Anna Harrison/ Jane Harrison

 

Anna Harrison

As the wife of President William Henry Harrison, Anna became the First Lady of the United States for only one month. Unfortunately, Anna Harrison was taken ill as she prepared to join her husband in Washington, DC so she couldn’t attend his inauguration and within a month of his taking the oath, President Harrison died of pneumonia. She is the only wife of any president to have never stepped foot in the White House as First Lady.    Having not left Ohio for her husband’s inauguration, she remained in Ohio for the remainder of her life, dying at the age of 88 in 1864. Interestingly enough instead of traveling to Washington herself to handle the duties of First Lady, she sent her daughter-in-law Jane Harrison, the widow of her son William Henry Harrison Jr. who had died in 1838.

Anna Harrison used her remaining years to lobby both President Tayler and President Polk, leveraging her status of former first lady to gain military commissions for her grandsons along with a widow’s pension after her husband’s death. The pension was used to pay off the gambling debts of her son John and her husband’s debt from the inability to manage money properly. Upon her death in 1864, she was penniless and was buried next to her husband at the Harrison Tomb State Memorial in North Bend Ohio.

There was nothing left of her personal papers to survive upon her death as everything was burned during the fire that took their home years before. Her legacy is significant in a couple of ways, 1) She was the first, First Lady to be born before George Washington was Inaugurated. 2) She was the oldest first lady at the age of 69. 3) She was also the only wife and grandmother of a President when Benjamin Harrison became President in 1889. 4) She also holds the shortest tenure as First Lady to hold the title for only 31 days.

 Jane Harrison

During the 30 days that William Henry Harrison was in office, his wife Anna depicted above wasn't able to join him in the White House instead, Anna Harrison sent her daughter-in-law Jane who was married to the late John Harrison to represent her as First Lady to the Nation. Jane was the only hostess to the nation for the time William Henry Harrison was in office before he died of pneumonia. There was no real significance to her being a hostess and she left no lingering legacy for her time in the position. She had two sons with John Harrison, James and William. She will be forever known as the aunt of future President Benjamin Harrison, 

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, then on to Walden University for her Master's 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.