Jane Pierce
| Jane Pierce | |
|---|---|
 |
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| First Lady of the United States | |
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In role March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857 |
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| President | Franklin Pierce |
| Preceded by | Abigail Fillmore |
| Succeeded by | Harriet Lane (Acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Jane Means Appleton March 12, 1806 Hampton, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Died | December 2, 1863 (aged 57) Andover, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | Franklin Pierce (1834–1863) |
| Children | Franklin Frank Benjamin |
| Signature |  |
Jane Means Appleton Pierce (March 12, 1806 – December 2, 1863), wife of U.S. President Franklin Pierce, was First Lady of the United States from 1853 to 1857.
Born in Hampton, New Hampshire, the daughter of Reverend Jesse Appleton, a Congregationalist minister, and Elizabeth Means-Appleton, Jane was a petite, frail, shy, melancholy figure. She was the third of their six children. After the death of her father, who had served as president of Bowdoin College not long before Franklin enrolled there, she moved at age 13 into the mansion of her wealthy maternal grandparents in Amherst. While going to school in Keene, New Hampshire, she discovered at a young age her interest in literature.
Jane was a slender girl, estimated to be 5'4" and only around 100 pounds. She was always quiet and prone to deep depressions, relying heavily on the help of others, specifically her aunt through marriage Abigail Kent Means and most importantly her older sister, Mary Appleton Aiken. Pierce allowed Jane to visit her sister as much as needed and her aunt often acted as a political wife for him when Jane could not.
How she met Pierce, a young lawyer with political ambitions, is unknown, but her brother-in-law Alpheus S. Packard was one of Pierce's instructors at Bowdoin. It is assumed that they met through this Bowdoin association. Franklin, almost 30, married Jane, 28, on November 19, 1834, at the bride's maternal grandparents' home in Amherst, New Hampshire. Jane's family was opposed to the union due to Pierce's political ambitions. The Reverend Silas Aiken, Jane's brother-in-law, conducted the small ceremony. The couple honeymooned six days at the boardinghouse of Sophia Southurt near Washington, D.C..
In 1836, their first son, Franklin Jr died just three days after his birth. Franklin Pierce was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives by the time they married and became a U.S. Senator in 1837. She was forced to become the political wife she never wanted to be. Jane hated life in Washington, D.C., and encouraged her husband to resign his Senate seat and return to New Hampshire, which he did in 1842. She blamed politics for all the troubles in her life including the death of her child and Franklin's excessive alcohol consumption. Service in the Mexican-American War brought him the rank of Brigadier General and local fame as a hero. He returned home safely, and for four more years the Pierces lived quietly at Concord, New Hampshire. Unfortunately their son Frank passed from typhus a year later, causing stress for the entire family and leading to health issues for Jane. In 1842, President James K. Polk offered Franklin the U.S. attorney post, however due to Jane's objection, he turned it down. A senate seat and New Hampshire governor was also offered, and again he turned it down for family reasons.
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