tired
Since Van Buren didn't write much about her, permit me to recount some of what is known about the former Hannah Hoes, who would later become Mrs. Van Buren. She was born on March 8, 1783 in Kinderhook, New York. Her father was Johannes Dircksen Hoes, a farmer who died when Hannah was almost six. Hannah's mother was Maria Quakenbush, who would outlive her husband, her daughter and her son-in-law's administration. All of Hannah Van Buren's ancestors were from Holland. Hannah had one sister and one brother, but the birth order of the three is unclear.
Hannah Van Buren had blonde hair and blue eyes. She was originally a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, but later attended and joined Presbyterian Church in Albany, New York. She was educated in a local Kinderhook school by Master Vrouw Lange. Dutch was her first language. There is little record of her life prior to her marriage. Speculation is that she lived as all residents of the insular community of Kinderhook did, speaking Dutch with their fellow townspeople and English with outsiders and tending to the chores of a rural life in an isolated Hudson River community.
It is believed that she and Martin Van Buren were sweethearts since childhood. When he left town at age 20 to study law in New York City, she remained in Kinderhook. They did not marry immediately upon his return but waited until he had first established a law practice. On February 21, 1807, the 24 year old bride married the future president at the Huxton House (owned by her brother-in-law) in Catskill, New York. The Dutch Reformed Church ceremony was performed by Judge Moses Cantine. The couple settled in Kinderhook.
The couple had five sons and one daughter, who was stillborn. Their sons were Abraham Van Buren (November 27, 1807 - March 15, 1873), John Van Buren (February 18, 1810 - October 13, 1866), Martin Van Buren, Jr. (December 20, 1812 - March 19, 1855), Winfield Scott Van Buren (born and died in 1814) and Smith Thompson Van Buren (January 16, 1817 - sometime in 1876).
A year after their marriage, Martin and Hannah Van Buren moved from Kinderhook to the larger but nearby town of Hudson, New York, the county seat. He became involved in the local Democratic Party and was named to a county position. Following his 1812 election to the state senate, Hannah Van Buren and her family moved to Albany, New York, the state capital city. Martin Van Buren's political career took off, creating one of the first "political machines" in American politics. For Hannah Van Buren this meant that her home was frequently the site of political doings. Her own life was focused on raising four sons and her church. Hannah Van Buren volunteered in the charitable efforts of the local Presbyterian Church that she joined in Albany (there was no Dutch Reformed Church in the city).
Hanna Van Buren became ill following the birth of her fifth child in 1817. She contracted tuberculosis and the illness took her life. Even though she was never mentioned in his autobiography, her husband had told friends that Hannah was the guiding force in his life.
For the twenty months of the Van Buren presidency, there was no First Lady in the White House. Van Buren had been a widower for 18 years and he had no daughters, nor were there any women relatives of his, or spouses of Cabinet members that he invited to serve as hostess at the White House. Following the marriage of his eldest son Abraham Van Buren to Angelica Singleton, the President designated his new daughter-in-law to assume the hostess role. At the time the United States was suffering an economic depression. Angelica Van Buren's receiving style modelled on things she had seen in the royal houses of Europe served fodder for a famous political attack on her father-in-law by a Pennsylvania Whig Congressman Charles Ogle. Ogle referred to this in his "Gold Spoon" speech which criticized the President for his opulence. The attack was delivered in 1841 in Congress and the general depiction of the President as being monarchial in his lifestyle contributed to his failure to achieve re-election during the 1840 campaign. Angelica Van Buren is pictured below.
