First Daughters: Mary Elizabeth Bliss
While Zachary Taylor fought in the American Revolution, it’s said that his wife Margaret made a deal with God: let Zachary survive, and she’d give up social pleasures. So when the general became the country’s 12th president, Margaret (or Peggy) mostly hid in her room.
The couple’s youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth (or Betty), took over and — in another Ivanka-y twist — her husband was appointed as Taylor’s Presidential Secretary.
After reading this look at first daughters, read some of the most interesting little-known stories about America’s first ladies. Then, discover the remarkable tale of Jeannette Rankin, the first woman to serve in U.S. Congress.
