Ellen Axson Wilson | |
|---|---|
_-_cropped_and_retouched.jpg) Ellen Axson Wilson, photographed in 1910 | |
| First Lady of the United States | |
| In role March 4, 1913 – August 6, 1914 | |
| President | Woodrow Wilson |
| Preceded by | Helen Herron Taft |
| Succeeded by | Margaret Woodrow Wilson |
| First Lady ofNew Jersey | |
| In role January 17, 1911 – March 1, 1913 | |
| Governor | Woodrow Wilson |
| Preceded by | Charlotte Fort |
| Succeeded by | Mabel Fielder (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ellen Louise Axson (1860-05-15)May 15, 1860 Savannah, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | August 6, 1914(1914-08-06) (aged 54) White House,Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Cause of death | Bright's Disease |
| Resting place | Myrtle Hill Cemetery |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Signature |  |
Ellen Louise Axson Wilson (May 15, 1860 – August 6, 1914)[1] wasFirst Lady of the United States from 1913 until her death in 1914, as the first wife of PresidentWoodrow Wilson. Like her husband, she was a Southerner, as well as the daughter of a clergyman. She was born inSavannah, Georgia, but raised inRome, Georgia. Having an artistic bent, she studied at theArt Students League of New York before her marriage, and continued to produce art in later life.
During her tenure as First Lady, she arranged White House weddings for two of their daughters. She was the third First Lady and the most recent to die during her tenancy.
Ellen Louise Axson, born inSavannah, Georgia,[1] was the daughter of the Reverend Samuel Edward Axson, aPresbyterian minister, and his wife Margaret Jane (née Hoyt) Axson. Ellen became a woman of refined tastes with a fondness for art, music, and literature. When she was eleven years old, she began studying art at Rome Female College inRome, Georgia. After her graduation in 1876, Ellen's drawing titledSchool Scene was submitted to theParis International Exposition.[2] where it won a bronze medal for excellence.[1]
In April 1883, she met Woodrow Wilson when he was visiting his cousin Jesse Woodrow Wilson inRome, Georgia, on family business. At that time, she was keeping house for her widowed father. Woodrow Wilson thought of Ellen, "What splendid laughing eyes!"[3] They were engaged 5 months later, but postponed the wedding while he did postgraduate work atJohns Hopkins University and she nursed her ailing father. Ellen's father committed suicide while hospitalized for depression, after which she went North to study at theArt Students League of New York.[4]
Wilson, who was 28 years of age, married Ellen, age 25, on June 24, 1885, at her paternal grandparents' home in Savannah, Georgia. The wedding was performed jointly by his father, the ReverendJoseph R. Wilson, and her grandfather, the Reverend Isaac Stockton Keith Axson. They honeymooned atWaynesville, a mountain resort in western North Carolina.[citation needed]
That same year,Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania offered Dr. Wilson a teaching position at an annual salary of $1,500. He and his bride lived near the campus, keeping her little brother Eddie with them.[4]
Together, the Wilsons had three daughters:
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Insisting that her children must not be born asYankees, Ellen went to stay with relatives in Gainesville, Georgia for Margaret's birth in 1886 and Jessie's in 1887. But Eleanor was born inConnecticut in 1889, while Wilson was teaching atWesleyan University.[5]
After Edward’s death in 1905, Ellen set up a scholarship in his memory at theBerry College; the college held an Ellen Axson Wilson Homecoming event in 2014 to commemorate the centenary of her death.[5]
Wilson's career atPrinceton University began in 1890. At that time Ellen worked as researcher and translator for several of her husband’s books.[6]
Wilson was elected as president in 1912, bringing Ellen new social responsibilities. She took refuge from such demands in her art. As First Lady, she drew sketches and painted in a studio set up on the third floor of the White House. During her time at the White House, she continued to paint, but exhibited her work under an assumed name.[7] She donated much of her work to charity. She arranged the White House weddings of two of her daughters.[4]
The Wilsons preferred to begin the administration without an inaugural ball. The First Lady's entertainments were simple, but her unaffected cordiality made her parties successful. In their first year, she convinced her scrupulous husband that it would be perfectly proper to invite influential legislators to a private dinner.[citation needed]
Wilson had grown up in a slave-owning family. As First Lady, she devoted much effort to the cause of improving housing in the national capital's largely black slums. She visited dilapidated alleys and brought Congressmen to visit these alleys.[7] The “Alley” bill was legislated by the government on the day of her death.[6]
She died ofBright's disease at theWhite House on August 6, 1914.[1] She was buried inRome, Georgia among her family atMyrtle Hill Cemetery.
In December 1915, President Woodrow Wilson remarried, toEdith Bolling Galt.[8]
