Mary Arthur McElroy 1841–1917

Born Greenwich, New York First Lady 1881–1885

The recently widowed Chester Arthur asked his sister, Mary Arthur McElroy, to serve as his official hostess when he became president in 1881. McElroy lived with her family in Albany, New York, but she spent each winter social season (from mid-November to the beginning of Lent), in Washington, D.C.

McElroy was extremely active in civic life. Despite her exposure to and participation in local and national politics, she strongly believed that women should not have the right to vote. To that end, she took on a leading role in the Albany branch of the New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage.

This elegant engraving, created when McElroy’s time in the White House was drawing to a close, served as the basis for a portrait in the 1903 volume Presiding Ladies of the White House.

The White House