Jane Pierce, First Lady of the United States

Biography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Pierce

Jane Means Pierce (née Appleton; March 12, 1806 – December 2, 1863), wife of U.S. President Franklin Pierce, was the First Lady of the United States from 1853 to 1857.

Early life and marriage

Born in Hampton, New Hampshire, the daughter of Reverend Jesse Appleton, a Congregationalist minister and second President of Bowdoin College, and Elizabeth Means-Appleton, Jane was a petite, frail, shy, melancholy figure. After the death of her father, who had served as president of Bowdoin College not long before Franklin enrolled there, she at age 13 moved into the mansion of her wealthy maternal grandparents in Amherst, New Hampshire.

How she met Pierce, a young lawyer with political ambitions, is unknown, but her brother-in-law Alpheus S. Packard (who had married Jane's sister Frances) was one of Pierce's professors at Bowdoin. Franklin, aged almost 30, married Jane, aged 28, on November 19, 1834, at the home of the bride's maternal grandparents in Amherst. Theirs was a small wedding, conducted by a brother-in-law of Jane, the Reverend Silas Aiken. The couple honeymooned six days at the boardinghouse of Sophie near Washington, D.C.

Children

The Pierces had three children, all of whom died at young ages:

1. Franklin Pierce, Jr. (b/d 1836) - died three days after birth.
2. Frank Robert Pierce (1839-1843) - died at the age of four from epidemic typhus.
3. Benjamin Pierce (April 13, 1841-January 6, 1853) - Two months before Pierce's inauguration as president, a tragedy occurred as the family traveled by train from Andover, Massachusetts, to Concord, New Hampshire, where they had planned to attend the funeral of a family friend. Minutes after departure, their passenger car broke loose from the train and rolled down an embankment. The only fatality was Bennie Pierce, who was decapitated.

Husband's public life

Pierce was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives by the time they married, and became a U.S. Senator in 1837. Mrs. Pierce hated life in Washington, D.C., and encouraged Pierce to resign his Senate seat and return to New Hampshire, which he did in 1842.

Service in the Mexican-American War brought Pierce 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, in the happiest period of their lives, where Jane watched her son Benjamin "Benny" grow up.

First Lady of the United States

In 1852, the Democratic Party made Pierce their candidate for President. His wife fainted at the news. When Pierce took her to Newport for a respite, eleven-year-old Benny wrote to her: "I hope he won't be elected for I should not like to be at Washington and I know you would not either." But the President-elect convinced Jane that his office would be an asset for Benny's success in life.

The Pierces apparently had genuine affection for one another, but quarreled often and gradually drifted apart. She opposed Pierce's decision to run for president, for she much preferred private life. When her son Bennie was killed in a train accident before Pierce was sworn in as President, she believed God was displeased with her husband's political ambitions.[1] After the deaths of her children, Mrs. Pierce was overcome with melancholia and distanced herself during her husband's presidency. She never recovered from the tragedy. For nearly two years, she remained in the upstairs living quarters of the White House, spending her days writing maudlin letters to her dead son. She left the social chores to her aunt Abby Kent-Means and her close friend Varina Davis, wife of War Secretary Jefferson Davis. Mrs. Pierce made her first official appearance as First Lady at a New Year's Day reception in 1855 and thereafter served as White House hostess intermittently. When the first Christmas Tree appeared in the White House in 1856, Mrs. Pierce has since been given credit for starting this presidential tradition.

Death

Pierce died of tuberculosis (as her father had) in Andover, Massachusetts, on December 2, 1863. She was buried at Old North Cemetery in Concord, New Hampshire; her husband was interred beside her in 1869.

In looks and in pathetic destiny young Jane Means Appleton resembled the heroine of a Victorian novel. The gentle dignity of her face reflected her sensitive, retiring personality and physical weakness. Her father had died--he was a Congregational minister, the Reverend Jesse Appleton, president of Bowdoin College--and her mother had taken the family to Amherst, New Hampshire. And Jane met a Bowdoin graduate, a young lawyer with political ambitions, Franklin Pierce.

Although he was immediately devoted to Jane, they did not marry until she was 28 -- surprising in that day of early marriages. Her family opposed the match; moreover, she always did her best to discourage his interest in politics. The death of a three-day-old son, the arrival of a new baby, and Jane's dislike of Washington counted heavily in his decision to retire at the apparent height of his career, as United States Senator, in 1842. Little Frank Robert, the second son, died the next year of typhus.

Service in the Mexican War brought Pierce the rank of brigadier and local fame as a hero. He returned home safely, and for four years the Pierces lived quietly at Concord, New Hampshire, in the happiest period of their lives. With attentive pleasure Jane watched her son Benjamin growing up.

Then, in 1852, the Democratic Party made Pierce their candidate for President. His wife fainted at the news. When he took her to Newport for a respite, Benny wrote to her: "I hope he won't be elected for I should not like to be at Washington and I know you would not either." But the President-elect convinced Jane that his office would be an asset for Benny's success in life.

On a journey by train, January 6, 1853, their car was derailed and Benny killed before their eyes. The whole nation shared the parents' grief. The inauguration on March 4 took place without an inaugural ball and without the presence of Mrs. Pierce. She joined her husband later that month, but any pleasure the White House might have brought her was gone. From this loss she never recovered fully. Other events deepened the somber mood of the new administration: Mrs. Fillmore's death in March, that of Vice President Rufus King in April.

Always devout, Jane Pierce turned for solace to prayer. She had to force herself to meet the social obligations inherent in the role of First Lady. Fortunately she had the companionship and help of a girlhood friend, now her aunt by marriage, Abigail Kent Means.

Mrs. Robert E. Lee wrote in a private letter: "I have known many of the ladies of the White House, none more truly excellent than the afflicted wife of President Pierce. Her health was a bar to any great effort on her part to meet the expectations of the public in her high position but she was a refined, extremely religious and well educated lady."

With retirement, the Pierces made a prolonged trip abroad in search of health for the invalid--she carried Benny's Bible throughout the journey. The quest was unsuccessful, so the couple came home to New Hampshire to be near family and friends until Jane's death in 1863. She was buried near Benny's grave.

Jane Means Appleton Pierce was William Philo Hibard's 5th Cousin

Presidential First Lady. She even eclipsed Mary Todd Lincoln as the most tragic First Lady and was known as the "Shadow of the White House." She was born Jane Appleton in Hampton, New Hampshire to a father who was a Congregational minister and president of Bowdoin College. With the death of her father, the family moved to Amherst where she met the future President, a Bowdoin graduate, Franklin Pierce. He was an ambitious lawyer and active in politics. Jane abhorred politics imploring Franklin to leave the political arena. Two sons were born: Franklin died on the third day of birth and Frank at the age of five. Jane believed their demise was punishment from God for her husband's political involvement. Only after she contracted tuberculosis did he resign from the Senate to return home. He even turned down President Polk's offer to the post of Attorney General. When he became the President-elect, she lost all emotional stability. Then the ultimate tragedy struck. Before Pierce's inauguration, the family was returning from Boston after attending a funeral, the axle on the train broke, hurling their passenger car down an embankment and Benny, their eleven year old son, was thrown from his seat and instantly killed. Jane was now firmly convinced of punishment from God. She did not attend Franklin's inauguration and when finally joining him in the White House refused to leave her room. She attended no social functions while First Lady. She often sat crying by the fireplace while writing letters to her deceased son, Benjamin. Jane did little to help her beleaguered husband and he was not offered the nomination for a second term. She endured the four year term and upon leaving Washington was so weakened by tuberculosis that she had to be carried out. The Pierces sailed to the Caribbean on board the U.S.S. Powhatan, a government ship loaned to them by President Buchanan seeking relief from the tuberculosis and the chronic depression which had engulfed Jane. She lived almost the rest of her life in Andover, Massachusetts with her sister looking after her until her death at age fifty seven. The ex-president took his wife home to Concord, New Hampshire to lie beside their sons, Frank and Benjamin. Franklin, Jr was buried in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. He outlived his wife by five years and upon his death was buried beside Jane in the Old North Cemetery in Concord. Very little remains of historic value in regards to Jane Pierce. In 1966, the only Concord house ever owned by Franklin Pierce and where the family lived in relative happiness, was threatened with demolition but saved and moved to the Concord Historic District. It has been restored and many of the furnishings belonged to the Pierce family. Some items are known as "White House Pieces." She is barely remembered today.

bio by: Donald Greyfield

References

• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=19666
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Appleton-55
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19666