Mary McElroy
Mary Arthur McElroy (born July 5, 1841 in Greenwich, New York , † January 8, 1917 in Albany , New York ) was the younger sister of the American President Chester A. Arthur and from 1881 to 1885 his first lady . The president's wife, Ellen Arthur , had died a year and a half before his inauguration, so Mary assumed the office of first lady.
Her parents were William and Malvina S. Arthur. She was the youngest of eight children. She had four children and lived in Albany with her husband, John McElroy, an insurance agent. In order to be able to stay with her family, she only spent the winters in Washington, DC , since most of the parties were in the White House at that time . She campaigned against the introduction of women's suffrage and fought off attempts by the temperance movement to ban alcohol from the White House. Her brother deeply mourned his wife and never gave McElroy full first lady status.
After her brother's presidency ended, Mary moved to Albany and died there at the age of 75. She is buried in the Albany Rural Cemetery .
literature
- Benjamin T. Arrington: Lucy Webb Hayes, Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, and Mary Arthur McElroy. In Katherine AS Sibley (Ed.): A Companion to First Ladies. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester 2016, ISBN 978-1-118-73222-9 , pp. 247-264.
Web links
- Mary McElroy in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ John Whitcomb, Claire Whitcomb: Real Life at the White House: Two Hundred Years of Daily Life at America's Most Famous Residence. Routledge, New York 2003, ISBN 978-0-203-90519-7 , p. 184.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | McElroy, Mary |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Arthur McElroy, Mary (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American First Lady (1881–1885) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 5, 1841 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Greenwich, New York |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 8, 1917 |
| Place of death | Albany , New York |