Abigail Fillmore - Reference

US first lady (1850–3), born in Stillwater, New York, USA. She was a schoolteacher, and Millard Fillmore was originally one of her students; they married in 1826. She started the first White House library, but died of bronchial pneumonia shortly after the presidency began.

Abigail Powers Fillmore (March 13, 1798 – March 30, 1853), wife of Millard Fillmore, was First Lady of the United States from 1850 to 1853.

Shared eagerness for schooling formed a bond when Abigail Powers at 21 met Millard Fillmore at 19, both students at a recently opened academy in the village of New Hope.

Attaining prosperity at last, Fillmore bought his family a six-room house in Buffalo, New York, where little Mary Abigail was born in 1832.

In 1849, Abigail Fillmore came to Washington, D.C.

Even after the period of official mourning the social life of the Fillmore administration remained subdued.

Despite chronic poor health, Mrs. Fillmore stayed near her husband through the outdoor ceremonies of President Franklin Pierce's inauguration while a raw northeast wind whipped snow over the crowd.

The United States Congress adjourned, and public offices closed in respect, as her family took her body home to Buffalo for burial.

On February 10, 1858, 5 years after her death, her husband married Mrs. Caroline Carmichael McIntosh, a wealthy Buffalo widow.

Preceded by: Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor

First Lady of the United States 1850–1853

Succeeded by: Jane Means Appleton Pierce

First Ladies of the United States

M. Washington • A. Adams • M. Jefferson Randolph • D. Madison • E. Monroe • L. Adams • E. Donelson • S. Jackson • A. Van Buren • A. Harrison • J. Harrison • L. Tyler • P. Tyler • J. Tyler • S. Polk • M. Taylor • A. Fillmore • J. Pierce • H. Lane • M. Lincoln • E. Johnson • J. Grant • L. Hayes • L. Garfield • M. McElroy • R. Cleveland • F. Cleveland • C. Harrison • F. Cleveland • I. McKinley • Edith Roosevelt • H. Taft • Ellen Wilson • Edith Wilson • F. Harding • G. Coolidge • L. Hoover • Eleanor Roosevelt • B. Truman • M. Eisenhower • J. Kennedy • Lady Bird Johnson • P. Nixon • B. Ford • R. Carter • N. Reagan • B. Bush • H. Clinton • L. Bush

Reference

Original text based on White House biography