10 Things You Never Knew About Presidential First Ladies

It isn’t easy being a First Lady. Sure, your husband has the big and important job, what with being tasked with the role of running the United States and all. But the woman by his side has to really show up for things, too. Even though her role may be more ceremonial than spelled-out statutorily, there’s much to consider. And tradition plays a huge role, too. First Ladies of the US are expected to do things simply because those who came before them did the same thing. (Take, for example, the assumption that each First Lady will be the one to decorate the White House when her husband’s term begins!)

Tradition aside, though, many strange attributes have been linked to the First Ladies who have formerly lived in the US taxpayers’ house. And in this list, we’ll take a look at ten of the strangest. What follows are a series of fascinating, random, and sometimes a little bit weird facts about America’s First Ladies. You may already know quite a bit about their commander-in-chief husbands, but we can pretty much guarantee these tidbits will take you by surprise!

Related: 10 Facts about American Presidents You Never Learned in School

10 What White House?

No First Lady had a shorter career than Anna Harrison. The wife of William Henry Harrison’s career was so short, in fact, that she never even made it into the White House. Seriously. Not once. Poor William passed away from illness just a month after he was inaugurated and assumed office. And even though he and Anna had been married for a long time (and had ten kids, no less!), she spent much of their marriage in the rural wilderness of Ohio while he was out doing political stuff. When he went to the White House, not much changed. And then he died.

That’s not to say that Anna wasn’t interested in it. She was said to have avidly followed political happenings in whatever newspapers could reach her. And she would support her husband’s political aspirations in any way she could from far away. But she wasn’t on the ground and involved. And so, when William was elected and went to the White House, she didn’t show up.

She was going to, at some point. But she got sick just before his inauguration, so she sent her daughter-in-law Jane Harrison in her place to fulfill White House hosting duties. And then she got word back in Ohio that her husband had died just thirty days into his term. So, that was that.^[1]

9 Lemonade Lucy

Rutherford B. Hayes’ wife, Lucy, really liked Easter eggs. And lemonade. Back when Hayes was serving as the president, Washington DC set up a rule that forbade children from rolling Easter eggs along the grounds of the Capitol building. The city was sick of the nuisance, apparently. But Lucy wasn’t! Mad at that rule, she created an Easter egg roll at the White House in response. She wanted kids in DC to have fun on Easter, so she set up a scenario where they could come to Pennsylvania Avenue and have fun with eggs. And it’s a tradition that is still going strong today! Every First Lady ever since has held an Easter Egg roll at the White House.

Lucy wasn’t totally carefree and fun, though. As First Lady, she also absolutely detested all alcoholic beverages. She forbade any alcohol from ever being served at the White House during her husband’s administration. All you were allowed to consume when you were on the grounds at Pennsylvania Avenue was water, lemonade, or any other non-alcoholic drink. For that, she earned herself the derisive nickname “Lemonade Lucy.”^[2]

8 The Non-First First Lady

Virtually every president had a First Lady with him in the White House, except for William Henry Harrison, as we’ve already learned. Plus, James Buchanan was unmarried throughout his life, so he never had a First Lady to install in that spot. (Though he did allow his niece to serve in some of the most customary roles!) But there was one president who didn’t bring a First Lady to the White House when he was elected for the most tragic of reasons: because she had died years before.

The president in question was Martin Van Buren. And even though he was elected in 1836 and assumed the office in 1837, he had long since been a widower. His beloved wife Hannah had contracted tuberculosis back in 1812. It left her terribly weak for the last seven years of her life, before she eventually passed away from its complications in 1819. Van Buren married her when they were both young, so he was distraught at her loss. He never remarried in the decades following her death, and thus, he never actually brought his First Lady to the White House with him. Just her memory… ^[3]

7 Praying for Defeat

Not every First Lady has wanted her husband to win the presidency and move into the White House. Even though they may do a great job at showing a positive image to the American public, some First Ladies are downright downers when it comes to the White House. Take, for example, Jane Pierce. To call Franklin Pierce’s wife a hesitant host who really didn’t want to go about her duties in Washington would be the understatement of the century. She took it a step further than that—and hoped for divine intervention against poor old Franklin!

What do we mean by that? Well, before Franklin’s successful campaign and election to become president, Jane used to pray to God every night that he would lose. Seriously. She disliked the idea of having to move into the White House and perform her duties as First Lady so much that she prayed to the Lord above to somehow step in and save her from it. That didn’t work, and Franklin was elected. He only ended up serving one term in office, though, so at least that was good for Jane.^[4]

6 Dolley to the Rescue

Thank goodness for Dolley Madison! James Madison’s wife was one of the earliest high-profile First Ladies to ever serve alongside her husband in the White House. She was an adored socialite during her time in the public eye in the United States. People from all walks of life seemed to gravitate towards her. It didn’t hurt that she was the first person to make ice cream a regular feature to be enjoyed by all at the end of official White House dinners. Anybody who can encourage the rest of us to eat ice cream every now and again is sure to be popular!

But the real story with Dolley is her work to save some very rare art. During the War of 1812, British troops were advancing in a nearly unstoppable way towards Washington, and the White House. Seeing what would inevitably happen, Dolley and her entourage got out of Dodge, as the saying goes. But not before she rescued something important from the residence’s walls: a rare, one-of-a-kind painting of George Washington. It’s a good thing she did, too, because British soldiers promptly set fire to the place once they reached it.^[5]

5 Sahara Sarah

Few First Ladies have ever taken their jobs more seriously than Sarah Polk. The wife of President James K. Polk, Sarah was a very serious woman. Her strict and no-nonsense personality was made even more noticeable because her predecessor as First Lady had been Julia Tyler, the wife of John Tyler. Julia was cheerful, fun, and very easy-going. But Sarah was a tough woman to know, and an even tougher woman to like.

Nowhere was that more evident than in Sarah’s insistence that no liquor be served in the White House so long as she and her husband were living there. Staffers hated that rule, and in turn, they grew to hate the woman who had forced it upon them. All work and no play makes a White House staffer a dull boy! Or something. While Sarah might have been particularly difficult, her teetotaling ways did at least create this fun fact for us: White House employees gave her the nickname “Sahara Sarah” behind her back. Now, how’s that for some dry humor?^[6]

4 A Wedding and a Baby

Grover Cleveland and his wife are the only presidential couple to ever get married in the White House. Oh, and as if that weren’t enough, Frances had a baby in the esteemed mansion, too! So, Frances was just a young woman when she became the first (and only) one ever to marry an incumbent president in the White House itself. The ceremony was simple, and took place in the Blue Room. But it unexpectedly became big news almost immediately. The press thought “Frankie,” as she was known, was an incredibly pretty young thing, and they followed her around everywhere. Almost overnight, she became a socialite. Nowadays, people consider her to be one of America’s first celebrities—famous just for being famous.

After the wedding, Frances stayed in the public eye. Americans wrote her thousands of letters and followed her every move in the White House and around Washington. And as if that weren’t enough, at just 21 years old, she gave birth to Grover’s baby… also in the White House. No woman (and certainly no First Lady!) has ever given birth in the people’s house since Frances. And considering the state of modern childbirth—you know, how it’s done in hospitals with doctors, and all that jazz—we seriously doubt it will ever happen again.^[7]

3 Abigail the Advisor

Abigail Adams was not just a First Lady, but a trusted advisor. She worked very closely with her husband, President John Adams, in a way that no First Lady did for well over a century after her turn in the office. Of all the things she advised him on, the biggest one was women’s rights. “Remember the ladies,” she would tell her husband whenever he was considering a policy or law for the good of the country.

And remember, this was no small thing; John was one of the men who crafted the Declaration of Independence! So, for his wife to make sure he was focused on women while writing it was a very big deal. “Be more generous and favorable to [the Ladies] than your ancestors,” Abigail once wrote to John. “Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could.” Honestly, she might not be wrong!^[8]

2 Dead on Arrival

We’ve already been over the only First Lady to ever give birth in the White House and get hitched in the people’s mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue. But how about the only presidential wife who ever died in the White House? Sadly, she was John Tyler’s wife, Letitia, and she died pretty early on in her time serving as the First Lady.

Officially, Letitia attended only one single presidential function while serving as the First Lady: the wedding of her and John’s daughter, Elizabeth. And then, sadly, she had a paralytic stroke. She was taken back to the presidential palace to rest and recuperate, but sadly, recovery wasn’t in the cards for poor Letitia. The medical issue ended up killing her… in the White House. To this day, she remains the only First Lady to ever pass away inside.^[9]

1 Martha on the Money

Let’s wrap things up with the first First Lady ever. Martha Washington was the first presidential wife to ever spend time in the White House alongside her husband George. But did you know that she was also the first (and last) woman to appear on paper currency in the United States? (Well, up until Harriet Tubman was supposed to be placed on the $20 bill in 2020—but that redesign has yet to happen as of 2025!)

Martha Washington was the first woman to appear on money. In both 1886 and 1891, her face was put on the $1 silver certificate. And then, as if that weren’t enough, she appeared on the bill again in 1896… this time alongside George. Of course, she has long since been taken off American currency, while George has remained on the $1 bill in perpetuity. But at least Martha got there first!^[10]