For those who didn’t know, John Tyler was so old when he had his children and in turn his children were also so old when they had children that despite being born in the 18th century, he still has living grandchildren in the 21 century!
Poor Julia Gardiner - creeped on by an old dude that won't stop proposing and then her family dies in a freak accident and she ends up in his grasp.. sounds like she was a bad person based on her slavery stance, but I can't help feeling sorry for young her.
I don't like Julia's views on slavery, I'd never agree with them at any time even if my life depended on it, but yeah, she married someone approximately three decades her senior, someone she previously turned down how many times...I guess things were different back then but modern views wouldn't agree with it. Well, at least we know why "Hail to the Chief" is used for the president, Julia set a precedent for future presidents as part of her legacy.
The comments showing sympathy for someone how had no empathy for people were enslaved is wild. Not to mention she supported the confederacy which in other country would see that movement as an antigovernment that was unsuccessful. and turned around to ask for a pension from the same government she supported to overthrow.
When I tell you I LIVE FOR HTT!!! I love how Lindsay casually lays out the most drama in the sweetest way and the quiet love for the dramatic makes my day I love these videos!!!
John Tyler has a living grandson, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, aged 93. John fathered Harrison’s father Lyon when he was 66 and Lyon fathered Harrison when he was 75. Harrison’s brother Lyon (born when his father was 72) died in 2020 aged 95. The two men were born 138 years apart
Yes, very true. If I'm not mistaken his father was married twice, the second time to a much younger woman. He also had a brother who died within the last 2 years if I'm not mistaken. I used to do Harrison's wife's hair at the retirement home where they lived. She was truly a southern lady.
John fathered Harrison’s father Lyon when he was 66 and Lyon fathered Harrison when he was 75. Harrison’s brother Lyon (born when his father was 72) died in 2020 aged 95
Didn't know Harriett Lane was such an avid social reformer. I admire her work to assist Native Americans & kids (the Children's Hospital at Johns Hopkins Hospital)...
What’s hard about being a First Lady? Dressing in expensive, beautiful clothes, which someone helps them with, live in the lap of luxury. Your pampered. Your treated like a celebrity. Meet important people, who admire you, they are looking to impress you. Feel bad for women who have to work a real 9 to 5..
@@MusicandDancing4EverI feel bad for both. Both have their own stresses. I certainly wouldn’t want to be First Lady or royalty with all the pressures that offers. But it is also hard for women who are “normal”. With having social anxiety myself, being First Lady doesn’t sound fun to me.
The general impression we are given is that most people died very young back then but many people did live until old age. I wish K-12 history classes taught more of info like this as it shows how our country developed socially. But then I wish history was taught more comprehensively rather than the brief memorization of spoon fed dates, names & events which are rapidly forgotten.
23:00 descriptions of this death are truly heartbreaking. "Benny" was, by all accounts, a sweet and loveable child, and both parents doted on him, especially as he was their only surviving child. His childhood has been pointed to by biographers as the happiest time in the lives of both his parents. Jane thought it was sinfully presumptuous to run for President, and absolutely did not want to be first lady, with her fragile physical and mental health, nor move to Washington DC, a place she strongly disliked. The family was traveling all together when the accident occured very suddenly, and though both parents survived without any serious injuries, their young son was instantly killed, the only fatality, from an extremely severe injury. They found his body in the wreckage. Pierce saw this first and quickly tried to throw his coat over the poor boy's body, but Jane saw before he could complete the action. This triggered a lengthy and crushing depression in them both. Even as we criticize Pierce as a president, it's impossible not to sympathize with such tragedy.
Lindsay, I really enjoy your videos. I'm an interpreter part of the research staff for the President James K. Polk Home & Museum in Columbia Tennessee, Polk's primary presidential site. Our museum has the largest collection of the Polk's personal possessions in the country. If you're ever in the area sometime, I'd love to give you a tour. We currently have some of Sarah's jewelry on display in our permanent museum gallery. I also want to recommend Amy Greenberg's biography If you haven't read it, Sarah is a little known/underappreciated First Lady.
Fun fact: the painting of the gentlemen and ladies at 2:30 was painted by Chilean artist Pedro Subercaseaux Errazuriz and is depicting the first time the Argentine National Hymn was sung at a party in the house of one of the country's first patriots, aristocrat Maria Sanchez de Thompson.
13:23 Not only did Julia almost die that day, but so did President Tyler. If I remember correctly she was going outside to see the canon fire (this was a new ship showing off its fighting prowess, as the US was struggling to establish itself as a naval power) but Tyler stopped her to talk. If they had both left with everyone else there would likely have been TWO presidents dying within a few years of each other, and since Tyler had been vice president there was no one in that office to take his place.
Quick history fact, the Constitution says the Speaker of the house gets next shot. So had, Tyler died while in office, the Speaker of the house would had become president. The forefathers were pretty thorough.
How hard these women’s lives must have been, even the upper crust suffered sickness and death that even all the money in the world could not save them from.
I attended Salem College, thanks for highlighting that for First Lady Polk! I wonder if you could do a video on women’s colleges? There’s only a few left!
Abigail and Louisa are known to some local folklore here in Quincy Ma! It was said they caused alarm failures at the church the presidents were buried at until they were moved next to their husbands. Abigail and Louisa were known to be close
my personal favorite first ladies on the republican side are Nancy Reagan Barbara Bush and Edith Roosevelt on the Democratic side Jacqueline Kennedy Louisa Adams & Dolly Madison. the Fitzgerald's lived in the Ashmont Hill section of Dorchester when John Honey Fitz Fitzgerald was Mayor of Boston
I feel so bad for Mary Todd Lincoln. Her KY family had slaves while her husband was fighting in more than one sense to end the practice . Then at the end of the War, etc. she became a widow suddenly.
From what I’ve read, it was worse than that. She suffered from various illnesses all her life, most of her kids died, her husband was murdered in front of her, and then she lost her home and money and had to spend the rest of her life living in relatives’ spare bedrooms. Life was just very unfair to her.
@@kate_cooper Even her KY family was split; some were Union and some Confederate. She (and Abraham) took A LOT of flak for her being born into a slave-owning family.
Great vlog as always! I love history! Thank you! Btw. I am over 50, single but I can not run for the office to become president of the US. Lol! Just as well. I do not like politics. It is sad that it runs your life from cradle to grave. Sigh!
No, not really. As Barbara said, it was a very common cause of death back then, and before the introduction of antibiotics, there was no way to medically (read: with drugs) treat it. People moved to drier climates, thinking less humidity in the air would help, and in some people, it provided relief, but death was inevitable. It was and still is highly contagious, but drugs and a better understanding of how diseases are spread means it doesn't have anywhere near the fatality rate that it once did.
"Mr. Polk believes that..." was a clever way for her to get around being ignored for being a woman. And it was probably true anyway that he would believe it once she explained it to him.
Haha I love that picture of the Hermitage. It’s actually made of brick and in real life to save money they only painted the side visitor’s saw first white. It was hilarious to me that the painting was white on the sides, little bit of historical photoshopping🤪
The White House wasn't white either until AFTER it burnt down! They rebuilt it but the outer bricks were in good shape but badly discoloured from the fire...so they painted it white. Yet historic paintings show it was all white while burning?
Its amazing how many of these presidents and families supported the confederacy in their retirement. I'm sure that fact stung to many in the north at the time.
A lot of men who didn’t become president were also significantly older than their wives. The general way of doing things was for men to marry when they were financially established, which usually took some years, and were better able to support a family and for women to marry when they were young, pretty, and fertile. Times change.
22.31. - That's a portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne, not Franklin Pierce. It's the picture used in a deck of cards my sister and I used to play with as kids. Very interesting video.
This really makes me think of the song Labour by Paris paloma. Like I know these women still lived better lives than most people did back then, but it’s crazy they were just expected to do so much work and all unpaid. And then criticized for not doing enough/ doing it “right”
Millard Fillmore was born near me. There is an elementary school and state park (with beautiful trails and waterfalls) named for him. His boyhood home is also preserved.
ummmmm,, Mrs. Harrison wasn't the 1st First Lady to never set foot in the White House. What about Martha Washington? No White House existed in her time.
I found this informative although I was greatly disappointed with the narrative not really diving into the private lives of the First Ladies. For example; John Q Adam's treated his wife Louisa horribly and there was talk of separation and divorce. Same goes for the troubled marriages of Lincoln, Pierce, Harding and the Roosevelts (Franklin and Eleanor). It would have been nice to humanize them more.....
14:08 I heard from the History Channel's video series about the Presidents that it was Sarah Polk who started the "Hail to the Chief" tradition. 19:05 Margaret "Peggy" Taylor died 2 years, not 2 days, after Zachary's death.
Franklin Pierce was considered very handsome as a young man, but that attractive portrait is not him. That snack is young Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's an easy mistake, because Hawthorne wrote a biography on the president.
