Margaret Taylor, First Lady

by Science Source

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Margaret Taylor, First Lady

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Science Source

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Photograph - Photograph

Description

Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor (September 21, 1788 - August 14, 1852), wife of Zachary Taylor, was First Lady of the United States from 1849 to 1850. While visiting her sister in Kentucky in 1809, she was introduced to Lieutenant Zachary Taylor. Taylor, aged 25, married Peggy Smith, aged 21, in 1810. Their marriage appears to have been a happy one. A devout Episcopalian, Mrs. Taylor prayed regularly for her soldier husband. She became somewhat reclusive because, it is said, she had promised God to give up the pleasures of society if her husband returned safely from war. By the time she became First Lady, the hardships of following her husband from fort to fort and the birth of several children had taken their toll. A semi-invalid, she remained in seclusion on the second floor of the White House, leaving the duties of official hostess to her daughter Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Taylor. On the sudden death of the president, her health deteriorated rapidly. She died two years later at the age of 63. No portraits or photographs of Margaret Taylor can be fully authenticated and none are known to exist. Historic daguerrotypes purporting to be of Margaret Taylor surface occasionally within the collector's market but have not been confirmed or authenticated by photo historians at the Library of Congress or the Smithsonian. Dagguerrotype by J.E. McClees.

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October 21st, 2016

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