First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never been codified or officially defined, she figures prominently in the political and social life of the United States. Since the early 20th century, the first lady has been assisted by official staff, known as the Office of the First Lady and headquartered in the East Wing of the White House.
Lucy Ware Hayes was the wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes and served as first lady of the United States from 1877 to 1881.
Julia Boggs Grant was the first lady of the United States and wife of President Ulysses S. Grant. As first lady, she became a national figure in her own right. Her memoirs, The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant were published in 1975.
Grace Anna Coolidge was the wife of the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge. She was the first lady of the United States from 1923 to 1929 and the second lady of the United States from 1921 to 1923. She graduated from the University of Vermont in 1902 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in teaching and joined the Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech in Northampton, Massachusetts, to teach deaf children to communicate by lip reading, rather than by signing. She met Calvin Coolidge in 1904, and the two were married the following year.
Ellen Louise Axson Wilson was the first lady of the United States from 1913 until her death in 1914, as the first wife of President Woodrow Wilson. Like her husband, she was a Southerner, as well as the daughter of a clergyman. She was born in Savannah, Georgia, but raised in Rome, Georgia. Having an artistic bent, she studied at the Art Students League of New York before her marriage, and continued to produce art in later life.
Helen Louise "Nellie" Taft was the First Lady of the United States from 1909 to 1913 as the wife of President William Howard Taft. Born to a politically well-connected Ohio family, she took an early interest in political life, deciding at the age of 17 that she wished to become first lady. Herron married Taft in 1886, and she guided him throughout his political career, encouraging him to take actions that would bring him closer to the presidency. Accompanying her husband to the Philippines in 1900, she became a prominent socialite in Manila, contributing to US-Philippines relations. After her husband was appointed Secretary of War, she played a significant role in convincing him to run for president in the 1908 presidential election and making the necessary connections to ensure his success.
Frances Clara Cleveland Preston was the first lady of the United States from 1886 to 1889 and again from 1893 until 1897, as the wife of President Grover Cleveland. She is the only first lady in U.S. history to have served in the role during two non-consecutive terms.
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 the role.
Julia Tyler was the first lady of the United States from June 26, 1844, to March 4, 1845, as the second wife of President John Tyler. A member of the influential Gardiner family, she became a prominent socialite early in life who received many notable figures as suitors. She met the recently widowed President Tyler in 1842, and she agreed to marry him after he comforted her in the aftermath of her father's death. They married in secret, and she became first lady immediately upon their marriage, serving in the role for the final eight months of his presidency.
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.
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.
Lucy Larcom was an American teacher, poet, and author. She was one of the first teachers at Wheaton Female Seminary in Norton, Massachusetts, teaching there from 1854 to 1862. During that time, she co-founded Rushlight Literary Magazine, a submission-based student literary magazine which is still published. From 1865 to 1873, she was the editor of the Boston-based Our Young Folks, which merged with St. Nicholas Magazine in 1874. In 1889, Larcom published one of the best-known accounts of New England childhood of her time, A New England Girlhood, commonly used as a reference in studying antebellum American childhood; the autobiographical text covers the early years of her life in Beverly Farms and Lowell, Massachusetts.
Bagni di Lucca is a comune of Tuscany, Italy, in the Province of Lucca with a population of about 6,100. The comune has 27 named frazioni (wards).
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.
Rose Hartwick Thorpe was an American poet and writer, remembered largely for the narrative poem, Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight (1867), which gained national popularity. It was translated into nearly every language of the world and was universally recognized as a veritable classic. Other poems followed, among them being "The Station Agent's Story," "Red Cross," and "In a Mining Town." Although a busy and prolific author, she was ill for some years. In 1888, she and her family removed to San Diego, California, living in Rosemere, Pacific Beach. Thorpe gave San Diego's "False Bay" the new moniker "Mission Bay" in a poem published in 1888 in The Golden Era; the name persists today.
Ann Sophia Stephens was an American novelist and magazine editor. She was the author of dime novels and is credited as the progenitor of that genre.
The Ladies' Magazine, an early women's magazine, was first published in 1828 in Boston, Massachusetts. Also known as Ladies' Magazine and Literary Gazette and later as American Ladies' Magazine, it was designed to be American, and named to separate itself from the Lady's Magazine of London. The magazine was founded by Reverend John Lauris Blake, Congregational minister and headmaster of the Cornhill School for Young Ladies, who desired to set a model for American womanhood.
Nelly Erichsen was an English illustrator and painter. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, she was born into a wealthy professional Danish family. After studies at the Royal Academy of Art in the 1880s, she pursued a successful career as an illustrator and writer, working with a number of publishing firms including J.M. Dent and Macmillan, and jointly publishing travel books with Janet Ross, a prominent member of the Anglo-Tuscan pre-War community. In July 2018 Nelly Erichsen - A Hidden Life, a biography of Erichsen by Sarah Harkness was published.
Evangeline Simpson Whipple was an American philanthropist and author, who was known for her humanitarian activities as a member of the American Red Cross in Europe during the First World War.
The wedding of President Grover Cleveland, who was 49 years old, and his bride Frances Folsom, who was 21 years old, took place on June 2, 1886, in the Blue Room of the White House. Cleveland was the sitting President of the United States and remains the only U.S. president to be married in the White House. The wedding was highly publicized, though only close associates of the bride and groom were permitted to attend the ceremony. A reception was held as a public event one week after the ceremony.
