Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, she served as the inaugural first lady of the United States, defining the role of the president's wife and setting many precedents that future first ladies would observe. During her tenure, she was referred to as "Lady Washington". Washington is consistently ranked in the upper half of first ladies by historians.
John Scott Harrison was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio from 1853 to 1857. He was a son of U.S. president William Henry Harrison and First Lady Anna Harrison as well as the father of U.S. president Benjamin Harrison. He is the only person to have been both the son and father of U.S. presidents.
Edith Wilson was the first lady of the United States from 1915 to 1921 and the second wife of President Woodrow Wilson. She married the widower Wilson in December 1915, during his first term as president. Edith Wilson played an extremely influential role in President Wilson's administration following the severe stroke he suffered in October 1919. For the remainder of her husband's presidency, she managed the office of the president, a role she later described as a "stewardship", and determined which communications and matters of state were important enough to bring to the attention of the bedridden president.
Caroline Lavinia Harrison was an American music teacher and the first lady of the United States from 1889 until her death. She was married to President Benjamin Harrison, and she was the second first lady to die while serving in that role.
Anna Tuthill Harrison was the first lady of the United States in 1841 as the wife of President William Henry Harrison. She served in the role for only one month, as her husband contracted pneumonia and died shortly after his term began. Their son John Scott Harrison was the father of President Benjamin Harrison. She never entered the White House during her tenure as first lady, remaining the only presidential wife to never visit the capital during her husband's presidency. At age 65 when her husband's presidential term began, Harrison was the oldest woman ever to assume the role of first lady, a record held until Jill Biden became first lady at age 69 in 2021. She also has the distinction of holding the title for the shortest length of time, and the first first lady to be widowed while holding the title. Harrison was the last first lady to have been born before the inauguration of George Washington.
Letitia Tyler was the first lady of the United States from 1841 to 1842 as the first wife of President John Tyler. After meeting in 1808, the two married in 1813. She managed their plantation in Virginia while her husband progressed his political career at the state capital and in Washington, D.C., accompanying him only while he was governor of Virginia. She had a stroke in 1839 that left her permanently disabled.
Abigail Fillmore, wife of President Millard Fillmore, was the first lady of the United States from 1850 to 1853. She began work as a schoolteacher at the age of 16, where she took on Millard Fillmore, who was two years her junior, as a student. She continued her teaching work after their marriage in 1826 until the birth of her son Millard Powers Fillmore in 1828. She lived in Buffalo, New York, while her husband advanced his political career in Albany, New York, and Washington, D.C. She would occasionally join him in these cities, becoming involved in local social life. She became the second lady of the United States in 1849 after her husband was elected vice president on the Whig Party presidential ticket, and she became the first lady of the United States in 1850 after her husband succeeded to the presidency.
Sarah Angelica Van Buren was an American heiress and a daughter-in-law of the eighth president of the United States, Martin Van Buren. She was married to the President's son, Abraham Van Buren II. She assumed the post of first lady because the president's wife, Hannah Van Buren, had died and he never remarried. She is the youngest woman ever to act as the White House hostess, assuming the role at the age of 20.
Mary McElroy was an American woman known as being the sister of the 21st president of the United States, Chester A. Arthur, for whom she served as a hostess for his administration (1881–1885). She assumed the role because Arthur's wife, Ellen, had died nearly two years earlier.
Martha "Patsy" Randolph was the eldest daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, and his wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. She was born at Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia.
Mary Dimmick Harrison was the second wife of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States. She was nearly 25 years younger than Harrison, and was the niece of his first wife.
Sarah Jackson was the White House hostess and acting first lady of the United States from November 26, 1834, to March 4, 1837. She served in this role as the daughter-in-law of U.S. President Andrew Jackson after marrying his adopted son, Andrew Jackson, Jr. She had initially been named as mistress of the Jackson residence in Tennessee, the Hermitage, but she moved to the White House and became co-hostess with Emily Donelson after the Hermitage was damaged in a fire. When Donelson fell ill, Jackson took on the position of White House hostess in its entirety for the remainder of the term. After leaving the White House, she returned to the repaired Hermitage, living there for the remainder of her life.
Emily Tennessee Donelson was the acting first lady of the United States from 1829 to 1834 during the presidency of her uncle Andrew Jackson. She was the daughter of the brother of Jackson’s wife. Jackson’s wife, Rachel Donelson Jackson, died weeks before her husband's presidential inauguration.
Elizabeth Priscilla Cooper Tyler was the official White House hostess and first lady of the United States from 1841 to 1844. She was the daughter-in-law of then-president John Tyler through her marriage to his son Robert Tyler. She took effective responsibility of the first lady's responsibilities at the beginning of the Tyler administration, working in the stead of her mother-in-law first lady Letitia Christian Tyler, who was too ill to do so herself. After Letitia Tyler's death in September 1842, Priscilla Tyler was effectively the first lady, overseeing social affairs in the White House.
Mary Scott McKee was the acting First Lady of the United States for her father Benjamin Harrison. She lived in the White House for the duration of her father's presidency where she worked as an assistant to her mother, first lady Caroline Harrison. She became the acting first lady after her mother's death in October 1892 and remained in the role for the final months of her father's presidency. McKee's young son, known as Baby Harrison, was a popular national figure during the Harrison administration. She disassociated from her father following his marriage to her young maternal cousin Mary Dimmick.
The inauguration of William Henry Harrison as the ninth president of the United States was held on Thursday, March 4, 1841, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 14th inauguration and marked the commencement of the only four-year term of both William Henry Harrison as president and John Tyler as vice president. The presidential oath of office was administered to Harrison by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. Harrison died 31 days into his term, the first U.S. president to die in office and has the shortest presidential term in American history. Tyler then succeeded to the presidency, creating a precedent which would be followed seven more times before it was officially regulated through the Twenty-fifth Amendment in 1967.
Anne Bourchier, Baroness Dacre was an English noblewoman, the wife of Sir Thomas Fiennes, 8th Baron Dacre. Her stepfather was Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, which made Queen consort Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII of England, her niece. Her son-in-law was Henry Norris, who was executed for treason in 1536, as one of the alleged lovers of her niece, Queen Anne.
Jane Stanhope, Countess of Harrington, was a society hostess and heiress who served as a lady of the Bedchamber to the British queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
The following is a list of works about the spouses of presidents of the United States. While this list is mainly about presidential spouses, administrations with a bachelor or widowed president have a section on the individual that filled the role of First Lady. The list includes books and journal articles written in English after c. 1900 as well as primary sources written by the individual themselves.
