Ellen Louise Wilson
Encyclopedia
Ellen Axson Wilson first wife of Woodrow Wilson
, was First Lady of the United States
from 1913 until her death.
, the daughter of the Reverend Samuel Edward Axson, a Presbyterian minister, and Margaret Jane (née Hoyt) Axson, Ellen was a lady of refined tastes with a fondness for art, music and literature.
Thomas Woodrow Wilson first saw her when he was about three and she was only a baby. In April 1883, Woodrow visited his cousin Jesse Woodrow Wilson in Rome, Georgia
and met Ellen again—she was now keeping house for her widowed father. He thought, "what splendid laughing eyes!". They were engaged five months later but postponed the wedding, while he did postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins University
and she nursed her ailing father.
Wilson, aged 28, married Ellen, aged 25, on June 24, 1885, at the home of the bride's paternal grandfather in Savannah, Georgia. The wedding was performed jointly by his father, the Reverend Joseph R. Wilson, and her grandfather, the Reverend Isaac Stockton Keith Axson. They honeymooned at Waynesville, a mountain resort in western North Carolina.
That same year, Bryn Mawr College
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 with them.
Together, the Wilsons had three daughters:
Humorously insisting that her own children must not be born Yankee
s, she went to relatives in Georgia for the birth of Margaret in 1886 and Jessie in 1887. Eleanor, however, was born in Connecticut
in 1889, while Wilson was teaching at Wesleyan University
.
His distinguished career at Princeton University
began in 1890, bringing his wife new social responsibilities. From such demands she took refuge, as always, in art. She had studied briefly in New York
, and the quality of her paintings compares favorably with professional art of the period.
As First Lady, Mrs. Wilson painted and drew sketches in a studio set up on the third floor of the White House, donating much of her work to charity. She arranged the White House weddings of two of her daughters.
The Wilsons had preferred to begin the administration without an inaugural ball, and 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, and when such an evening led to agreement on a tariff bill, he told a friend, "You see what a wise wife I have!"
A descendant of slave
owners, Wilson lent her prestige to the cause of improving housing in the capital's largely black slums. Visiting dilapidated alleys, she brought them to the attention of debutantes and Congressmen. Her death spurred passage of a remedial bill she had worked for.
Her health failing slowly from Bright's disease
, she died in the White House on August 6, 1914. On the day before her death, she made her physician promise to tell Wilson "later" that she hoped he would marry again; she murmured at the end, "...take good care of my husband." She was buried in Rome, Georgia
among her family. The president remarried to Edith Bolling Galt in 1915.
Ellen Axson Wilson is buried at Myrtle Hill Cemetery
.
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, was First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
from 1913 until her death.
Biography
Born Ellen Louise Axson in Savannah, GeorgiaSavannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
, the daughter of the Reverend Samuel Edward Axson, a Presbyterian minister, and Margaret Jane (née Hoyt) Axson, Ellen was a lady of refined tastes with a fondness for art, music and literature.
Thomas Woodrow Wilson first saw her when he was about three and she was only a baby. In April 1883, Woodrow visited his cousin Jesse Woodrow Wilson in Rome, Georgia
Rome, Georgia
Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Rome is the largest city and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. It is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Floyd County...
and met Ellen again—she was now keeping house for her widowed father. He thought, "what splendid laughing eyes!". They were engaged five months later but postponed the wedding, while he did postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
and she nursed her ailing father.
Wilson, aged 28, married Ellen, aged 25, on June 24, 1885, at the home of the bride's paternal grandfather in Savannah, Georgia. The wedding was performed jointly by his father, the Reverend Joseph R. Wilson, and her grandfather, the Reverend Isaac Stockton Keith Axson. They honeymooned at Waynesville, a mountain resort in western North Carolina.
That same year, Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
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 with them.
Together, the Wilsons had three daughters:
- Margaret Woodrow WilsonMargaret Woodrow WilsonMargaret Woodrow Wilson was the daughter of President Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Louise Axson. Wilson had two sisters, Jessie W. Wilson and Eleanor R. Wilson...
(1886–1944) - singer, businesswoman. - Jessie Woodrow Wilson SayreJessie Woodrow Wilson SayreJessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre was a daughter of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and a political activist. “She worked vigorously for women's suffrage, social issues, and to promote her father's call for a League of Nations, and emerged as a force in the Massachusetts Democratic...
(1887–1933) - Born in Gainesville, GeorgiaGainesville, Georgia-Severe Weather:Gainesville sits on the very fringe of Tornado Alley, a region of the United States where severe weather is common. Supercell thunderstorms can sweep through any time between March and November, but are concentrated most in the spring...
, she attended Goucher CollegeGoucher CollegeGoucher College is a private, co-educational, liberal arts college located in the northern Baltimore suburb of Towson in unincorporated Baltimore County, Maryland, on a 287 acre campus. The school has approximately 1,475 undergraduate students studying in 31 majors and six interdisciplinary...
in Baltimore and worked three years at a settlement house in Philadelphia before marrying Francis B. Sayre in a White House wedding on November 25, 1913. They eventually settled at Cambridge, MassachusettsCambridge, MassachusettsCambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, when Mr. Sayre joined the faculty of Harvard Law SchoolHarvard Law SchoolHarvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
. Jessie was active in the League of Women VotersLeague of Women VotersThe League of Women Voters is an American political organization founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote...
, served on the national board of the YWCAYWCAThe YWCA USA is the United States branch of a women's membership movement that strives to create opportunities for women's growth, leadership and power in order to attain a common vision—to eliminate racism and empower women. The YWCA is a non-profit organization, the first of which was founded in...
, and at the time of her death following an appendixVermiform appendixThe appendix is a blind-ended tube connected to the cecum , from which it develops embryologically. The cecum is a pouchlike structure of the colon...
operation, was secretary of the Massachusetts Democratic Committee. - Eleanor Randolph WilsonEleanor Wilson McAdooEleanor Randolph Wilson McAdoo was an American author who wrote about her famous father, Woodrow Wilson. She usually went by the nickname Nellie.- Life :...
McAdoo (1889–1967)
Humorously insisting that her own children must not be born Yankee
Yankee
The term Yankee has several interrelated and often pejorative meanings, usually referring to people originating in the northeastern United States, or still more narrowly New England, where application of the term is largely restricted to descendants of the English settlers of the region.The...
s, she went to relatives in Georgia for the birth of Margaret in 1886 and Jessie in 1887. Eleanor, however, was born in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
in 1889, while Wilson was teaching at Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
.
His distinguished career at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
began in 1890, bringing his wife new social responsibilities. From such demands she took refuge, as always, in art. She had studied briefly in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and the quality of her paintings compares favorably with professional art of the period.
As First Lady, Mrs. Wilson painted and drew sketches in a studio set up on the third floor of the White House, donating much of her work to charity. She arranged the White House weddings of two of her daughters.
The Wilsons had preferred to begin the administration without an inaugural ball, and 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, and when such an evening led to agreement on a tariff bill, he told a friend, "You see what a wise wife I have!"
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
owners, Wilson lent her prestige to the cause of improving housing in the capital's largely black slums. Visiting dilapidated alleys, she brought them to the attention of debutantes and Congressmen. Her death spurred passage of a remedial bill she had worked for.
Her health failing slowly from Bright's disease
Bright's disease
Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully understood causes....
, she died in the White House on August 6, 1914. On the day before her death, she made her physician promise to tell Wilson "later" that she hoped he would marry again; she murmured at the end, "...take good care of my husband." She was buried in Rome, Georgia
Rome, Georgia
Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Rome is the largest city and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. It is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Floyd County...
among her family. The president remarried to Edith Bolling Galt in 1915.
Ellen Axson Wilson is buried at Myrtle Hill Cemetery
Myrtle Hill Cemetery
Myrtle Hill Cemetery, also nicknamed "Where Romans Rest", is the second oldest cemetery in the city of Rome, Georgia. The cemetery is at the confluence of the Etowah River and Oostanaula River and to the south of downtown Rome across the South Broad Street bridge. Myrtle Hill is one of the seven...
.
External links
- President Wilson's Other Wife - discusses Ellen Wilson with particular attention to her painting
- Ellen Wilson at Findagrave.com