Ida McKinley (née
Saxton; June 8, 1847 – May 26, 1907) was the first lady of the United States
from 1897 until 1901, as the wife of President William McKinley.
Born to a successful Ohio family, Ida met her future husband
and later married him during the early Reconstruction years. She never
recovered from losing their daughters as children and remained in a fragile
state of health for the rest of her life, including having seizures. During
campaigns and while in office, her husband took great care to accommodate her
needs, as they were a devoted couple. Ida's ability to fulfill the role of
First Lady was nevertheless limited. She was brought further grief by the deaths
of her brother and later her husband, as McKinley was assassinated by an
anarchist. Ida devotedly visited her husband's resting place daily until her
own death.
Early life and
marriage
Ida was born in Canton, Ohio, the elder daughter of James
Saxton, a prominent Canton banker, and Katherine DeWalt. In 1855, her father
founded Saxton, PA. Her grandfather, John Saxton, in 1815 founded The
Repository, the city's first and now only newspaper. A graduate of Brook Hall
Seminary, a finishing school in Media, Pennsylvania, Ida was refined, charming,
and strikingly attractive when she met William "Bill" McKinley at a
picnic in 1867. They did not begin courting until after she returned from a Grand
Tour of Europe in 1869. While single, she worked for a time as a cashier in her
father's bank, a position then usually reserved for men.
William McKinley, aged 27, married Ida Saxton, aged 23, on
January 25, 1871, at the First Presbyterian Church in Canton, then still under
construction. Following the wedding, performed by the Reverend E. Buckingham
and the Reverend Dr. Endsley, the couple attended a reception at the home of
the bride's parents and left on an eastern wedding trip.
Illness
Possessed of a fragile, nervous temperament due to the loss
of her mother and two young daughters within a short span of time, Mrs.
McKinley broke down. She developed epilepsy and became totally dependent on her
husband. Her seizures at times occurred in public; she had one at McKinley's
inaugural ball as Governor of Ohio. Although she battled her illness for the
rest of her life, she kept busy with her hobby, crocheting slippers, making
gifts of literally thousands of pairs to friends, acquaintances and charities,
which would auction pairs for large sums.
For her condition, she often took barbiturates, laudanum,
and other common sedatives of the time.
Children
The McKinleys had two daughters. Both died in childhood.
They were Katherine "Katie" McKinley (1871–1875) and Ida McKinley
(April 1873–August 1873).
Katherine McKinley
Katie was born on Christmas Day 1871, while her father was
still a Canton lawyer. She was adored by her parents, being the center of their
universe and the apple of William's eye. In return, she adored him. She was
smothered with love by Ida until a second daughter was born in the spring of
1873. Due to the fact that Ida's mother died some two weeks before the birth,
the infant, also named Ida, was born following a very difficult delivery, and she
died four months later.
Ida was grief-stricken, and she believed that God punished
her by killing her daughter. She was deeply affected by this, developed
phlebitis and epilepsy, and desperately feared the loss of her first-born
child. She demanded that William and Katie shower her with displays of love and
affection. Ida spent hours a day in a darkened room with Katie in her arms,
kissing her and weeping. William's brother, Abner, once found Katie swinging on
a gate of the garden of her house and invited her to go for a walk with him.
The child replied that "if [she]
would go out of the yard, God would punish [her] mama some more".
In June 1875, Katie became ill with typhoid fever and died
within days. She was initially interred in Canton's West Lawn Cemetery, but, on
October 10, 1907, both Katie and her younger sister Ida were exhumed and
re-interred in the north wall of the McKinley National Memorial. On the same
day, the bodies of Ida and William were re-interred in the same place.
Ida was effectively shattered when Katie died.
First Lady of the
United States
President McKinley took great care to accommodate her
condition. In a break with tradition, he insisted that his wife be seated next
to him at state dinners rather than at the other end of the table. At receiving
lines, she alone remained seated. Many of the social chores normally assumed by
the First Lady fell to Mrs. Jennie Tuttle Hobart, wife of Vice President Garret
Hobart. Guests noted that whenever Mrs. McKinley was about to undergo a
seizure, the President would gently place a napkin or handkerchief over her
face to conceal her contorted features. When it passed, he would remove it and
resume whatever he was doing as if nothing had happened.
The President's patient devotion and loving attention was
the talk of the capital. "President
McKinley has made it pretty hard for the rest of us husbands here in
Washington," remarked Senator Mark Hanna.
The First Lady often traveled with the President. Mrs.
McKinley traveled to California with the President in May 1901, but became so
ill in San Francisco that the planned tour of the Northwest was cancelled. She
was also with him on the trip to Buffalo, New York in September of that year
when he was assassinated but was not present at the shooting. On September 6,
1901, President McKinley was shot in the stomach by a 28-year-old anarchist
named Leon Czolgosz. Doctors were unable to locate the bullet. The President's
wound eventually became infected with gangrene. He died eight days after the
shooting, aged 58.
Later life and death
With the assassination of her husband by Leon Czolgosz in
Buffalo, New York in September 1901, Mrs. McKinley lost much of her will to
live. Although she bore up well in the days between the shooting and the
president's death, she could not bring herself to attend his funeral. Her
health eroded as she withdrew to the safety of her home and memories in Canton.
She was cared for by her younger sister. The President was interred at the
Werts Receiving Vault at West Lawn Cemetery until his memorial was built. Ida
visited daily until her own death. She survived the president by less than six
years, dying on May 26, 1907, aged 59. She was buried next to him and their two
deceased daughters in Canton's McKinley Memorial Mausoleum.
Murder of brother
George Saxton
Three years before the assassination of her husband, Ida's
only brother, well-known bachelor playboy George DeWalt Saxton (1850–1898), was
murdered; Ida wept at his graveside. Dressmaker Mrs. Anna "Annie" E. Ehrhart George was accused, then tried 2–24
April 1899. Following nine years of wooing George, and six more indulging in
their scandalous affair, Saxton had then requested and financed his lover's
divorce from her husband, Sample C. George—who had, in 1892, sued Saxton in the
Supreme Court for alienation of affections, settling for $1,850 plus legal
costs (after quietly remarrying Lucy Graham)—but he later spurned his conquest.
Failing to successfully sue Saxton for breach of promise; the former Mrs.
George was accused of fatally shooting him as he approached the home of another
woman—an act she had repeatedly threatened. Neither the Saxtons nor the
McKinley family attended the trial. The media championed her case; George
claimed self-defense and was acquitted of first-degree murder by a jury. No one
else was ever charged with the crime. Ehrhart later married Dr. Arthur
Cornelius Ridout (1861–1906), reputedly a drunk and a gambler, whose death by
hanging from a chandelier was ruled a suicide.
Legacy
Ida's childhood home, the Saxton House, has been preserved
on Market Avenue in Canton. In addition to growing up in the house, she and her
husband also lived there from 1878 to 1891, the period during which the future
President McKinley served as one of Ohio's Congressional Representatives. The
house was restored to its Victorian splendor and became part of the First
Ladies National Historic Site at its dedication in 1998.
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