From Teacher to First Lady: First of Ten: Abigail Powers Fillmore

"Photo Credits," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson
College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/page/credits.

In the early 1800s, a one-room schoolhouse teacher married her student. She was a bright, well-read young woman, the daughter of a struggling Baptist preacher and his wife who both treasured books. At twenty-one years old, the young teacher was only two years older than her student, a nineteen-year-old son of a dirt farmer who was finally learning to read. He had been raised as one of eight children leading a hardscrabble life on a less-than-abundant farm. Although he was not educated, he was bright and attractive. They fell in love, partly due to their shared passion for learning.

The teacher’s name was Abigail Powers and her beau was Millard Fillmore. More than 30 years later, she would be the first lady when Millard became the president of the United States of America. As has been common in the history of women’s lives, his rise to power offered many opportunities and hardships for her. She became a helpful mate and advisor for him.


Prior to their meeting one another, Abigail’s and Millard’s respective lives were full of financial struggles. When Reverend Powers died at a young age, his wife moved Abigail and her brother, the two youngest children of seven, to western New York in hopes of better times. Among their belongings were her father’s collected books that Abigail cherished. On the other hand, the Fillmore family sent their son off to be indentured to a harsh clothmaker in order to make ends meet. However, Millard borrowed the money to buy his way out and leave, walking the 100 miles to get home.
 
Abigail had first become a schoolteacher at the age of 16, and in not long she moved from her first school to work at another. Then, five years later, she moved to yet another school where she was alternately a student and a teacher. It was there that the relationship with nineteen-year-old Millard ignited and Abigail became his trusted confidante, inspiration, and became a tutor as well.


After several years of courtship, sometimes spending long stretches of time away from each other, they finally married in 1826. Millard became a lawyer, but initially he did not earn much money. In order to help out—and because she enjoyed it—Abigail continued to teach after their marriage, stopping only when their son was born. Teaching while married was extremely unusual in those days, and was forbidden in many locations within the U.S. during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.


With the passing of time, Millard’s interest in politics led to his election to the state legislature, then on to make a fine impression as the state comptroller, and onward to election to national office representing New York in the House of Representatives. In 1849, he was elected as vice president to Zachary Taylor. The death of Taylor meant that Fillmore became president in 1850, and his very-surprised wife Abigail slowly made her way from New York to live at the White House four months later.

In the White House, Abigail made her mark in ways that suited her personality. She was the first woman to have been a teacher and then become first lady. Her role in establishing the first official White House library stemmed from her early love of books and reading, and from past experiences setting up a small library as a young woman and a force behind the construction of the first public library in Buffalo, NY. The first twelve presidential families had brought their personal books to the residence, but then took them away after their terms of office. Abigail chose books that would be of lasting value. She also began inviting special individuals to participate in salons within the White House. Authors such as Washington Irving and Charles Dickens and performers, including the famed Jenny Lind, came to share their talents, adding aspects of cultural growth and enjoyment.

Abigail was also a devoted parent to daughter Mary Abigail “Abbie” and son Millard. Because the first lady suffered from a painful ankle injury, she did not relish many of the hosting obligations and long hours on her feet that characterized her position. Instead, she and the president were in agreement that young Abbie would fill in, and their daughter earned a reputation as a fine hostess. Abigail did not insert herself into the political fray of the era, but her early religious training meant that she was probably against slavery in contrast to her husband’s conservative leanings.


Abigail Fillmore was not the only educator who became our nation’s first lady. She leads an historic lineup of at least nine others. Their names, in sequential order, are: 1. Lucretia Rudolph Garfield 2. Caroline Scott Harrison 3. Helen Louise Herron Taft 4. Grace Goodhue Coolidge 5. Lou Henry Hoover 6. Anna Eleanor Roosevelt 7. Thelma “Pat” Ryan Nixon 8. Laura Lane Welch Bush 9. Jill Tracy Biden. In addition, other first ladies participated in, and spearheaded, many wonderful education-related projects.


Abigail Powers Fillmore and Millard Fillmore are not widely, nor very fondly, remembered today. They lived in difficult times when conflicts over slavery impacted relationships between and among states and the combative members of congress. President Fillmore was the last Whig to serve in the White House and he was not re-elected after his term. He went on to sympathize with the “Know-Nothings” and he became rather obscure as others rose to lead the nation.


Not long after leaving the White House, Abigail caught a cold that led to complications of pneumonia and her death in 1853 at the age of 55. She was laid in state in Washington and buried in Buffalo, New York. Millard, in his memoirs, remembered her for her devotion and support of his becoming an educated man. Perhaps the nation could honor her memory as the first first lady who insisted that the White House recognize important values: a love of literature and learning.


LINKS:
Abigail Fillmore www.whitehouse.gov


Abigail Fillmore www.wikipedia.org


Will, Madeline (2020, Nov. 18). One of Your Own in the White House: A History of Teacher First Ladies and Presidents. www.edweek.org


Submitted by Greta Nagel, PhD
MOTAL President and CEO