U.S. First Ladies Trivia

1. Nell Arthur was born Ellen Herndon in which U.S. state that is better known for producing many presidents?

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Ellen Arthur

Answer: Virginia

Ellen was born in Culpeper Courthouse, Virginia in 1837. Today the town is simply called Culpeper. Ellen's father William was a naval officer and adventurer who explored part of South America including the Amazon and the Andes. Her mother, with whom Ellen was very close to, was named Kit. Ellen was an only child.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Eliza Johnson

Answer: Tennessee

Very little is known about Eliza's early life. She was born in Telford, Tennessee. Her father was John McCardle, a cobbler who died when Eliza was a little girl. Her mother was Sarah Phillips. It is known the McCardles had very little money and income yet rarely lacked the basic necessities and Eliza was educated in a variety of subjects. Eliza was the first First Lady who was an only child and the first born in poverty.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Edith Wilson

Answer: Pocahontas

Edith Bolling was directly descended from Pocahontas and John Rolfe. Their granddaughter Jane married into the Bolling family, a large slave-owning family in Virginia. The Bollings remained a wealthy family until the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. Edith's father, William, was a planter who became a lawyer after the war. By the time Edith was born, much of her family's wealth had vanished. She had ten siblings and her family often lived in one room farm houses with other relatives.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Ellen Wilson

Answer: Georgia

Ellen was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1860. Her southern genteel manner was noted by everyone she met and she never really lost it even after decades up north. Growing up, she had the typical Southern charm and interests. She was well-educated and loved the arts and music. She is the most recent First Lady whose family owned slaves during her lifetime.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Sarah Polk

Answer: No one knows

Sarah's father was Joel Childress, a wealthy planter who owned many slaves on his plantation in Tennessee. No records exist indicating what crop or crops were grown on the plantation. In addition to being a planter, Joel Childress also bought sold property in and around Murfreesboro. Sarah's mother was Elizabeth Whitsitt who ran the household.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Jackson's Hostesses

Answer: Andrew Jackson Donelson

Although Emily was Andrew Jackson's niece, he always felt like she was a daughter he never had. He and Rachel frequently looked after Emily in her younger years and provided for her when they had the opportunity. Andrew and Rachel had several adopted sons, both official and unofficial. One of these sons was Andrew Jackson Donelson, another relative of Rachel's who was named for the future president. Andrew Jackson Donelson and Emily married in 1824 after a courtship. The president always felt as if Emily was his own daughter and is said to have treated her as such.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: The Harrisons

Answer: Farmer's College

Caroline met Benjamin at Farmer's College in Cincinnati, Ohio where her father John was a professor. John had originally taught at the University of Miami where he was an exemplary professor but was fired when he challenged the college's position on slavery. Benjamin was one of Caroline's father's students and the two fell instantly in love. He even transferred to the Miami when Caroline began attending school there. She majored in music and became a music teacher after she earned her degree.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Lucretia Garfield

Answer: Crete

Lucretia's siblings and friends frequently called her Crete as the name Lucretia was fairly uncommon and considered old-fashioned. Lucretia's heritage was mainly Germanic and she traced her lineage all the way back to European royalty from several countries. Her father Zebulon was a minister and her mother was named Arabella. Lucretia was very religious and attended the church and school her father founded. She was also very well educated, spoke languages and studied a wide variety of subjects.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Margaret Taylor

Answer: Tobacco

Margaret, commonly called Peggy, Smith's father was a wealthy tobacco planter named Walter Smith. Tobacco was an important crop for the American South at the time and the Smiths were among the most prominent tobacco families in Maryland. Her mother was Ann Mackall. Records of Margaret's early life are not plentiful and what exists is often vague or speculative.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Abigail Fillmore

Answer: A scandal involving her late father

Abigail's father Lemuel was a pastor in Saratoga who had a very devoted and large congregation even during the Revolutionary War when church attendance was limited. Lemuel Powers died in 1800 and a few years later, Abigail's mother Abigail moved her family to rural New York. The First Lady, when writing about her early life, said her mother did this because life was cheaper in rural New York and the Powers Family had limited funds. However local records and newspaper archives seem to contradict this. Lemuel Powers should have been a wealthy man and there are unflattering articles mentioning some kind of scandal about him that broke around the time the Powerses moved. What this scandal was about is not clear but seems to involve some kind of misconduct with his parishioners. This misconduct has been speculated to be a sexual affair or a financial mishandling since Lemuel did not leave a large estate behind.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Angelica Van Buren

Answer: Sarah

Angelica Singleton's real first name was Sarah but no one ever called her that. She was stereotypically Southern in manners and style until she went to Philadelphia to be educated in European arts. Angelica's classes were all in French, a language she quickly picked up and she started emulating all things French. She even went by the name Angelique for a time.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Edith Roosevelt

Answer: They were neighbors

Edith was born in Norwich, Connecticut but her family lived in Union Square in Manhattan. The Roosevelts, including Teddy who was three years older than Edith, lived next door. The Roosevelts and Carows were great friends and the children attended school together in the Roosevelt household. Edith was best friends with Teddy's sister Corinne. Although it is not known for certain, presidential historians believe Teddy and Edith had a romantic relationship as teenagers that ended when Teddy went away to college.

From Quiz First Ladies of the USA

Answer: Louisa Adams

Louisa Adams was born in London and was the wife of John Quincy Adams. She displayed several talents including playing the harp, writing plays, and raising silkworms. Adams met her while on a diplomatic assignment in England. Louisa served as a charming hostess in Washington and as a buffer between her sometimes difficult husband and the political elite. A modest person, she titled her autobiography "Adventures of a Nobody". Melania Trump was born in Slovenia and worked a model, before becoming an American citizen in 2006. She first met Donald Trump in 1999 and they were married in 2005. She stated that she hoped to use her status as First Lady to advocate for women and children. At five feet eleven inches she tied with Michelle Obama and Eleanor Roosevelt as the tallest First Lady to date.

From Quiz First First Ladies

Answer: Frances Cleveland

Frances Folsom was the daughter of a good friend and law partner of Grover Cleveland. He knew her since she was born and helped guide her education after her father died. Frances missed Cleveland's first inauguration but after visiting him shortly afterwards, the two quickly fell in love. They were married at the White House in the Blue Room in 1886 in a small ceremony seen by only 28 people. Frances was a very popular First Lady and was known as a charming hostess and capable mother of their several children. They lived in New York after Cleveland lost the 1888 election but returned after four years when he was elected to a non-consecutive second term. Frances remarried after Cleveland's death but was buried next to him after she passed away.

From Quiz First Ladies of the United States

Answer: She refused to attend it

Martha Washington (1731-1802) is one fascinating woman. At a time when wives were expected to obey and admire their husbands, she flatly refused to attend George Washington's inauguration. After years of following him wherever he went during the long battle for America's break from England, she just wanted George and herself to spend the rest of their lives together quietly and privately. It was not to be. Though she came good and played the role of the President's wife loyally after that great occasion, she most definitely dug her heels in at attending his inauguration. Martha was outspoken but dignified, wealthy in her own right, had a good business head on her shoulders (she ran five plantations after the death of her first husband), and had two surviving children from her first marriage when she married George. It appeared to be a happy partnership, with General Lafayette recording in his notes that Martha loved George "madly". Though unable to free the hundred slaves she had inherited from her first husband under the terms of his will, she was happy to release Washington's numerous slaves when he passed away. Paintings of this first of the First Ladies do not do Martha Washington justice, in fact they seem to have endowed her with a man's face, but it has been recorded in many first hand accounts from the time of her youth, and as she aged, that she was considered "pretty" by all who knew her. She was also elegant, musical, cultured and charming. In short, the perfect wife, and match, for the first of America's long line of presidents.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Jane Pierce

Answer: New Hampshire

Jane's father Jesse was a reverend in the Congregationalist Church. Jane was always described as a timid and frail girl, a phase she never really got over even into her adult life.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Elizabeth Monroe

Answer: Dutch

Elizabeth's parents were Lawrence and Hannah who were both of Dutch-Flanders descent. Her father was a merchant who helped found the Chamber of Commerce after he made his fortune. Mrs. Monroe was also related to both President Roosevelts on her mother's side.

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Helen Taft

Answer: Rutherford B. Hayes

The Hayes and Herron families were close and considered powerful families in Ohio. As a teenager, Helen attended the 25th wedding anniversary of President Hayes and his wife, Lucy. This was her first visit to the White House.

From Quiz Let's Hear It For the Girls!

Answer: Abigail Adams

Martha Jefferson died before her husband became President, Louisa Adams was the wife of John Quincy Adams and the only First Lady to be born outside of the U.S. When the capital moved to Washington in 1800 the city was a wilderness. Upon moving to the new mansion Abigail thought the location to be beautiful but lamented at the difficulty of finding someone to haul firewood from the woods. Good help was hard to find even for a First Lady!

From Quiz Little Known First Ladies: Ida McKinley nee Saxton

Answer: Canton

After her husband was assassinated, Mrs. McKinley became a recluse until she died about six years later.

From Quiz Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams

Answer: February 12, 1775

Louisa Catherine Johnson was born in London, England on February 12, 1775. She was born outside of the United States, but was still born a citizen because her father was an American citizen.

From Quiz US First Ladies

Answer: 3

Martha Washington was first married to Daniel Custis, Martha Jefferson to Bathurst Skelton, and Dolley Madison to John Todd. Abigail Adams was the only of these Mothers of Liberty who was never widowed.

From Quiz Little-Known First Ladies: Frances Cleveland

Answer: 21

The Clevelands were the first presidential couple to marry in the White House. Grover was 27 years older.

From Quiz Little-Known First Ladies: Lou Henry Hoover

Answer: Chinese

Mrs. Hoover and her husband honeymooned in China and even lived there during the Boxer Rebellion. Because Herbert worked as a manager of Chinese mines, he would travel into dangerous areas and Lou insisted on going with him.

From Quiz How Much Do You Know About U.S. First Ladies?

Answer: Abigail Adams

Abigail, nee Smith, Adams was the wife (and third cousin) of President John Adams. They moved into The White House in Washington D.C. in 1800 and finished out the president's term living there. He was defeated in his bid for re-election by Thomas Jefferson. Abigail Adams was born November 22, 1744 and died of typhoid fever weeks short of her 74th birthday, on October 28, 1818. She was the mother of six children, including John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) who would go on to become the sixth President of the United States.

From Quiz First Ladies of the United States

Answer: Jimmy Carter

Eleanor Rosalynn Smith was born in Plains, Georgia, the eldest of four children. Their families were acquainted. but Rosalynn did not date Jimmy Carter until 1945, when he was home on leave from the navy. They were married in Plains in 1946.

From Quiz U.S. First Ladies Second Edition

Answer: Andrew Jackson

Rachel Donelson's marriage to Captain Lewis Robards ended in a divorce, but the said divorce was not officially pronounced when she remarried with Andrew Jackson, who was to become the 7th US president. When the divorce became official, in 1784, they married again. She died when she was 61 years old, on December 22nd 1828.

From Quiz US First Ladies

Answer: Abigail Smith

Abigail Smith was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, on November 11, 1744. She married John Adams, her third cousin, the future 2nd US president, on October 25, 1764. The couple had six children, the second one being John Quincy Adams who was to become the sixth US President. She was the first First Lady to live in the White House, and died of typhoid fever on October 28, 1818, two weeks before her 74th birthday.

From Quiz First Ladies of the U.S.

Answer: Lucy Hayes

Lucy Webb Hayes, "Lemonade Lucy", graduated from Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was only 21 when she married Rutherford in 1852. Apparently she passed on her scholarly interests to her four sons and daughter who each became very successful in their respective careers.

From Quiz Hail to the Chief's Wife #9: Lady Bird Johnson

Answer: Her nursemaid said she was "as purty as a lady bird"

Claudia Alta Taylor was born in Texas in 1912. She was later quoted as saying she didn't really care for the nickname but as she was a baby at the time it was bestowed upon her she didn't have a say in the matter.

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Last Updated Dec 21 2024 5:49 AM

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