Anna Harrison

Anna Tuthill Symmes was born on July 25, 1775, in Morristown, New Jersey, as the second child of Anna Tuthill and John Cleves Symmes. Her father was an associate justice on the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Her mother died on her first birthday, leaving her father to raise her alone. When the American Revolutionary War began, John was a colonel in the Continental Army. To ensure his daughter's safety, he assumed the guise of a British soldier and transported her to Long Island via horseback. Here she was raised by her maternal grandparents. One rumor suggested that John carried two bags: one with Anna, and one with turnips that he showed to any soldiers who questioned him, claiming that he was delivering them to the British commander. As a child, Anna first attended Clinton Academy in East Hampton and then the private school of Isabella Graham in New York City. Her education was religious in nature, as her grandparents raised her to be a Presbyterian. Once the war ended in 1783, Anna's father paid her a brief visit in New York before relocating to the Northwest Territory. She reunited with her father in 1794 at the age of 19 when she moved to the Northwest Territory to live with him in the town that he had established there: North Bend, Ohio. Also present was her stepmother, Susannah Livingston, with whom Anna got along well. == Marriage and family ==

Symmes met William Henry Harrison during a visit to Lexington, Kentucky, to see her sister Maria. Despite her father's disapproval, she began a courtship with him. Her father disapproved of the courtship because of Harrison's military career. William responded that he would use his sword. John's animosity toward William did not last. He eventually campaigned on his behalf and named him an executor of his estate. In 1798, William resigned from the army, purchased land in North Bend, and built a log cabin for their home. At this point they had their first child, who had been born in 1796. They eventually had ten children together over a period of 18 years. Eight of them preceded Anna in death. ==Husband's rise to fame==

, the Harrison home in Vincennes After William was elected to the House of Representatives in 1799, the family moved to Philadelphia, which was the capital of the United States at the time. Besides Philadelphia, they also spent time in Richmond, Virginia, to see William's family. It was here that Anna had their third child in 1800. They moved to Vincennes, Indiana, later that year when William was appointed territorial governor of Indiana. She felt lonely in Vincennes because of the distance from her extended family; Her participation continued until the death of another of her sons in 1840. ==First Lady of the United States==

Harrison was displeased when her husband was elected president. She is quoted as saying "I wish that my husband's friends had left him where he is, happy and contented in retirement." At the age of 65, she was the oldest woman to that point to become first lady. In anticipation of her new position, she worried that she would be poorly received in Washington society and would be unable to fulfill the traditional responsibilities of a first lady. William was inaugurated as president in 1841, but Anna did not accompany him to Washington; she was feeling unwell, and the journey would involve harsh weather. She instead sent Jane Irwin Harrison, the widow of their late son, to serve as acting first lady. She prepared to join her husband the following May, but before she left, she received news that he had died of pneumonia. She chose not to make the journey, forgoing his state funeral. ==Later life and death==

Harrison returned to North Bend after her husband's death. Though Harrison did not like her husband's successor, President John Tyler, she lobbied him to give political appointments to members of her family, leveraging her status as a former first lady. She likewise lobbied the following president, James K. Polk, to give military commissions to her grandsons. Harrison was granted a pension by the federal government in June 1841, which she spent paying her late husband's debts. Harrison became more involved in politics and religion in her later years. During the Civil War, she was a supporter of abolitionism, and she encouraged her grandsons to serve in the Union Army. In 1855, Harrison's cabin was destroyed in a fire, and she spent her final years living with her son John. Harrison died on February 25, 1864, at the age of 88. She was buried beside her husband in North Bend. Her funeral sermon was preached by Horace Bushnell. == Legacy ==

Harrison was the first woman widowed while first lady, and was followed by a long series of wives of presidents unwilling or unable to carry out the duties associated with the role. and the first to receive a formal education. She also holds records due to her husband's short term: she served the shortest tenure of any first lady, only holding the title for 31 days, and she is the only first lady to have never been to the capital during her husband's presidency. == Notes ==