Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur
| Nell Arthur | |
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Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur, c. 1857–1870
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| Born |
Ellen Lewis Herndon August 30, 1837 Culpeper Court House, Virginia |
| Died | January 12, 1880 (aged 42) |
| Spouse(s) | Chester A. Arthur (m. 1859) |
| Children | 3, including Chester II |
| Parents |
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Ellen Lewis "Nell" Herndon Arthur (August 30, 1837 – January 12, 1880) was the wife of the 21st President of the United States, Chester A. Arthur. She died of pneumonia before her husband was elected vice-president in November 1880; he succeeded to the presidency in September 1881 when President James Garfield was assassinated.
Ellen Lewis Herndon, called "Nell," was born in Culpeper Court House, Virginia, the daughter of William Lewis Herndon and Frances Elizabeth Hansborough. Her father was a naval officer who gained national renown in 1857 when he went down with his ship, the mail steamer SS Central America, along with more than 400 passengers and crew. It was the largest loss of life in a commercial shipping disaster, up until that time. Herndon had safely evacuated 152 women and children to another vessel during the severe hurricane off Cape Hatteras, but his ship could not be saved. Nell was 20 when her father died. One of her father's cousins was Matthew Fontaine Maury, another notable naval officer and explorer.
Nell and Chester A. Arthur were introduced in 1856 by her cousin Dabney Herndon Maury, a friend of Arthur, in New York City. Arthur proposed to her on the porch of the U.S. Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York after a brief courtship.
Arthur, aged 30, married Herndon, aged 22, on October 25, 1859, at Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City. The day was her father's birthdate. Arthur, who was from rural Vermont, is said to have learned refined dressing while at Union College, where he was in the debating society, and the ways of high society from her socially prominent family. The couple were known for their parties in their Lexington Avenue townhouse in Manhattan.
A talented soprano, Nell Arthur sang with the Mendelssohn Glee Club and performed at benefits around New York. The Arthurs appeared to have a strong marriage, but it was strained by both Chester's political activities, which took much of his time, and the divided loyalties of the Civil War. While Arthur was serving in the New York militia during the conflict, his wife privately sympathized with the Confederacy, for which many of her Virginia kinfolk were fighting.
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