My Booking It Through History: First Ladies project had another difficult month as I focused on the little known Abigail Fillmore, wife to President Millard Fillmore who only became president after the death of President Zachary Taylor. She was a groundbreaking first lady, however, and should be remembered.
Each month, I’ll detail the life of the first lady and their legacy. Then I’ll share what I learned while studying them, along with ways you can travel in their footsteps through historical sites and museums. I’ll also share books, podcasts, TV shows, and websites where you can learn even more about that first lady. Read all of the way through the blog post or click on the links below to go straight to those sections.
Life
Abigail Powers was born on March 13, 1798 in Saratoga County, New York. Her father was a Baptist minister who died when she was two years old. He left behind his library, which Abigail’s mother used to educate her two children after she moved them to the western New York frontier where it wasn’t as expensive to live. Abigail’s brother eventually became a judge, and Abigail dedicated her life to learning, becoming a teacher and eventually opening her own school in New Hope, New York.
It was in her classroom in 1819 that she met her future husband, the furloughed textile worker Millard Fillmore. Two years her junior, Fillmore had a thirst for knowledge even with his lack of formal education and was dazzled by his well read, sophisticated teacher. They were both young and attractive (Queen Victoria once remarked that Millard was the most handsome person she had ever met!). As Abigail encouraged his education, they fell in love but didn’t marry until Fillmore established a profitable legal practice in Buffalo. They married on February 5, 1826, and Abigail continued to work as a teacher during their first years of marriage.
Their son, Millard Powers (often called Powers), was born in 1828, and the growing family moved into a larger home in Buffalo where a daughter, Mary Abigail, was born in 1832. Abigail was content to stay at home with her books and gardens while Millard’s political career began to rise. He became involved in local politics, serving in the state assembly and eventually in Congress. Their home in Buffalo became known for its extensive library and cultured salons, all thanks to Abigail’s devotion to learning.
Fillmore continued to rise in the New York Whig party, but his lack of a strong stance against slavery and his promotion of anti-immigrant/anti-Catholic beliefs stymied his attempt to become vice president and NY governor in 1844. He turned his attention to his legal practice and the chancellorship of the University of Buffalo, and Abigail must have enjoyed his time at home after many years chasing his political dreams. She even accompanied her husband to Albany when he was state comptroller in 1847 since the children were at boarding school.
She wouldn’t be happy with him at home for long, though, as Fillmore was nominated to be Whig candidate Zachary Taylor’s vice president in 1848. Fillmore was thought to round out the ticket by being a Northerner who was acceptable to Southerners with his lukewarm condemnation of slavery. Ironically, it was Southerner and slave owner Zachary Taylor who proved hardest on the pro-slavery factions.
When Fillmore became vice president, Abigail stayed at home in Buffalo almost his entire vice presidency due to an illness. It wasn’t until after President Taylor’s death just 16 months into his presidency that Abigail made her way to Washington as the new first lady.
Anthony, Edward, Contributor, and Mathew B Brady. Abigail Fillmore. New York United States of America, 1850. [New York: Edward Anthony, to 1876] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021669429/.
As first lady, Abigail is best known for convincing Congress to appropriate money to establish the first White House library in today’s yellow oval room. She hosted cultural salons with performers and authors, such as Charles Dickens and Washington Irving. She loved music as well as reading, and used her thirst for education to learn more about the political matters of the day. A White House guest noted Fillmore’s reliance on Abigail’s counsel, saying he never took an important step without her advice.
She had a permanently injured ankle which prevented her from standing beside her husband during formal state and political dinners. She called upon her erudite and poised daughter, Abby (see picture below), to serve as the hostess in many circumstances. Abigail enjoyed the smaller, more intimate gatherings around cultural events and even attended several programs outside the White House without a male escort, which was unheard of at the time.
Mary Abigail Fillmore, hostess for President Fillmore at White House. , 1830. [Between ? and 1850?] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2014648336/.
Her husband was not a popular political figure in Washington, signing the Compromise of 1850 which established the infamous Fugitive Slave Law. He fired the entire Taylor cabinet upon taking the presidency and found the political machinations of the pre-Civil War years to be his undoing. He lost the Whig nomination for president in 1852 and became the last Whig ever to serve as president when Democrat Franklin Pierce took office in March of 1853.
Abigail stood with her husband in the cold March snow and wind as Pierce took the oath of office. She retired to their rooms at the Willard hotel with a cold that soon turned into pneumonia. She never recovered, dying a few weeks later on March 30, 1853. Her body was taken back to Buffalo to be buried, and she was joined just a year later by her daughter, Abby, whooped suddenly of cholera. Fillmore eventually remarried a wealthy widow and even made an unsuccessful third party run for president in 1856. He is now buried with Abigail (and his second wife!) in Buffalo. His was the first and only presidency that began and ended in mourning (death of President Taylor to death of President Pierce’s son to death of Abigail). Their son never married and thus, the Fillmore line ended.
Handy, Levin C, photographer. Mrs. Abigail Fillmore. , 1898. [Mar. 14 ’98 14 March] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021636682/.
Legacy
Abigail Fillmore is not one of the well known first ladies. She had a more interior life, focused on education and learning, rather than one full of parties and parlor politics. However, by establishing a White House library, she gave a gift to all future presidential families that is still being used today.
She was also the first First Lady to work outside the home and remained the only one to do so until the 20th century!
However we don’t know much about her legacy in regards to the leading issue of the day, slavery. Being from the abolitionist hotbed of upstate New York, one would think she would be an outspoken advocate of the anti-slavery movement. It doesn’t seem like she was, however, and her husband certainly fanned the flames of slavery with his support of the Compromise of 1850. He didn’t have enough of a backbone to stand up to the Southern states who were threatening secession, and we don’t know much about how Abigail felt. One source I read said that she advised him to veto the bill but another indicated that she didn’t have strong feelings one way or the other. With her son destroying all of her correspondence, it is hard to know the true story.
My Time with Abigail
While there were relatively little sources about Abigail, I did enjoy learning about her one grand achievement – the establishment of a White House library. As a book lover myself, I wholeheartedly endorse that! It sounds like she was a bookworm who read voraciously and enjoyed learning about new things through reading or attending cultural events. This was a difficult time in our nation’s history, and I wonder if she used her thirst for knowledge as an escape from the troubles of everyday life. I am guilty of that – you can tell how things are going in my life by how many books I am reading! Reading is a joyful escape for me, and it seems like it was for Abigail as well.
Being the first First Lady to work outside the home is also an achievement that is lost to history. She set the stage for women to look outside the home for an occupation to help their families prosper. I was encouraged by her (and Millard’s) willingness to do what it takes to survive.
Travels with Abigail
Abigail spent most of her life in upstate New York where you’ll find the only historic sites dedicated to her history.
New York:
Fillmore House Museum, East Aurora
This home is where Abigail and Millard spent the first years of married life. It is the only home still standing associated with the Fillmores and has been renovated to look like it did during their ownership.
Buffalo Presidential Center, Buffalo
This museum is dedicated to telling the stories of the presidents associated with Buffalo, most notably its former resident Millard Fillmore.
Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo
The final resting place for the entire Fillmore family (including Millard’s second wife!).
Birthplace historical marker and father’s burial site, Stillwater
You can see the location of Abigail’s birth and the church where her father is buried in Saratoga County.
West Virginia:
Greenbrier Presidents’ Cottage, White Sulphur Springs
Millard Fillmore (and I presume Abigail) visited the presidents’ cottage as part of the Greenbrier Resort, which you can visit today!
Washington, DC:
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
The First Ladies exhibit doesn’t usually have any of Abigail’s things displayed but you can see one of her dresses online.
To Learn More
Books to Read:
There are no books written about Abigail and just a few about Millard Fillmore.
Nonfiction:
Millard Fillmore: The American Presidents Series: The 13th President, 1850-1853 by Paul Finkelman
This dry but short biography of Millard Fillmore barely mentions Abigail. It is mostly about Fillmore’s political failings as the Civil War looms, and the author doesn’t mince words at his disdain for Fillmore’s misguided leadership.
Fiction:
Since there wasn’t a book about Abigail, I decided to read the best-selling book of the 19th century which came out during her time as first lady. I wonder if she read it?
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
As someone who has studied the Civil War extensively, I had never read more than excerpts of this famous book. I went in with trepidation as we all know how books don’t age well, especially those from this fraught time period. I didn’t think I was going to make it through the first couple of chapters due to the horrific language and subject matter, but once I got through that, the story of Eliza, George, and Tom shone through. Of course the language of the time is racist and something I don’t ever want to read, however I kept reminding myself of how this story must have felt to those in the mid-19th century. It truly put a face and name to the barbaric actions of slavery in a way that made it real and alive to those who had never traveled below the Mason and Dixon line. It personalized the plight of the enslaved and brought these terrible yet true stories to life. As President Lincoln said to Mrs. Stowe, she was the “little lady who started the Civil War.” Since it was published in 1852, I wonder if Abigail read this book and thought about how her husband’s actions precipitated its release?
Podcasts
TV Show
C-SPAN First Ladies: Influence and Image
Websites
White House Historical Association
- Ornaments: The 1996 ornament depicts the earliest documented Presidential seal which Fillmore sketched himself.
Abigail Fillmore was a well educated woman who valued books and learning over politics. Her legacy of the White House library is one to treasure and celebrate!
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