Our First Ladies #13

                                                 Margaret Mackall  Smith Taylor

  

                                                            First Lady of the United States

                                                                             in role

                                                              March 4, 1849 - July 9, 1850

     

Born in Calver County, Maryland on September 21, 1788, the daughter of Walter Smith, a prosperous Maryland planter and veteran officer of the American Revolution, and the former Ann Mackall, “Peggy” was raised amid refinement and wealth.

While visiting her sister in Kentucky in 1809, she was introduced to Lieutenant Zachary Taylor, who was home on leave.

Lt. Taylor, aged 25, married Peggy Smith, aged 21, on June 21, 1810, at the home of the bride’s sister, Mrs. Mary Chew near Louisville, Kentucky. She followed him from fort to fort as his career advanced except for while he was serving in the Mexican American War; She lived at their Cypress Grove Plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi.

With the rise in Zachary Taylor’s political career, his wife Peggy Taylor literally prayed for his defeat, for she dreaded the personal consequences of his becoming the president. By the time she became the First Lady in 1849, the hardships of following her husband from fort-to-fort and enduring several childbirths over the 39 year period had taken their toll. Two small girls died in 1820 of what Taylor called “a violent bilious fever,” which left Peggy’s health impaired; three girls and a boy grew up.

A semi-invalid, she remained in seclusion on the second floor of the White House, leaving the duties of official hostess to her daughter, Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Bliss.

After participating in ceremonies at the Washington Monument on a blistering July 4, 1850, President Taylor fell ill and within five days he was dead. Margaret Taylor’s health deteriorated rapidly after his sudden death. She died two years later August 14, 1852, in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was buried next to her husband near Louisville, Kentucky.