First Lady Julia Tyler
First Lady Julia Tyler
 


First Lady of the United States
Julia Tyler


"I grieve my love a belle should be," sighed one of Julia Gardiner's innumerable
admirers in 1840; at the age of 20 she was already famous as the "Rose of Long
Island."

Daughter of Juliana McLachlan and David Gardiner, descendant of prominent and
wealthy New York families, Julia was trained from earliest childhood for a life
in society; she made her debut at 15. A European tour with her family gave her
new glimpses of social splendors. Late in 1842 the Gardiners went to Washington
for the winter social season, and Julia became the undisputed darling of the
capital. Her beauty and her practiced charm attracted the most eminent men in
the city, among them President Tyler, a widower since September.

Tragedy brought his courtship poignant success the next winter. Julia, her
sister Margaret, and her father joined a Presidential excursion on the new steam
frigate Princeton; and David Gardiner lost his life in the explosion of a huge
naval gun. Tyler comforted Julia in her grief and won her consent to a secret
engagement.

The first President to marry in office took his vows in New York on June 26,
1844. The news was then broken to the American people, who greeted it with keen
interest, much publicity, and some criticism about the couple's difference in
age: 30 years.

As young Mrs. Tyler said herself, she "reigned" as First Lady for the last
eight months of her husband's term. Wearing white satin or black lace to obey
the conventions of mourning, she presided with vivacity and animation at a
series of parties. She enjoyed her position immensely, and filled it with grace.
For receptions she revived the formality of the Van Buren administration; she
welcomed guests with plumes in her hair, attended by maids of honor dressed in
white. She once declared, with truth: "Nothing appears to delight the President
more than...to hear people sing my praises."

The Tylers' happiness was unshaken when they retired to their home at Sherwood
Forest in Virginia. There Julia bore five of her seven children; and she acted
as mistress of the plantation until the Civil War. As such, she defended both
states' rights and the institution of slavery. She championed the political
views of her husband, who remained for her "the President" until the end of his
life.

His death in 1862 came as a severe blow to her. In a poem composed for his
sixty-second birthday she had assured him that "what e'er changes time may
bring, I'll love thee as thou art!"

Even as a refugee in New York, she devoted herself to volunteer work for the
Confederacy. Its defeat found her impoverished. Not until 1958 would federal law
provide automatic pensions for Presidential widows; but Congress in 1870 voted a
pension for Mary Lincoln, and Julia Tyler used this precedent in seeking help.
In December 1880 Congress voted her $1,200 a year -- and after Garfield's
assassination it passed bills to grant uniform amounts of $5,000 annually to
Mrs. Garfield, Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Polk, and Mrs. Tyler. Living out her last
years comfortably in Richmond, Julia died there in 1889 and was buried there at
her husband's side.




First Lady
Julia Gardiner Tyler


Born: 1820

Died: 1889





Mrs. John Tyler
Spouse of
Tenth President of the Unites States
President John Tyler
Biography and Trivia



John Tyler's Speeches



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First Ladies of the United States

1st First Lady
Martha Washington
16th First Lady
Mary Lincoln
31st First Lady
Lou Hoover
2nd First Lady
Abigail Adams
17th First Lady
Eliza Johnson
32nd First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt
3rd First Lady
Martha Jefferson
18th First Lady
Julia Grant
33rd First Lady
Bess Truman
4th First Lady
Dolley Madison
19th First Lady
Lucy Hayes
34th First Lady
Mamie Eisenhower
5th First Lady
Elizabeth Monroe
20th First Lady
Lucretia Garfield
35th First Lady
Jackie Kennedy
6th First Lady
Louisa Adams
21st First Lady
Ellen Arthur
36th First Lady
Lady Bird Johnson
7th First Lady
Rachel Jackson
22nd First Lady
Frances Cleveland
37th First Lady
Pat Nixon
8th First Lady
Hannah Van Buren
23rd First Lady
Caroline Harrison
38th First Lady
Betty Ford
9th First Lady
Anna Harrison
24th First Lady
Frances Cleveland
39th First Lady
Rosalynn Carter
10th First Lady
Letitia Tyler
25th First Lady
Ida McKinley
40th First Lady
Nancy Reagan
10th First Lady
Julia Tyler
26th First Lady
Edith Roosevelt
41st First Lady
Barbara Bush
11th First Lady
Sarah Polk
27th First Lady
Helen Taft
42nd First Lady
Hillary Clinton
12th First Lady
Margaret Taylor
28th First Lady
Ellen Wilson
43rd First Lady
Laura Bush
13th First Lady
Abigail Fillmore
28th First Lady
Edith Wilson
14th First Lady
Jane Pierce
29th First Lady
Florence Harding
44th First Lady Michelle Obama
15th First Lady
Harriet Lane
30th First Lady
Grace Coolidge
 

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