Angelica Singleton Van Buren or Sarah Van Buren for this blog
post was the daughter-in-law of the eighth President of the United States
Martin Van Buren. Sarah was married to Abraham Van Buren II. At the age of 20 years
old, Sarah became the youngest White House Hostess ever for any president. Sarah
was also an heiress of South Carolina's wealth. Both Sarah and her sister came to
Washington DC as cousins of their mother’s Senator William C Preston. Their mother was also cousins to Dolley
Madison and Dolley the Singleton Girls to society in Washington, DC. She later
introduced Young Angelica to Abraham, and they subsequently married at her father’s
plantation in South Carolina. President Van Buren lost his wife, Hannah died in
1819 and he never remarried, so Sarah took over as hostess for the President in
the White House. Before taking up her hostess duties for President Van Buren the
young couple ventured to England to visit her uncle Andrew Stevenson who was
the US Minister (Ambassador) to the United Kingdom. During this trip, the young
couple also visited other European countries on behalf of President Van Buren
and Sarah was introduced to European styles and customs that she brought back
to the White House upon their return.
After the 1840 New Year’s Day reception, Sarah stopped her hostess duties
due to being pregnant and she went into seclusion for the remainder of her pregnancy.
She gave birth in March of 1840 to a daughter named Rebecca, however, Rebecca
died shortly thereafter. Sarah was devastated and found herself pregnant once
again in the latter part of 1840. During the 1840 election, Van Buren failed to
become reelected, and his enemies used Sarah’s European style and culture against
Van Buren due to the country being in prolonged financial panic since 1837. Economic woes
which were caused by Van Buren’s policies. It was sad that they used Sarah as
their target with her wanting to enhance the White House with elegant things.
President Van Buren left the White House and returned to New
York, specifically his home called Lindenwald in Kinderhook, upstate New York.
He invited his son and daughter-in-law to come live with him and they did. Abraham
returned to his military duties, serving until his retirement in 1854. They
continued to live in New York until their deaths. However, from 1854 to 1856
Abraham and Angelia along with their little family traveled throughout Europe
gaining knowledge about how citizens lived in poverty, social reform, and the
charity work being done around the world. Upon their return, Sarah dedicated the
remainder of her life to sharing this knowledge and working to change things
for the better of her fellow Americans. Martin Van Buren died in July 1862
at the age of 79. Abraham died in 1873 and five years later Sarah died in 1877.
They are both buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.
Elizabeth Kilbride is a Writer and Editor with forty years
of experience in writing with 12 of those years in the online content sphere.
Graduating with an Associate of Arts from Pheonix University, then a degree in
Mass Communication and Cyber Analysis from Phoenix University, on to Walden
University for her Master in Criminology with emphasis on Cybercrime and
Identity Theft, and is currently studying for her Ph.D. degree in Criminology,
her portfolio includes coverage of politics, current affairs, elections,
history, and true crime. In her spare time, Elizabeth is also a gourmet cook,
life coach, and avid artist, proficient in watercolor, acrylic, pen and ink
Gouache, and pastels. As a political operative having worked on over 300
campaigns during her career, Elizabeth has turned many life events into books
and movie scripts while using history to weave interesting storylines. She also
runs 6 various blogs from art to life coaching, to food, to writing, and opinion
or history pieces each week.
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