The first President's wife to die in the White House, Letitia Tyler died peacefully in the evening of September 10, 1842. She was taken to Virginia for burial at the plantation of her birth. At the time of her death, she was 51 years old, making her the youngest First Lady to die.

Her daughter-in-law Priscilla Cooper Tyler remembered her as being "the most entirely unselfish person you can imagine...Notwithstanding her very delicate health, mother attends to and regulates all the household affairs and all so quietly that you can't tell when she does it."
____________

Letitia Tyler had been confined to an invalid's chair for two years when her husband unexpectedly became President. Nobody had thought of that possibility when he took his oath of office as Vice President on March 4, 1841; indeed, he had planned to fill his undemanding duties from his home in Williamsburg where his wife was most comfortable, her Bible, prayer book, and knitting at her side.

Born on a Tidewater Virginia plantation in the 18th century, Letitia was spiritually akin to Martha Washington and Martha Jefferson. Formal education was no part of this pattern of life, but Letitia learned all the skills of managing a plantation, rearing a family, and presiding over a home that would be John Tyler's refuge during an active political life. They were married on March 29, 1813--his twenty-third birthday. Thereafter, whether he served in Congress or as Governor of Virginia, she attended to domestic duties. Only once did she join him for the winter social season in Washington. Of the eight children she bore, seven survived; but after 1839 she was a cripple, though "still beautiful now in her declining years."

So her admiring new daughter-in-law, Priscilla Cooper Tyler, described her--"the most entirely unselfish person you can imagine...Notwithstanding her very delicate health, mother attends to and regulates all the household affairs and all so quietly that you can't tell when she does it."

In a second-floor room at the White House, Letitia Tyler kept her quiet but pivotal role in family activities. She did not attempt to take part in the social affairs of the administration. Her married daughters had their own homes; the others were too young for the full responsibility of official entertaining; Priscilla at age 24 assumed the position of White House hostess, met its demands with spirit and success, and enjoyed it.

Daughter of a well-known tragedian, Priscilla Cooper had gone on the stage herself at 17. Playing Desdemona to her father's Othello in Richmond, she won the instant interest of Robert Tyler, whom she married in 1839. Intelligent and beautiful, with dark brown hair, she charmed the President's guests--from visiting celebrities like Charles Dickens to enthusiastic countrymen. Once she noted ruefully: "such hearty shakes as they gave my poor little hand too!" She enjoyed the expert advice of Dolley Madison, and the companionship of her young sister-in-law Elizabeth until she married William N. Waller in 1842.

For this wedding Letitia made her only appearance at a White House social function. "Lizzie looked surpassingly lovely," said Priscilla, and "our dear mother" was "far more attractive to me...than any other lady in the room," greeting her guests "in her sweet, gentle, self-possessed manner."

The first President's wife to die in the White House, Letitia Tyler ended her days peacefully on September 10, 1842, holding a damask rose in her hand. She was taken to Virginia for burial at the plantation of her birth, deeply mourned by her family. "She had everything about her," said Priscilla, "to awaken love..."

The biographies of the First Ladies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The First Ladies of the United States of America,” by Allida Black. Copyright 2009 by the White House Historical Association.5350

John and Letitia Tyler had four daughters and three sons live to maturity.5351

President John Tyler was 54 years old when he quietly married 24 year old Julia Gardiner Tyler following the death of his first wife.

Julia was the First Lady for the last eight months of her husband's term. The news of their marriage, when broken to the American people, was greeted with keen interest, much publicity, and some criticism about the couple's difference in age. It was awkward for the eldest Tyler daughter, Mary, to adjust to a new stepmother five years younger than herself. One daughter, Letitia, never made peace with the new Mrs. Tyler.
____________

Julia Gardiner Tyler, widow of ex-President Tyler, was born ou Gardiner's Island, in the State of New York. Gardiner's Island was the place of the first English settlement in the Empire State, and is situated ou the coast of Long Island. This settlement was made in 1639 by Lieutenant Lion Gardiner, the commandant of Fort Saybrooke, in Connecticut. Gardiner's Island was purchased by him from the Montauket Indians, and has ever since been owned by his lineal descendants, according to the ancient custom of primogeniture and entail. Lion Gardiner's first child, David Gardiner, was the first child of white parents ever born in Connecticut, and Elizabeth, born September 14, 1641, third child of Lion Gardiner, was the first child of English parents born in the Empire State. The island is now in the possession of Samuel Gardiner, tenth proprietor from Lion Gardiner. Mrs. Tyler's great-grandfather was Colonel Abraham Gardiner, younger brother of one 'of these proprietors, and his son was Captain Abraham Gardiner, father of Hon. David Gardiner, father of Mrs. Tyler.

On her mother's side, Mrs. Tyler was descended from Sir Lachlan, High Chief of McLean, who perished during the eighteenth century, bravely fighting for the cause of the Pretender at Culloden. At his death his son Michael McLachlan was but a child. Growing up he found that all his estates were confiscated, and recognized the necessity of labor and energy. Early in life he went to the West Indies, where he acquired a fortune after many years, through merchandising. When quite an old man he removed to New York and married Miss Jane Chambers, and finally died, leaving two young children, Alexander aud Juliana. Alexander died at twenty-two, and all his property became that of Juliana. While still a girl of fifteen she met David Gardiner, a young lawyer of New York. The result was a marriage, and Juliana McLachlan became Mrs. David Gardiner. Some time after his marriage Mr. Gardiner gave up the practice of law and rented Gardiner's Island. Here Julia, his third child was born.

Mr. Gardiner, on leaving the island, passed over to East Hampton, on the Long Island shore, very near the island. As Gardiner's Island is the oldest English settlement, East Hampton is the oldest English town in New York. It is beautifully situated, and the beach is one of the grandest in America. The finest fish abound in the waters, and the people still preserve in their ways and actions many of the old ideas and traditions.

Julia had large gray eyes, raven hair, and the clearest olive complexion, and seemed to attract the most eminent men from the time she entered society. Many were the poetic tributes, proving her attractions, published in the papers, and sent her through the mails by ardent admirers. Among the suitors for her hand were venerable judges, 'grave senators, and dignified governors.

Washington was very gay during the session of Congress, and thither Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner repaired to enable their daughters to properly shine in that field for which they were so well qualified. At one of the receptions she attended they met the President of the United States, who immediately, in the midst of politics and business and all, lost his heart. From that day he paid unremitting suit to Miss Gardiner. This suit was successful after the death of her father, the Hon. David Gardiner, who, as is well remembered, was killed on board the steamer Princeton by the explosion of the great gun of Commodore Stockton.

During the anxieties caused by the President's death and the dangers of war, Mrs. Tyler fell dangerously ill of typhoid-pneumonia. For a long time her life was despaired of, but careful nursing at the hands of attentive neighbors brought her around again, and enabled her in the summer of 1862 to repair to her mother's house in New York. By the kindness of General George B. McClellan she went by flag-of-truce boat to Fortress Monroe, where her mother was awaiting her.5341
____________

This source shows Julia’s birtdate as 23 July 1820.5342

Julia’s birthplace is a small island in the town of East Hampton, New York in eastern Suffolk County.5343

John Tyler’s first wife Letitia died in September 1842. On February 28, 1844 he invited Julia and her father for a trip on the Potomac River aboard the USS Princeton. As the ship neared Mount Vernon, it fired a cannon called the Peacemaker. It malfunctioned and exploded, killing Julia’s father and others including the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Navy and President Tyler’s valet who had been aboard the Amistad.

Tyler consoled Julia, and they married four months later. The couple named their first child after Julia’s father.5348

It was the only instance at that point in time when a President of the United States married while at the helm of government.5347