Ellen Axson Wilson
| Ellen Wilson | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| First Lady of the United States | |
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In role March 4, 1913 – August 6, 1914 |
|
| President | Woodrow Wilson |
| Preceded by | Helen Taft |
| Succeeded by | Margaret Wilson (Acting) |
| First Lady of New Jersey | |
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In role January 17, 1911 – March 1, 1913 |
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| Governor | Woodrow Wilson |
| Preceded by | Charlotte Fort |
| Succeeded by | Mabel Fielder (Acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Ellen Louise Axson May 15, 1860 Savannah, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | August 6, 1914 (aged 54) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Cause of death | Bright's disease |
| Spouse(s) | Woodrow Wilson (1885–1914) |
| Children |
Margaret Jessie Eleanor |
| Signature |  |
Ellen Louise Axson Wilson (May 15, 1860 – August 6, 1914), was the first wife of Woodrow Wilson and the mother of his three daughters. Like her husband, she was a Southerner from a slave-owning family, as well as the daughter of a clergyman. She was born in Savannah, Georgia, but raised in Rome, Georgia. Having an artistic bent, she studied at the Art Students League of New York before her marriage, and continued to produce art in later life.
She was First Lady of the United States from Wilson's inauguration in 1913 until her death. During that period, she arranged White House weddings for two of their daughters.
Born Ellen Louise Axson in Savannah, Georgia, the daughter of the Reverend Samuel Edward Axson, a Presbyterian minister, and his wife Margaret Jane (née Hoyt) Axson, Ellen became a woman of refined tastes with a fondness for art, music and literature.
In April 1883, she met Woodrow Wilson when he was visiting his cousin Jesse Woodrow Wilson in Rome, Georgia, on family business. At that time, she was keeping house for her widowed father. Woodrow Wilson thought of Ellen, "What splendid laughing eyes!" They were engaged 5 months later, but postponed the wedding while he did postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins University and she nursed her ailing father. Ellen's father committed suicide while hospitalized for depression, after which she went North to study at the Art Students League of New York. After graduation, she pursued portrait art and received a medal for one of her works from the Paris International Exposition. She returned to Georgia.
Wilson, who was 28 years of age, married Ellen, age 25, on June 24, 1885, at her paternal grandparents' home in Savannah, Georgia. The wedding was performed jointly by his father, the Reverend Joseph R. Wilson, and her grandfather, the Reverend Isaac Stockton Keith Axson. They honeymooned at Waynesville, a mountain resort in western North Carolina.
That same year, Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania offered Dr. Wilson a teaching position at an annual salary of $1,500. He and his bride lived near the campus, keeping her little brother with them.
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