Anna Tuthill Symmes was born in Morristown, New Jersey back in 1775 to John and Anna. Her mother died the next year. Her father took her to her grandparents in Long Island where she was raised. She attended the Clinton Academy and the private school owned by Isabella Graham in New York City.
In 1794, Anna went with her father to the Ohio wilderness settling in North Bend, Ohio. In 1795, she visited her relatives in Lexington, Kentucky where she met William. Her father was deadset against the relationship, but that did not deter the lovebirds. They eloped in November of that same year. The union must have been good as it produced 10 children and 40 grandchildren.
William went on and won fame as an Indian fighter and a hero of the War of 1812. She died in 1864, she was 88.
What you may not know about Anna Tuthill Harrison is that she was the wife of William Henry Harrison, grandmother of President Benjamin Harrison. At 65 she was the oldest woman ever to become First Lady, the first (and hopefully the last) female to hold the title for the shortest length of time, and the last First Lady to have been born in British America. President William Henry Harrison, died exactly one month after his inauguration.
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