XIV.
JULIA GARDINER TYLER.
President John Tyler was married to Miss Julia Gardiner the 26th day of June, 1844, at the Church of the Ascension, New York city. Immediately after the wedding, the bridal party returned to the White House, where they held a grand reception in lieu of the usual wedding festivities. It was the first, and up to the present time, the only instance of the marriage of a President, and the affair created great excitement and interest throughout the United States, heightened doubtless by the recollection of the tragic death of the father of the bride, a few months previous.
Miss Gardiner was the daughter of a wealthy gentleman residing on Gardiner’s Island, and the eldest of three children. Her education, continued at home until her sixteenth year, was completed at the Chegary Institute, in New York city. Immediately after the termination of her school life, she accompanied her father to Europe. Returning from abroad after an extended tour, she visited, during the sitting of Congress, the National Capital, and there for the first time met the distinguished man to whom she was afterward married.
It was while on a visit to Washington in the winter of 1844, that Mr. Gardiner and his young daughter were invited by Captain Stockton to accompany a large party of the President’s friends to Alexandria, and on the return trip, when just opposite to the fort, all the gentlemen were invited on deck to witness the firing of the “peacemaker.” Many of the party, who were all partaking of a collation, responded to the invitation; among the number the father of Miss Gardiner. The explosion startled the President, who with the ladies had remained below, and in a moment the piercing cries of the wounded filled the hearts of the passengers with terror. Death had made fearful havoc, and the living waited in breathless anxiety for the announcement of the names of the victims.
The bodies were conveyed to the White House, where the funeral services were preached, and the last sad rites performed.
The following summer Miss Gardiner was married, and from that time until the close of her husband’s administration, a period of eight months, she did the honors of the Executive Mansion, performing her agreeable task with credit to herself and pleasure to her friends.
After President Tyler’s retirement from public life, he removed to his home in Virginia, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in Richmond, the 17th of January, 1862.
Of late years Mrs. Tyler has suffered pecuniary losses, and in the winter of 1879 she petitioned and received from Congress a pension. She has resided for the past few years in Washington City, and at present (1881) is living in Georgetown. A devoted Catholic, she finds it pleasant to be a resident of that retired and peaceful place, near to Washington, and yet not in it.