Woman of the Century/Eliza McCardle Johnson

2279199Woman of the Century — Eliza McCardle Johnson

JOHNSON, Mrs. Eliza McCardle, wife of Andrew Johnson, seventeenth President of the United States, born in Leesburg, Washington county, Tenn., 4th October, 1810, and died in Home, Greene county, Tenn., 15th January, 1876. She was the only daughter of her widowed mother, and her early life was passed in Greenville, Tenn. Her education was thorough for that day and place, and she enriched her mind by a wide course of reading. Miss McCardle was a young woman of great personal beauty and refinement, when, in 1826, Andrew Johnson, just out of his apprenticeship, arrived in Greenville. They became acquainted and were married on 27th May, 1826. Mr. Johnson had had only the most meager education. He had never attended school a day. Feeling the need of education, he at once set to work to remedy the defect in his training, and in that work he was greatly aided by his cultured wife, who devoted herself solely to him and contributed materially to his success in life. Mr. Johnson entered politics. He was elected to the State legislature, and in 1861 he was in the United States Senate. In that year Mrs. Johnson spent several months in Washington. On account of impaired health she returned to Greenville, and on 24th April, 1862, she was ordered to pass beyond the Confederate lines within thirty-six hours. Too ill to obey the order, she remained in Greenville all summer. In September, 1862, she went with her children to Nashville, to join her husband. The excitement of the journey broke her health still further. When her husband became President, she was a confirmed invalid. She was not able to appear in society in Washington, and she was glacf to leave the White House and return to Greenville. The duties of mistress of the White House fell upon her daughter, Mrs. Martha Patterson. Another daughter, Mrs. Mary-Stover, was a member of the White House household during a part of President Johnson's term of office.