Frances Folsom Cleveland

Born: 21 Jul 1864, Buffalo NY
Died: 29 Oct 1947, Baltimore, MD

First Lady
Common Ancestor:
Daniel Ladd (1613-1693)
8th Gr Grandfather
of Merle G Ladd		 6th Gr Grandfather
of Frances Folsom
   
Samuel Ladd Nathaniel Ladd
Nathaniel C Ladd Mary Ladd
Henry Ladd Mary Gilman
Lemuel Ladd Elizabeth Moody
Corrin Ladd Asa Folsom
Ira Ladd John B Folsom
Douglas C Ladd Oscar Folsom
Irving L Ladd Frances Folsom
Allen D Ladd  
Merle G Ladd  
 
Relationship to Merle G Ladd:
7th Cousin, 2 Times Removed
She was born in Buffalo, New York, only child of Emma C. Harmon and Oscar Folsom--who became a law partner of Cleveland's. As a devoted family friend Cleveland bought "Frank" her first baby carriage. As administrator of the Folsom estate after his partner's death, though never her legal guardian, he guided her education with sound advice. When she entered Wells College, he asked Mrs. Folsom's permission to correspond with her, and he kept her room bright with flowers. Though Frank and her mother missed his inauguration in 1885, they visited him at the White House that spring. There affection turned into romance--despite 27 years' difference in age--and there the wedding took place on June 2, 1886.

 She held two receptions a week--one on Saturday afternoons, when women with jobs were free to come. After the President's defeat in 1888, the Clevelands lived in New York City, where baby Ruth was born. With his unprecedented re-election, the First Lady returned to the White House as if she had been gone but a day. Through the political storms of this term she always kept her place in public favor. People took keen interest in the birth of Esther at the mansion in 1893, and of Marion in 1895. When the family left the White House, Mrs. Cleveland had become one of the most popular women ever to serve as hostess for the nation.