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Bio
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren was born in the rural town of Kinderhook, New York, on December 5, 1782. His father, Abraham, owned a successful inn and small farm. The Van Buren tavern served as a hub of social activity for the town, and the constant coming and goings of travelers between New York City and the state capital of Albany brought young Martin
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Bio
Warren G. Harding
Before his nomination, Warren G. Harding declared, “America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not the experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality.” A Democratic leader (and Woodrow Wilson’s son-in-law), William
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Bio
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor was born on November 24, 1784 in Virginia, but his family moved shortly thereafter to Louisville, Kentucky. He was raised on a plantation called Springfield, surrounded by enslaved laborers owned by his father Richard. Taylor received a basic education and aspired from a young age to join the military. He enlisted at the age of twenty-two and became an officer
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Bio
Melania Trump
Melanija Knavs (Melania Knauss) was born on April 26, 1970, in Novo Mesto, Slovenia (the former Yugoslavia) to parents Viktor and Amalija Knavs. As a young woman, Melania studied design before pausing her studies to pursue a modeling career abroad. She became a successful fashion model, appearing in television advertisements, fashion magazines, and billboards. She came to the United States during the 1990
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Bio
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was born on December 29, 1808 in Raleigh, North Carolina. He grew up in poverty and was apprenticed to a tailor as a boy, but ran away. As an adult, he opened a tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee, where he met and married Eliza McCardle. The couple raised five children together, and Eliza supported her husband’s aspirations by teaching hi
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Bio
Mary Arthur McElroy
Mary Arthur, the youngest child of William and Malvina Arthur, was born in New York on July 5, 1841. Mary was the sister of future President Chester A. Arthur, nearly twelve years her senior. As a young woman, she married John E. McElroy, with whom she had four children; the family settled in Albany, New York. Mary Arthur McElroy’s brother, Chester A.
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Bio
George Washington
On February 22, 1732, George was born to Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. He spent most of his childhood at Ferry Farm on the Rappahannock River. All of the homes and plantations where Washington lived were maintained by enslaved labor. When George was eleven, his father died and he became a slave owner. As a result, George did not receive a formal
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Bio
James Monroe
Considered the last “Founding Father” president, James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758 into an affluent, slave-owning family in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His parents, Spence and Elizabeth Monroe, had aspirations for their eldest son, sending him to nearby Campbelltown Academy. James’ childhood changed dramatically when both of his parents passed away within two years of each other. Joseph Jones, who became a pate
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Bio
John Quincy Adams
On July 11, 1767, John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts to Abigail and John Adams. Over the course of his lifetime, Adams witnessed the American Revolution, the evolution of the new nation, and the crawl toward civil war—almost his entire life was devoted to public service. While he is remembered as vocal opponent of slavery, the reality was more co
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Bio
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia to Jane and Peter Jefferson. His father was a Virginia planter, surveyor, and slave owner. At age fourteen, Jefferson’s father died, and Thomas inherited some thirty enslaved individuals. Jefferson fully embraced the lifestyle of an affluent member of the planter class, and over the course of his lifetime he ow
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Bio
Ulysses S. Grant
On April 27, 1822, Ulysses S. Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio. Grant’s father, Jesse, was a tanner and an abolitionist. Grant received an education from several private schools and later attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. After graduating in the middle of his class, Grant was stationed in Missouri where he visited with his former classmate an
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Bio
Jane Harrison
William Henry Harrison’s wife, Anna, was too ill to travel when her husband set out from Ohio for his 1841 Inauguration. The president-elect asked his daughter-in-law, Jane Irwin Harrison, to accompany him and act as hostess until Anna’s proposed arrival in May. Jane Irwin was born on July 23, 1804, in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, to parents Archibald and Mary Irwin.1 While visiting fami