Ellen Wilson
Ellen Axson Wilson was the first wife of President Woodrow Wilson. She died in the White House on August 6, 1914 (98 years ago today), just two years into her husband's first term in office. She was the third First Lady to die during her husband's term in office. Andrew Jackson's wife Rachel died after his election, but before his inauguration. Letitia Tyler, the first wife of President John Tyler, died on September 10, 1842, 17 months into her husband's presidency. Caroline Harrison, wife of Benjamin Harrison, died on October 25, 1892, during her husband's unsuccessful campaign for re-election.
Woodrow Wilson first met his future first wife when he was about three and she was only a baby. The met again in April 1883, when Woodrow Wilson visited his cousin Jesse Woodrow Wilson in Rome, Georgia. Ellen was keeping house for her widowed father. They were engaged five months later but postponed the wedding, while he did postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins University and she nursed her ailing father. They were married on June 24, 1885, at the home of the bride's paternal grandfather in Savannah, Georgia. The wedding was performed jointly by his father, the Reverend Joseph R. Wilson, and her grandfather, the Reverend Isaac Stockton Keith Axson.
Together, the couple had three daughters: Margaret Woodrow Wilson (1886–1944), Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre (1887–1933) and Eleanor Randolph Wilson McAdoo (1889–1967). Ellen Wilson humorously said that she did not want her children to be born Yankees, so she went to relatives in Georgia for the birth of Margaret in 1886 and Jessie in 1887. Eleanor, however, was born in Connecticut in 1889, while Wilson was teaching at Wesleyan University.
As First Lady, Mrs. Wilson was artistically inclined. She painted and drew sketches in a studio set up on the third floor of the White House, donating much of her work to charity. Wilson began his administration without an inaugural ball, and the First Lady's entertainments were simple, but her unaffected cordiality made her parties successful. In their first year, she convinced her husband that it would be perfectly proper to invite influential legislators to a private dinner, and when such an evening led to agreement on a tariff bill, he told a friend, "You see what a wise wife I have!"
Although she was the descendant of slave owners, Ellen Wilson supported the cause of improving housing in the capital's largely black slums. She would visit dilapidated neighbourhoods and lobbied Congressmen for reform. Her death spurred passage of a remedial bill she had worked for.
Ellen Wilson's heath began to fail due from Bright's disease, a kidney ailment (the same illness that claimed President Chester Alan Arthur.) She died in the White House on August 6, 1914. It is said that on the day before her death, she made her physician promise to tell Wilson "later" that she hoped he would marry again. Her last words are reported to be "take good care of my husband." She was buried in Rome, Georgia among her family.
Wilson remarried 16 months later, to Edith Bolling Galt in December of 1915. The two met earlier that year in March.
Woodrow Wilson first met his future first wife when he was about three and she was only a baby. The met again in April 1883, when Woodrow Wilson visited his cousin Jesse Woodrow Wilson in Rome, Georgia. Ellen was keeping house for her widowed father. They were engaged five months later but postponed the wedding, while he did postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins University and she nursed her ailing father. They were married on June 24, 1885, at the home of the bride's paternal grandfather in Savannah, Georgia. The wedding was performed jointly by his father, the Reverend Joseph R. Wilson, and her grandfather, the Reverend Isaac Stockton Keith Axson.
Together, the couple had three daughters: Margaret Woodrow Wilson (1886–1944), Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre (1887–1933) and Eleanor Randolph Wilson McAdoo (1889–1967). Ellen Wilson humorously said that she did not want her children to be born Yankees, so she went to relatives in Georgia for the birth of Margaret in 1886 and Jessie in 1887. Eleanor, however, was born in Connecticut in 1889, while Wilson was teaching at Wesleyan University.
As First Lady, Mrs. Wilson was artistically inclined. She painted and drew sketches in a studio set up on the third floor of the White House, donating much of her work to charity. Wilson began his administration without an inaugural ball, and the First Lady's entertainments were simple, but her unaffected cordiality made her parties successful. In their first year, she convinced her husband that it would be perfectly proper to invite influential legislators to a private dinner, and when such an evening led to agreement on a tariff bill, he told a friend, "You see what a wise wife I have!"
Although she was the descendant of slave owners, Ellen Wilson supported the cause of improving housing in the capital's largely black slums. She would visit dilapidated neighbourhoods and lobbied Congressmen for reform. Her death spurred passage of a remedial bill she had worked for.
Ellen Wilson's heath began to fail due from Bright's disease, a kidney ailment (the same illness that claimed President Chester Alan Arthur.) She died in the White House on August 6, 1914. It is said that on the day before her death, she made her physician promise to tell Wilson "later" that she hoped he would marry again. Her last words are reported to be "take good care of my husband." She was buried in Rome, Georgia among her family.
Wilson remarried 16 months later, to Edith Bolling Galt in December of 1915. The two met earlier that year in March.