Hoosier History Live is an independently produced new media project about Indiana history, integrating podcasts, website www.HoosierHistoryLive.org, weekly enewsletter, and social media. Its original content comes initially from a live with call in weekly talk radio show hosted by author and historian Nelson Price. You can hear the show live Saturdays from noon to 1 pm ET at WICR 88.7 fm or stream the show live at the WICR HD1 app on your phone, or at our website.
May 04, 2024
Deaths in the White House, including a First Lady
Sure, the White House has been the setting for hundreds of joyous and celebratory events. But the historic home of U.S. presidents and their families also has been a setting for deaths, including that of the only First Lady from Indianapolis. Not only did Caroline Scott Harrison, the beloved wife of President Benjamin Harrison, die in the White House, so did his grandfather.
William Henry Harrison, the shortest-serving president in history, had only held office for 31 days when he died in 1841 at age 68. He had been elected to the presidency as a resident of Ohio; beginning at age 27, though, he had served as the first governor of the Indiana Territory and lived in Vincennes.
During our show, we will explore these deaths as well as others with connections to the presidency of Benjamin Harrison, a Republican who was elected in 1888 after having served as a U.S. Senator from Indiana; the deaths include tragedies involving two of his Cabinet members. Also, just one month after Caroline Scott Harrison succumbed to tuberculosis in 1892, her father, John Scott, a retired college professor and Presbyterian minister, died in the White House, where he had been living with the First Family.
Nelson will be joined in studio by Jennifer Capps, the veteran curator at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site in Indianapolis, where a current exhibit, Death in the White House explores these losses in the mansion of the country's chief executive. The exhibit includes displays about Victorian-era mourning customs, so Jennifer will share insights about them during our show.
Details about the death of Caroline Scott Harrison, who had delivered the first public speech by a First Lady, have come to light thanks to the new availability of a personal diary kept by her long-time seamstress, Josephin Kneip. She was in the room at the White House when Mrs. Harrison died.
In recent years, new insights – or at least revised, possible explanations – also have surfaced about the death of William Henry Harrison. During a damp, bone-chilling day in March 1841, he delivered the longest inaugural address in presidential history. His refusal to wear an overcoat was long assumed to be a factor in his pneumonia, which was thought to have caused his death in April. In 2014, though, the New York Times published a front-page article that reported the primary cause may have been an infection from extremely unsanitary water in Washington D.C. during the era.
A tragic fire near the White House caused the deaths of the family of a member of Benjamin Harrison's Cabinet. The house of Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy was destroyed in a roaring inferno in 1890 that killed his wife and daughter. According to news accounts, President Harrison rushed to the scene and helped resuscitate Secretary Tracy, who had nearly succumbed as well.
One year later, Secretary of the Treasury William Windom died suddenly just after delivering a speech at Delmonico's, a legendary restaurant in New York City.
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