Letitia Stevenson

Letitia Green Stevenson (January 8, 1843 — December 25, 1913)^[1] was the wife of Vice President Adlai E. Stevenson I who served in the second administration of President Grover Cleveland. She was the daughter of Reverent Lewis Green who was the head of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. They married in 1866 after a nine year courtship. Her parents did not approve the marriage but by then her father had died and her mother had moved away. They had three daughters and one son Lewis G. Stevenson who became the Illinois secretary of state and father of Illinois Governor and 1952 and 1956 Presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson. Their great-grandson, Adlai Ewing Stevenson III, was a U.S. senator from Illinois from 1970 to 1981 and an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Illinois in 1982 and 1986.

Mrs. Stevenson suffered from severe rheumatism and migraine headaches that often forced her to wear leg braces. Nonetheless, she was described as a "keen observer and judge of people, and a charming hostess""^[2]. She helped establish the Daughters of the American Revolution to try to heal the divisions between North and South after the Civil War and succeeded Mrs. Benjamin Harrison as President General.

References

1. ^ "MRS. A.E. STEVENSON DIES.; Wife of ex-Vice President and ex-President General of D.A.R." (PDF). The New York Times. 1913-12-26. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9404E3DC1F3BE633A25755C2A9649D946296D6CF. Retrieved 2009-02-19. 
2. ^ http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Adlai_Stevenson.htm