THE PRESIDENT'S LADY: HELLEN HERNDON ARTHUR

Ellen Herndon Arthur would have been a great First Lady. Unfortunately, she didn’t make it to the White House with her husband, Chester A. Arthur. Ellen died ten months before her husband was elected Vice President of the United States. Arthur became President in September 1881, after the assassination of James Garfield.

Ellen “Nell” Lewis Herndon was born on August 30, 1837 in Culpepper Court House, Virginia. Her father was William Lewis Herndon, a naval officer. In 1857, Herndon gained national fame when he died a hero’s death as his ship, the Central America, went down in a storm off Cape Hatteras. He safely evacuated all passengers and crew before going down with his ship.

As a child of the Virginia aristocracy, Nell grew up in privileged surroundings. Nell was described as “one of the best specimens of the Southern woman.” One of her family friends was Dolley Madison. As a child, Nell played in Dolley’s home and was entertained by Dolley’s stories. As she grew older, she moved with her family to Washington, D.C. when her father was stationed there. Still a young girl, her beautiful voice attracted attention, and she joined the prestigious choir of the St. John’s Episcopal Church on Lafayette Square. Later, the family moved to New York City, where Nell and her mother continued to live after William Herndon’s death.

Nell was introduced to Chet Arthur in 1856, and they were engaged the next year. Chet Arthur proposed to Nell on the porch of the United States Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York. In a letter to Nell later that year, he reminded Nell of “the soft, moonlight nights of June, a year ago…happy, happy days at Saratoga - - - the golden fleeting hours at Lake George.” He also said he wished he could hear her singing again.

After their marriage, they lived for a time with Nell’s mother in her fashionable Lexington Avenue brownstone home in New York City. Nell also became a celebrity in her own right as a leading soprano of the Mendelssohn Glee Club. The glee club performed benefits and fund raisers in New York. Nell also worked for various prestigious charities, and became part of the high society of New York. Among her friends were both “old” and “new” money people such as the Vanderbilts and the Roosevelts. Nell was invited to President Lincoln’s second inauguration in 1864, and was one of the select few invited to the private White House wedding of Nellie Grant.

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