Rose Cleveland, First Lady

by Science Source

Title

Rose Cleveland, First Lady

Artist

Science Source

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

Rose Elizabeth Cleveland (June 13, 1846 - November 22, 1918) was the First Lady of the United States from 1885 to 1886. When her elder brother, Grover Cleveland, won the election to the twenty-second presidency of the United States, Rose became First Lady and lived in the White House for two years. She stood by her brother as First Lady during his inauguration, and his two initial bachelor years in the White House. Rose was an intellectual, and she preferred to lecture rather than entertain, but she made sure to perform her duties as First Lady as a favor to her brother. When President Cleveland married Frances Folsom, Rose resigned and began a career in education. She became the principal of the Collegiate Institute of Lafayette, Indiana, a writer and lecturer, and the editor of the Chicago-based magazine Literary Life. At age 44, she started a lesbian relationship with a wealthy widow, Evangeline Simpson, with explicitly erotic correspondence. Evangeline eventually married an Episcopal bishop from Minnesota, Henry Benjamin Whipple. By 1910, after his death, the two women rekindled their relationship and eventually moved to Bagni di Lucca, Italy to live there together. She died in 1918 at the age of 72. Photographer unknown.

Uploaded

October 21st, 2016

Colors

Embed

Share

Tags