Woman of the Century/Ida Saxton McKinley

McHENRY, Mrs. Ida Saxton, social leader, born in Canton, Ohio, 8th June, 1847. The families of both her parents were among the pioneers of Ohio, and her grandfather, John Saxton, established the Canton "Repository," one of the oldest newspapers in the State. She inherited a cheerful, bright temperament from her mother, which has been the foundation of a womanly life under the drawback of ill health, and from her father practical ability and good judgment in all the affairs of the world. Her delicacy of constitution made it necessary to shorten her school days, and she left the young ladies' school in Media, Pa., at the age of sixteen years. Her practical father believed in a business education for young women, something unusual in those days, and she spent some time in a bank as his assistant. A six-month tour abroad completed her education, and upon her return she began a social life, which resulted in her marriage to Major McKinley on the 25th January, 1871. Although delicate from her earliest years, invalidism did not make Mrs. McKinley its victim until after her marriage Though she has been unfitted fur active participation in the social enjoyments which Washington life affords, she has been in the highest sense of the word a happy woman, in a more than ordinarily happy married IDA SAXTON McKINLEY. life, in the friendship of those who know her worth, and in the performance of charitable works, unknown to any except the recipients and members of her own family. Those who know her best say she has been an inspiration to her husband in his political career. Believing that his ability and integrity of character were needed in the affairs of state, she has always been his most faithful constituent and advisor, and most proud of his success At present Governor and Mrs. McKinley reside in Columbus, where his newly-acquired honors have called them. An article in the "Ladies' Home Journal" of October, 1891, describes her under the heading "Unknown Wives of Well Known Men."