Martha Washington
Abigail Adams
Martha Jefferson
Dolley Madison
Elizabeth Monroe
Louisa Adams
Rachel Jackson
Hannah Van Buren
Anna Harrison
Letitia Tyler
Julia Tyler
Sarah Polk
Margaret Taylor
Abigail Fillmore
Jane Pierce
Harriet Lane Johnson
Mary Lincoln
Eliza Johnson
Julia Grant
Lucy Hayes
Lucretia Garfield
Ellen Arthur
Frances Cleveland
Caroline Harrison
Ida McKinley
Edith Roosevelt
Helen Taft
Ellen Wilson
Edith Wilson
Florence Harding
Grace Coolidge
Lou Hoover
Eleanor Roosevelt
Bess Truman
Mamie Eisenhower
Jacqueline Kennedy
Lady Bird Johnson
Pat Nixon
Betty Ford
Rosalynn Carter
Nancy Reagan
Barbara Bush
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Laura Bush
Michelle Obama
Melania Trump
Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt
Edith Carow was born on August 6, 1861 in Norwich, Connecticut.
Edith family lived next door to the Roosevelt's. Edith was friends with Theodore Roosevelt as well as his sisters.
Edith's father was an alcoholic.
By the time Roosevelt entered Harvard they were sweethearts. Unfortuneatly, they had a falling out and broke up. Theodore married Alice Hathaway Lee.
His wife, Alice, died shortly after their baby was born in 1884.
Edith and Theodore got back together and were married on December 2, 1886. She was 25. They were married in London, England.
Library of Congress
In 1900, Roosevelt was the Governor of New York. His wife urged him not to run for Vice President under McKinley. Theodore decided to run anyway.
In 1901, McKinley was assasinated and Teddy Roosevelt became President.
Mrs. Roosevelt not only handled the social events, her daughter's wedding, but she also supervised the addition of the East and West Wings to the White House.
She didn't enjoy her public life. She once said that a woman's name she only be in the newspaper twice, once when she is married and when she died.
She supported the right for women to vote.
She was the first First Lady to hire a social secretary to help control the family's image.
Edith Roosevelt died on September 30, 1948 in Oyster Bay. She was 87. She is buried next to her husband.
Sources of Information:
Books:
Barden, Cindy,Meet the First Ladies, Lorenz Corp.
Gormley, Beatrice,First Ladies: Women Who Called The White House Home (First Ladies) , Scholastic Paperbacks, 1997
Smith, Carter, Editor,Smithsonian Presidents and First Ladies DK Publishing, New York, 2002
Web Sites:
The White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/
Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/odmdhtml/