Angelica Singleton Van Buren

Sarah Angelica Van Buren (née Singleton; February 13, 1818 – December 29, 1877), was the daughter-in-law of the eighth President of the United States Martin Van Buren. She was married to the President's son, Abraham Van Buren. She assumed the post of First Lady because the president's wife, Hannah Van Buren, had died and he never remarried. She is the youngest woman ever to act as the White House hostess.

Angelica Van Buren
Van Buren's White House Portrait (1840)
First Lady of the United States
In role November 27, 1838 – March 4, 1841
President	Martin Van Buren
Preceded by	Sarah Jackson
Succeeded by	Anna Harrison Jane Harrison
Personal details
Born	Sarah Angelica Singleton February 13, 1818 Wedgefield, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	December 29, 1877 (aged 59) New York City, U.S.
Nationality	American
Spouse(s)	Abraham Van Buren ​ ​ (m. 1838; died 1873)​
Children	Rebecca Van Buren Singleton Abraham Van Buren Martin Van Buren II Travis Coles Van Buren
Alma mater	Madame Grelaud's French School
Signature

Early life

Sarah Angelica Singleton was born in Wedgefield, South Carolina, on February 13, 1818.[1] She was the fourth of six children born to Richard Singleton and his wife, Rebecca Travis Coles.[2]

Angelica was educated at the Columbia Female Academy in South Carolina and Madame Grelaud's French School in Philadelphia for five years.[2] She was a popular student at Madame Grelaud's and the school gave her the opportunity to meet a more diverse group of people.[2]

Marriage

In 1838, Angelica visited Washington, DC, with her sister.[2] Former First Lady Dolley Madison, a cousin of Angelica's mother Rebecca Travis Coles, decided to play matchmaker and introduced the Singleton girls to President Martin Van Buren's bachelor sons.[3] Eight months later, Angelica Singleton married Abraham Van Buren on November 27, 1838, on his 31st birthday in Wedgefield.[2] The marriage strengthened President Van Buren's ties to the Old South.[4]

Following the wedding, Van Buren assumed the duties of hostess at the White House with great success.[3][4]

In early 1839, the couple took an extended trip through England (where her aunt, Sally Coles Stevenson, and uncle, Andrew Stevenson, who was U.S. Minister the U.K., lived) and other European countries.[2][5] The trip was a massive success and when Van Buren returned to Washington, she hoped to bring some European style to the White House.[5] Angelica and other honored female guests began standing on a dais in the Blue Room to greet guests at the beginning of White House functions.[6] Although the French Ambassador enjoyed the reception, Americans did not.[2] The dais was soon removed.[5]

In March 1840, Angelica gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter named Rebecca; the child died a few months later.[3] After leaving the White House, the couple had four sons; the survivors were:[2]

• Singleton Van Buren (1841–1885)
• Martin Van Buren II (1844–1885)
• Travis Coles Van Buren (1848–1889)

Post-Van Buren presidency

After Martin Van Buren was defeated for re-election in 1840, Angelica and her husband lived at the Van Buren home of Lindenwald, in Kinderhook, New York, wintering at her family home, Melrose House, in South Carolina. From 1848 until her death, she lived in New York City.[2]

See also

• Singleton's Graveyard, her family's plantation cemetery near Wedgefield, South Carolina

References

1. Anthony, Carl (September 27, 2014). "First Ladies Never Married to Presidents: Angelica Van Buren". www.firstladies.org. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
2. Hendricks, Nancy (2015-10-13). America's First Ladies: A Historical Encyclopedia and Primary Document Collection of the Remarkable Women of the White House: A Historical Encyclopedia and Primary Document Collection of the Remarkable Women of the White House. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781610698832.
3. Wead, Doug (2004-01-06). All the Presidents' Children: Triumph and Tragedy in the Lives of America's First Families. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9780743446334.
4. Sibley, Katherine A. S. (2016-03-02). A Companion to First Ladies. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781118732243.
5. Swain, Susan; C-SPAN (2015-04-14). First Ladies: Presidential Historians on the Lives of 45 Iconic American Women. PublicAffairs. ISBN 9781610395670.
6. Watson, Robert P. (2012-02-01). Life in the White House: A Social History of the First Family and the President's House. SUNY Press. ISBN 9780791485071.

• James C. Welling (1914). "Martin Van Buren" . In James Grant Wilson (ed.). The Presidents of the United States, 1789–1914 .

External links

• Angelica Van Buren biography at American Presidents Blog
• Angelica Singleton Van Buren Collection at University of South Carolina