Anna Tuthill Symmes and William Henry Harrison married on November 25, 1795 in North Bend, Ohio. She was the daughter of the chief justice of the New Jersey supreme court. After her husband was elected president, Mrs. Harrison remained behind in Ohio. She was preparing for her journey to Washington. Harrison died a month after his inauguration. Mrs. Harrison never moved into the White House.
Shortly after the president's death in 1841, Congress enacted the first presidential widow's pension. Mrs. Harrison was given a $25,000 grant. She died in 1864. Anna and William Henry Harrison are buried at the William Henry Harrison Memorial State Park in North Bend, Ohio.
Anna Harrison has a unique place in U.S. history. She is the only first lady who was also the grandmother of a president. Her grandson BENJAMIN HARRISON was elected president in 1888.
William Henry Harrison's Children :
William Henry and Anna Harrison had nine children to live to adulthood: Elizabeth "Betsey" Harrison Short; John Cleves (public official); Lucy Harrison Estes; William Henry, Jr. (lawyer); John Scott (U.S. representative); Benjamin (physician); Mary Harrison Thornton; Carter (lawyer); and Anna Harrison Taylor.
John Scott Harrison is a unique figure in U.S. politics. He was the son of one president and the father of another. His son BENJAMIN HARRISON was elected president in 1888. In 1853, John Scott Harrison was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He was an antislavery Whig. But he disliked politics. He retired from the House in 1857.
John Scott Harrison was the victim of one of the grislier episodes in U.S. history. President William Henry Harrison's grave was robbed. The thieves sold his body to a medical school in Cincinnati. The family was unaware of the incident. One day, John Harrison visited the Cincinnati medical school. He discovered his father's body there. The body was promptly removed from the medical school and reburied.
