Betty Dandridge 1824–1909

First Lady 1849–1850 Born Fort Snelling, Minnesota

Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Taylor Bliss Dandridge, the only surviving daughter of Zachary Taylor and Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor (1788¬–1852), was raised in frontier forts while her army general father conducted the Black Hawk War (1832) and the Second Seminole War (1835–42). Her mother, of whom no portraits or other accurate likenesses survive, worked hard to raise ten children while surrounded by soldiers.

During her father’s presidency, Bliss and her husband, William Bliss, lived in the White House, where she served as hostess, a duty her mother declined to assume. Her time in the White House only lasted sixteen months, owing to her father’s death in office. However, “Miss Betty” earned high public praise for her ability to lead conversations with men and balance her sense of humor with a common-sense attitude toward life. After being widowed in 1858, she married Philip Dandridge, a great-grandnephew of Martha Washington.

Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, Winchester, Virginia