Eliza McCardle Johnson

Eliza McCardle Johnson (October 4, 1810 – January 15, 1876) was the First Lady of the United States and the wife of Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States.

Early Life and Marriage

Born at Telford, Tennessee, the only child of John McCardle, a shoemaker, and Sarah Phillips-McCardle, Eliza lost her father when she was still a small child. She was raised by her widowed mother in Greeneville, Tennessee. One day in September 1826, Eliza was chatting with classmates from Rhea Academy when she spotted Andrew Johnson and his family pull into town with all their belongings. They instantly took a liking to each other. Andrew Johnson, aged 18, married Eliza McCardle, aged 16, on May 17, 1827, at the home of the bride's mother in Greeneville. Mordecai Lincoln, a distant relative of Abraham Lincoln presided over the nuptials.

At 16, Eliza Johnson married at a younger age than any other First Lady. Mrs. Johnson was rather tall and had hazel eyes, brown hair and a good figure. She was better educated than Johnson, who by this time had barely taught himself to read and spell a little. Johnson credited his wife for teaching him to do arithmetic and to write, as he had never attended school himself. She tutored him patiently, while he labored in his tailor shop. She often read aloud to him.

Children

The Johnsons had three sons and two daughters, all born in Greeneville, Tennessee:

• Martha Johnson Patterson (1828–1901). She married David T. Patterson, who after the Civil War served as U.S. Senator from Tennessee. She served as official White House hostess in place of her mother. The Pattersons maintained a farm outside Greeneville, Tennessee.
• Charles Johnson (1830–1863) - doctor, pharmacist. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he remained loyal to the Union. While recruiting Tennessee boys for the Union Army, he became the object of an intense Confederate manhunt. He joined the Middle Tennessee Union Infantry as an assistant surgeon; he was thrown from his horse and killed.
• Mary Johnson Stover Brown (1832–1883). She married Dan Stover, who served as colonel of the Fourth Tennessee Union Infantry during the Civil War. The Stovers lived on a farm in Carter County, Tennessee. Following the death of her husband in 1864, she married W.R. Brown.
• Robert Johnson (1834–1869) - lawyer. He served for a time in the Tennessee state legislature. During the Civil War he was commissioned colonel of the First Tennessee Union Cavalry. He was private secretary to his father during his tenure as president. He died an alcoholic at age 35.
• Andrew Johnson, Jr. (1852–1879) - journalist. He founded the weekly Greeneville Intelligencer, but it failed after two years. He died soon thereafter at age 27.

First Lady of the United States

She supported her husband in his political career, but had tried to avoid public appearances. During the American Civil War, Confederate authorities ordered her to evacuate her home in Greeneville; she took refuge in Nashville, Tennessee.

A few months later after her husband became president, she joined him in the White House, but she was not able to serve as First Lady due to her poor health. She remained confined to a room on the second floor, leaving the social chores to her daughter (Martha Johnson Patterson). Mrs. Johnson appeared publicly as First Lady on only two occasions - at a reception for Queen Emma of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1866 and at the president's birthday party in 1867.

Death

She died on January 15, 1876, at age 65, having survived her husband by just six months. She was buried next to him in Greeneville, Tennessee.

External links

• Eliza Johnson on Find-A-Grave
• The White House Web Site