Anna Harrison

Anna Harrison (1775-1864) was an American first lady (1841), the wife of William Henry Harrison, ninth president of the United States, and grandmother of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president. She was the first First Lady to receive a formal education, counting Martha Washington's granddaughter among her classmates. As her husband's military and political career advanced, Anna oversaw their household and large, growing family. Anna was too ill to attend her husband's March 1841 inauguration, and by the time she had recovered, William himself had fallen ill and soon passed away, ending Anna's one month tenure as First Lady. After William's death, Anna spent her remaining years with her sole surviving son, helping him raise her grandson, Benjamin, who would become president in 1869.

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Did You Know?

Anna Harrison gave birth to t10 children, the most born to any first lady. She outlived all but one of them.

The daughter of John Cleves Symmes (a soldier in the American Revolution and a judge) and Anna Tuthill Symmes (who died when her daughter was one year old), Anna was raised by her maternal grandparents. She attended prestigious girls' schools on the East Coast, including Clinton Academy in Easthampton, New York, and took classes from the famed educator and philanthropist Isabella Marshall Graham. The family, including her new stepmother, moved to Ohio in 1795 to settle on land purchased by Anna's father after the Revolution. While visiting her sister in Kentucky, she met William Henry Harrison, then a young soldier. Although William came from a prominent Virginia family, Anna's father objected to the match, citing the young man's lack of any profession “but that of arms.” The couple married secretly on November 25, 1795, while her father was away.

While her husband's career progressed from garrison commander to congressional delegate from the territory of Ohio, Anna gave birth to 10 children (including one who died at age three) between 1796 and 1814, and she took primary responsibility for their education and upbringing. Despite her privileged childhood, she adapted well to the frontier life she led while her husband served as governor of the Indiana Territory (1800–12).

When William won the presidency in 1840, the couple asked their daughter-in-law, Jane Irwin Harrison, widow of their son William Henry, to perform the duties of first lady until Anna, who was then ill, could come to Washington. As Anna began packing in April 1841, she learned of William's death. Although he had served only one month in office, Congress voted to give Anna a pension equivalent to his salary, thus setting a precedent for the pensions of subsequent first ladies.

In 1858 Anna's house was destroyed in a fire, and she spent the remaining six years of her life with her son John Scott Harrison, the only one of her children to outlive her. She was buried beside her husband in North Bend, Ohio.

Copyright © 1994-2009 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. For more information visit Britannica.com.

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