Jane Pierce 1806–1863

Born Hampton, New Hampshire First Lady 1853–1857

Jane Means Appleton Pierce had already experienced the death of two sons when her husband Franklin Pierce was elected president. Then, two months before his inauguration in 1853, their only surviving child, Benjamin, was killed before her eyes in a train accident. She never recovered from her loss, and struggled to meet the social expectations of being the first lady, relying on her aunt, Abigail Kent Means, to organize events. Desperate to communicate with her dead son, she had mediums hold a séance at the White House.

National First Ladies’ Library