Presidents and First Ladies Trivia

[L Verge]

(01-28-2017 06:01 PM)Anita Wrote:  Was it Ida McKinley? I know she suffered from epileptic seizures.

Bingo! You got it. And, I concocted that question after reading a bunch of stuff on First Ladies posted on the link you provided earlier. It said that the only detection of her epilepsy was probably her always being seated during receiving lines - but that could have been because of other infirmities also. Thanks to my knees, I would be sitting down also after two minutes!

[Anita]

After reading many of the biographies of First Ladies, I was surprised how many were afflicted with serious medical conditions. Many were suffering with these conditions while in the White House. Laurie's post on Ida McKinley is a good example. http://www.firstladies.org/biographies

Name the First Lady who was so ill she and her husband had to remain in the White for weeks after her husband's term expired?

[RJNorton]

I know Eliza Johnson was ill a lot when her husband was Vice-President. She was not with him at the Kirkwood House. So I will guess Eliza Johnson.

[Eva Elisabeth]

I thought she hadn't even come to DC (but have no other guess either).

[Anita]

Thanks for trying Roger and Eva. Like Ida McKinley it appears Elizabeth Monroe also suffered from seizures.

"When Elizabeth Monroe did appear at receptions and other events in which the public would see her, she appeared youthful and capable; yet she was always accompanied and protected by a circle of her female relatives. The White House did not release any information on the details of Elizabeth Monroe's health condition; had it been known that she suffered from what was then called " the falling sickness, " of epilepsy there might have been understanding. Rudimentary ignorance regarding epilepsy at the time, however, led to widespread assumptions that it was a form of mental illness, making it even more unlikely that the Monroes would not have wished to disclose the details.... Elizabeth Monroe was in such poor health that she and her husband had to remain in the White House three weeks after his Administration expired." http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/f...iography=5

[L Verge]

In commemoration of Women's History Month in March, Surratt House will feature a program on the subject of various women's health issues in the 1800s (and into the 20th century) that would have sent them "To The Madhouse!" (that's the title of the lecture). Many women who suffered from a variety of illnesses that are routinely treated today were sent off to insane asylums to live out their years. This was especially true in families that did not have the wealth to quietly sequester them in an upstairs room of their house.

[Anita]

(01-29-2017 01:58 PM)L Verge Wrote:  In commemoration of Women's History Month in March, Surratt House will feature a program on the subject of various women's health issues in the 1800s (and into the 20th century) that would have sent them "To The Madhouse!" (that's the title of the lecture). Many women who suffered from a variety of illnesses that are routinely treated today were sent off to insane asylums to live out their years. This was especially true in families that did not have the wealth to quietly sequester them in an upstairs room of their house.

Should be a great program. Will there be an article in the "The Surratt Courier" on this subject?
Were men with the same illnesses sent to madhouses? Do you have stats on the numbers of men vs women in mental institutions during the 1800s?

[L Verge]

(01-29-2017 03:51 PM)Anita Wrote:  

(01-29-2017 01:58 PM)L Verge Wrote:  In commemoration of Women's History Month in March, Surratt House will feature a program on the subject of various women's health issues in the 1800s (and into the 20th century) that would have sent them "To The Madhouse!" (that's the title of the lecture). Many women who suffered from a variety of illnesses that are routinely treated today were sent off to insane asylums to live out their years. This was especially true in families that did not have the wealth to quietly sequester them in an upstairs room of their house.

Should be a great program. Will there be an article in the "The Surratt Courier" on this subject?
Were men with the same illnesses sent to madhouses? Do you have stats on the numbers of men vs women in mental institutions during the 1800s?

I had not approached the speaker about such an article, but will certainly do so. Otherwise, I will try to take fast and furious notes!

---

Here's another trivia question based on First Ladies:

Which outgoing First Lady caught pneumonia during a long-winded inaugural speech by the incoming President and died a week later?

Got this one from a new book that I finally decided to read. If any of you are familiar with the Sarah Vowell book of at least a decade ago - Assassination Vacation - this one is even better, IMO. At times, Sarah got a little too snarky for my tastes.

This new book is entitled Dead Presidents: An American Adventure into the Strange Deaths and Surprising Afterlives of our Nation's Leaders. It is written in a casual, but well-researched style. Easy reading and learning new history and new anecdotes is more my cup of tea as my aging brain goes on overload in this computer age. I'm going to convince my gift shop manager to carry this. Hopefully we can get a decent discount from those money-hungry publishers that are out there now...

P.S. to Rich Smyth: The author of this, Brady Carlson, reminded me of you in his cemetery adventures.

[RJNorton]

I have no idea, but I will guess Mrs. Van Buren because I know William Henry Harrison's speech was extraordinarily long in 1841.

[L Verge]

That would have been my first guess also, Roger. I think Harrison spoke for two hours and may have caused his own death because the weather was cold and rainy, and the 68-year-old Harrison caught cold and died within the month.

However, there was another President who also gave a lengthy speech that later did-in the outgoing First Lady.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Mrs. Harrison?

[L Verge]

Another logical guess, but no.

[L Verge]

Hint #1 -- This long-winded President orated in the decade after William Henry Harrison.

[RJNorton]

(01-30-2017 02:49 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Hint #1 -- This long-winded President orated in the decade after William Henry Harrison.

Mrs. Fillmore?

[L Verge]

You nailed it, Roger. Poor Abigail Fillmore sat through bad weather and the torture of Franklin Pierce's inaugural oration and died the next week.