Margaret Taylor facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Margaret Taylor
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| First Lady of the United States | |
| In role March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850 |
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| President | Zachary Taylor |
| Preceded by | Sarah Polk |
| Succeeded by | Abigail Fillmore |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Margaret Mackall Smith
September 21, 1788 Calvert County, Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | August 14, 1852 (aged 63) Pascagoula, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Resting place | Zachary Taylor National Cemetery |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 6, including Sarah Knox, Mary Elizabeth, and Richard Taylor |
Margaret "Peggy" Mackall Taylor (born Smith; September 21, 1788 – August 14, 1852) was the First Lady of the United States from 1849 to 1850. She was the wife of President Zachary Taylor.
Margaret married Zachary in 1810. She lived as an army wife, traveling with her husband to his army camps in the American frontier. They had six children. Sadly, two of them died when they were young. The other four children were sent to boarding schools in the eastern United States.
In the 1840s, Margaret and Zachary had a short time of stable home life. But then, to her surprise, her husband was elected President of the United States in 1848. As First Lady, she managed the White House from the upstairs rooms. She let her daughter handle most of the social events. Margaret stayed mostly private during her time as First Lady. Her time in the White House ended suddenly when her husband died in 1850. She lived a quiet life for two more years until she passed away.
Contents
Early Life and Marriage
Margaret Mackall Smith was born on September 21, 1788, in Calvert County, Maryland. Her father, Walter Smith, was a wealthy farmer from an important family. He had also fought in the American Revolution. Her mother was Ann Mackall Smith.
Margaret was taught at home. She learned skills like reading, writing, math, music, and dancing. These skills would help her run a household. When Margaret was ten, her mother died. After that, she lived with her mother's parents. As a young adult, Margaret went to a special school in New York City. When her father died in 1804, she moved to Louisville, Kentucky, to live with her sister.
In Kentucky, she met Lieutenant Zachary Taylor in 1809. They dated for seven months. They got married on June 21, 1810, in her sister's log house.
Life on the Frontier
The Taylors lived on the American frontier. They often moved to different army camps and barracks. Margaret was one of the few army wives who went with their husbands to the frontier. But there were also long times when Margaret could not travel with Zachary.
While on the frontier, they had six children:
- Ann Mackall (born 1811)
- Sarah Knox (born 1814)
- Octavia Pannill (born 1816)
- Margaret Smith (born 1819)
- Mary Elizabeth (born 1824)
- Their only son, Richard (born 1826)
Margaret had to raise her children in the tough conditions of military camps. When the children were old enough for school, they were sent to live with relatives in the Eastern United States. Margaret and Zachary wanted their children to have good education. Their children spent many years in boarding schools. Sometimes, they went years without seeing their parents.
Margaret was a very religious Episcopalian her whole life. Her faith helped her deal with the difficulties of frontier life. In 1820, when they were in Bayou Sara, Louisiana, the Taylors got very sick with what was called "bilious fever." Their children Octavia and Margaret died that year. Margaret herself almost died. She was heartbroken by the loss of her children.
In 1828, the Taylors lived in a house where Zachary was stationed at Fort Snelling. In 1832, they moved to a bigger house at Fort Crawford, where they lived until 1836. At this home, Margaret had two enslaved people who helped her with farm work.
Another sad event happened in 1835. Her daughter Sarah died of a fever at age 21. This was only three months after Sarah married Jefferson Davis.
Margaret helped during the Second Seminole War. Her husband was sent to Florida in 1837. She helped treat wounded soldiers and kept up their spirits. She was able to live a more settled life after her husband got leave in 1840. They picked up their daughter Betty from boarding school. It was then that they finally had their own home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Margaret chose a small cottage instead of a larger house.
Husband's Presidency
Zachary was called to fight in the Mexican–American War in 1845. This separation was very hard for Margaret. Some say she promised to give up public life if her husband came back alive. During the war, she helped start a chapel for military wives in Baton Rouge. This chapel later became the St. James Episcopal Church.
Margaret had never been very healthy. Around this time, her health got much worse. She could barely move by the time her husband returned. Her husband's success in the war made him famous across the country. The Whig Party chose him to run for president in the 1848 United States presidential election.
Margaret was strongly against him running for president. She said it would "shorten both our lives." Margaret prayed every night that he would lose the election. But to her disappointment, he was elected president. One week before her husband became president, she turned down an invitation to dinner from the current president and first lady. She let her daughter go instead. Even with her strong worries, she was happy for her husband's success. She attended her husband's inauguration, even though rumors spread that she had not.
First Lady of the United States
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Like many First Ladies of her time, Margaret Taylor did not want to do the usual duties of the position. She had lived a frontier life for so long that she wasn't used to high society anymore. She did not want to be the White House hostess. She stayed mostly private on the second floor of the White House. She said it was because of her health. She only hosted family and close friends. She gave her other duties to her daughter, Mary Elizabeth Bliss.
Very few political visitors were invited to meet Margaret. But she did meet Daniel Webster once. Even though Margaret was not active in her husband's government, she would often talk about politics with guests. Or she would knit quietly and listen while others talked about politics. She might have helped her husband decide to appoint Reverdy Johnson as Attorney General. This was because she was friends with his wife.
Margaret's few public appearances and her lack of experience in Washington social life led to rumors. People sometimes said she was not smart or not ladylike. The Taylors stayed close with their son-in-law, Jefferson Davis, whose first wife (Sarah) had died. His second wife, Varina Davis, became a good friend to Margaret when she was First Lady.
Margaret still handled the private duties of the First Lady. She was in charge of the White House staff, which included 15 enslaved people. By the time the Taylors moved into the White House, slavery was a very debated topic. The enslaved people were usually kept upstairs so they wouldn't draw attention.
Margaret spent much of her time in the White House knitting. She also went to St. John's Episcopal Church every day. She was also a member of the American Sunday School Union. Her children and grandchildren often visited her in the White House. Margaret's time as First Lady ended when her husband died on July 9, 1850.
Later Life and Death
Margaret was invited to stay in the White House for as long as she needed. But she left the evening of her husband's state funeral. She left Washington a week later. She stayed with her daughter Ann in Baltimore for three months. Then she moved in with her daughter Betty in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
She lived away from the public for the rest of her life. She never talked about her time in the White House. It is believed she spent her last years teaching Sunday school. Margaret died of a fever on August 14, 1852. She was buried next to her husband at what is now the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.
At the time of her death, she had the shortest post-White House life of any First Lady. She lived for two years and 36 days after leaving the White House. But she only held this record for a short time. Her successor, Abigail Fillmore, died the next year, just weeks after leaving the White House.
Legacy
Margaret Taylor is often called "mysterious" because not much is known about her. Many reports from her time wrongly said she smoked a pipe a lot, but she actually hated tobacco. Writers who wrote about Zachary Taylor when he was a general barely mentioned his wife. One just said she was sick and weak. Another didn't mention her at all, except in a small note.
Historians don't rate her performance as First Lady very highly. In surveys of historians, she is usually placed among the bottom five First Ladies. None of her letters are known to have survived. She is thought to have played no part in her husband's government.
For many years, no true portraits or photos of Margaret Taylor were known to exist. In galleries of First Ladies, her portrait was often replaced with one of her daughter Elizabeth. In 2010, a colored photo (called an ambrotype) of Margaret Taylor appeared. This image seems to have been used for most pictures of her. For a long time, the only known image of Taylor was an engraving made by the U.S. Government in 1902. In November 2010, a very old photograph (called a daguerreotype) of the First Lady was offered for sale. It was a family treasure of the Taylor family. It was identified as one of only two known photographs of her. This was the one her daughter, Betty Taylor Bliss Dandridge, loaned to be used for the engraving.
See also
In Spanish: Margaret Taylor para niños
