by Miss Young and later to Miss Crawford’s Boarding School, which she disliked so much that her uncle moved her to a boarding school in Charlestown, Virginia (later West Virginia). When Buchanan became Secretary of State under James K. Polk, he placed Harriet in the highly regarded Georgetown Visitation Convent, where she finished her education and graduated in 1848.
Harried delayed her marriage to her future husband, Henry Elliot Johnston, so she could help her bachelor uncle. James Buchanan had purchased a large house and lands around it called Wheatland, and Harriet Lane served as his hostess. She proved to be a real asset to her uncle. By the time Harriet was twenty-two, she was an accomplished hostess. With the election of Franklin Pierce in 1852, Buchanan was named American Minister to Great Britain. Harriet joined Buchanan in London in 1854, where she was presented to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Her presentation was so correct and performed so flawlessly that the Queen decreed that Miss Lane be accorded the same respect due a wife of an ambassador. She would become a regular in Court circles. While in England, Harriet acquired a life-long taste for art. She began collecting works of art. Her interest in Native American art led her to take more interest in the cause of Native Americans. When Buchanan returned to America, he was elected President, aided by his absence from the conflict over slavery raging in the nation. He asked his niece to serve as official hostess and she agreed, Harriet’s brother, Elliot Lane, served as James Buchanan’s secretary, until his death of a fever in April 1857. After a period of mourning, Harriet resumed her duties as First Lady. She was young, beautiful, and extremely popular. Dances, waltzes, songs, colors, ships, and other items were named for her. She was highly visible and always at her uncle’s side at social events.
In 1860, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) arrived in the United States and was received at the White House. The royal visit was hailed a great success, with much of the credit going to Harriet.
Harriet Lane joined a movement to start a national art gallery. She also spoke on the cause of Native Americans. Among the many honors given to her, the song, "Listen to the Mockingbird" was dedicated to her by its composer. Her only error in judgment was when she invited friends on board the USS Harriet Lane for a party, only to be sharply reprimanded by her angry uncle and press since the ship was government property.
Having met Henry Johnston years before, Harriet kept up a friendship with him through the years. They announced their engagement after her uncle's presidency was over, in October 1864, to the great joy of James Buchanan. They were married at Wheatland on January 11, 1866 by another uncle, the Rev. Edward Young Buchanan and they honeymooned in Cuba. Harriet was 35 years of age at the time. The couple had one son, born in 1866, named James Buchanan Johnston. Young James died in 1881 at age 15. His father died the following year.
Thereafter she decided to live in Washington. She had acquired a sizable art collection, largely of European works, which she bequeathed to the government. Accepted after her death in 1903, it inspired an official of the Smithsonian Institution to call her "First Lady of the National Collection of Fine Arts". She also dedicated a generous sum to endow a home for invalid children at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. It became a renowned pediatric facility; and today is known as the Harriet Lane Outpatient Clinic. Its widely used manual for pediatric house officers is called The Harriet Lane Handbook in honor of her.
Harriet wrote her will in 1895 and lived another eight years, during which the country’s general prosperity greatly increased the value of her estate. She added a codicil in 1899 directing that a school building be constructed on the grounds of the Washington National Cathedral property. This bequest founded the prestigious boys’ school that today is called St. Albans School, which opened in October 1909.
Harriet Lane died on January 19, 1903 in Narraganset, Rhode Island. She is buried in Green Mount Cemetery, in Baltimore, Maryland.