"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.