Biography: First Lady Anna Harrison (1775-1864)

First Lady Anna Harrison was the wife of William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States and the first President to die in office, a mere thirty-two days into his term. Anna is the longest-lived First Lady, the First Lady with the most children, the earliest First Lady to receive a formal education, the only woman to be the wife of one President and grandmother of another (Benjamin Harrison), and the only First Lady to have never entered the White House.

Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison was born in New Jersey on July 25, 1775. Her father, John Cleves Symmes, was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, and later became Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Her mother, Anna Tuthill, passed away on Anna Harrison's first birthday.

Anna was educated in English and the Classics at Clinton Academy in New York. She was the earliest First Lady to receive this kind of formal education traditionally given to men. On November 25, 1795, at the age of twenty, she married the twenty-two-year-old Lieutenant William Henry Harrison. Her father, knowing how hard the life of a military family could be, initially opposed the union; after realizing how happy the couple was, however, he supported them.

William and Anna Harrison had ten children: Elizabeth Bassett (1796-1846), John Cleves Symmes (1819-1830), Lucy Singleton (1800-1826), William Henry II (1802-1838), John Scott (1804-1878), Benjamin (1806-1840), Mary Symmes (1809-1842), Carter Bassett (1811-1839), Anna Tuthill (1813-1845), and James Findlay (1814-1817). Anna had the most children of any First Lady, and outlived nine of them. She was happy in her traditional role as wife and mother.

Anna opposed the presidential nomination of her husband, then 68 years old, retired, and the oldest President to be elected until Ronald Reagan. Delayed by sickness upon her husband's inauguration in March of 1841, she sent her daughter-in-law Jane Irwin Harrison to serve as White House hostess. Unfortunately, Harrison passed away only a month into his term, and Anna could not even make it to Washington for the funeral.

After William Henry Harrison's death, Anna lived on a Congressional pension in North Bend, Ohio and remained active in the local Presbyterian community. She kept herself informed on important political situations and, an ardent Abolitionist, became a staunch Republican. She passed away on February 25, 1864, at the age of 88.

Sources

• Anna Harrison from NNDB
• Anna Harrison Biography from the National First Ladies' Library
• Biography of Anna Harrison from the White House