Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor
| Margaret Taylor | |
|---|---|
 |
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| First Lady of the United States | |
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In role March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850 |
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| President | Zachary Taylor |
| Preceded by | Sarah Polk |
| Succeeded by | Abigail Fillmore |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Margaret Mackall Smith September 21, 1788 Calvert County, Maryland, United States |
| Died | August 14, 1852 (aged 63) Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States |
| Spouse(s) | Zachary Taylor (m. 1810; d. 1850) |
| Children | 6, including Sarah Knox, Mary Elizabeth, and Richard Scott Taylor |
Margaret "Peggy" Mackall Smith Taylor (September 21, 1788 – August 14, 1852) was the wife of Zachary Taylor. She was First Lady of the United States from 1849 to 1850.
Born in Calvert 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, then home on leave, by Dr. Alexander Duke.
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. Their marriage appears to have been a happy one. A devout Episcopalian, Mrs. Taylor prayed regularly for her soldier husband. She became somewhat reclusive because, it is said, she had promised God to give up the pleasures of society if her husband returned safely from war. While he was serving in the Mexican-American War, she lived at their Cypress Grove Plantation near Rodney in Jefferson County, Mississippi.
The Taylors had six children: Anne Margaret Mackall Taylor Wood (April 9, 1811 - December 2, 1875), Sarah Knox Taylor Davis (1813 - September 15, 1835), Octavia Pannel Taylor (August 15, 1816 - September 1820), Margaret Smith Taylor (July 17, 1819 - October 1820), Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Taylor Bliss Dandridge (April 20, 1824 - July 25, 1909) and Richard Taylor (January 27, 1826 - April 17, 1879).
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 President. By the time she became First Lady, the hardships of following her husband from fort to fort and the birth of several children had taken their toll.
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