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Bio
Michelle Obama
Michelle Robinson was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 17, 1964. Her father, Fraser, was a pump operator, and her mother, Marian, raised Michelle and her brother Craig at home.1 After graduating from public school, Michelle earned her B.A. in sociology from Princeton University in 1985 and then attended Harvard Law School, receiving her Juris Doctor three years later. Michelle then returned
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Bio
Caroline Harrison
Caroline Scott was born in Oxford, Ohio, on October 1, 1832 to educator Mary Neal Scott and John Witherspoon Scott, a Presbyterian minister and president of Oxford Female Institute. Caroline, or “Carrie,” studied languages, music, and drawing at the institute, graduating in 1852.1 She also met Benjamin Harrison, a student at nearby Miami University, while in school. They later married on October 20, 1853.2 In 1854, the
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Bio
Edith Roosevelt
Edith Kermit Carow was born on August 6, 1861, in Manhattan, New York. She was the daughter of Charles Carow and Gertrude Tyler. The Carows were neighbors of the Roosevelt family, and Edith was childhood friends with Corinne Roosevelt, sister of Theodore Roosevelt. Edith received most of her early education from tutors, and later attended Miss Comstock’s private school. As teenagers, Th
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Bio
Sarah Polk
Sarah Childress was born to Joel and Elizabeth Childress on September 4, 1803, in Tennessee.1 Her father was a wealthy plantation owner, which led to a privileged upbringing for Sarah and her siblings. She was well educated, studying at Abercrombie’s Boarding School in Nashville and the Moravian Female Academy in Salem, North Carolina.2 Sarah’s father was involved in Tennessee politics and
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Bio
Abigail Adams
Inheriting New England’s strongest traditions, Abigail Smith was born on November 22, 1744 at Weymouth, Massachusetts. On her mother’s side she was descended from the Quincys, a family of great prestige in the colony; her father and other forebears were congregational ministers, leaders in a society that held its clergy in high esteem. Although Abigail did not receive a formal educ
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Bio
Louisa Adams
The first first lady born outside the United States, Louisa Catherine Adams did not come to the United States until four years after she had married John Quincy Adams. Louisa Catherine Johnson was born in London on February 12, 1775, to an English mother, Catherine Nuth Johnson, and an American father—Joshua Johnson, of Maryland—who served as United States consul after 1790. A ca
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Bio
Claudia Johnson
Claudia Alta Taylor was born in Karnack, Texas, on December 22, 1912. She was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson Taylor and Minnie Lee Pattillo Taylor. Her nickname, “Lady Bird,” came from Alice Tittle, a nursemaid who remarked that she was “as purty as a lady bird.”1 After graduating high school, Lady Bird attended St. Mary’s Episcopal School for Girls, a junior college in
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Bio
Abigail Powers Fillmore
Abigail Powers was born in Saratoga County, New York, on March 13, 1798, while it was still a frontier out-post. Her father, a locally prominent Baptist preacher named Lemuel Powers, died shortly thereafter. Courageously, her mother, Abigail, moved on westward, thinking her scanty funds would go further in a less settled region, and ably educated her small son and daughter beyond the
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Bio
Nancy Reagan
Nancy Davis (Anne Frances Robbins) was born on July 6, 1921, in New York City. Her parents, Kenneth Robbins and Edith Luckett, separated after their daughter’s birth. Anne was sent to live with Edith’s sister, Virginia Gailbraith, and her husband Audley for the next six years. After Edith married Loyal Edward Davis in 1929, she and Anne reunited in Chicago, Illinois. Anne
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Bio
Martha Jefferson
Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson was born on October 30, 1748 at her father’s plantation in Charles City County, Virginia. At the age of 18 Martha married Bathurst Skelton on November 20, 1766, but following his death two years later, she returned to her parent’s home with her young son. When Thomas Jefferson came courting a few years later, the 22-year-old widow had lost her
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Bio
Helen Taft
As “the only unusual incident” of her girlhood, “Nellie” Herron Taft recalled her visit to the White House at 17 as the guest of President and Mrs. Hayes, intimate friends of her parents. Fourth child of Harriet Collins and John W. Herron, born in 1861, she had grown up in Cincinnati, Ohio, attending a private school in the city and studying music with ent
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Bio
Florence Harding
On August 15, 1860, Florence Mabel Kling was born in Marion, Ohio, to parents Louisa Bouton Kling and Amos Kling. Kling’s success as a businessman allowed Florence and her brothers to enjoy a comfortable upbringing. Florence had an extensive education and a talent for piano, which culminated in her enrollment at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Afterward, Florence worked as a pi