Upon hearing that her husband, Franklin Pierce (1804- 1869; see entry in volume 2), had received his party's nomination for president, Jane Pierce fainted. Pious, retiring, and frail, Mrs. Pierce detested Washington, D.C. She had spent much of her adult life trying to persuade her husband to retire from politics.

Perhaps no first lady in history was more reluctant to assume her post than this minister's daughter. Her distaste for official duties was made worse by the tragic death of her eleven-year-old son just weeks before Pierce's inauguration (formal ceremony installing him as president).

Raised on religion

Jane Means Appleton grew up in Brunswick, Maine, the daughter of noted Congregational minister Reverend Jesse Appleton. During much of Jane's youth, her father was president of Bowdoin College. Jane was well educated and reared in a strict and deeply religious household. After her fa- ther's death in 1819 when she...