Portrait
Martha Johnson Patterson
Quite aside from the tragedy of Lincoln's death, Andrew Johnson's wife, Eliza, found little pleasure in her husband's position as president. At the White House, her second-floor room was the center of activities for a large family including two sons, a widowed daughter and her children, and an older daughter Martha Patterson with her husband and their children. As a schoolgirl, Martha had often been the Polks' guest at the Executive Mansion; now she took up its social duties. She was a competent, unpretentious, and gracious hostess even during the impeachment crisis.
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