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Anna Harrison Facts & Worksheets

Anna Tuthill Harrison was President William Henry Harrison's wife and President Benjamin Harrison's grandmother.

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Anna Tuthill Harrison was President William Henry Harrison’s wife and President Benjamin Harrison’s grandmother. She was First Lady of the United States during the one-month term of her husband in 1841, but she never entered the White House.

See the fact file below for more information on the Anna Harrison or alternatively, you can download our 21-page Anna Harrison worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

ANNA HARRISON

  • Anna Harrison was born in Morristown, New Jersey, on July 25, 1775.
  • She was President William Henry Harrison’s wife and First Lady of the United States. Her husband was president for only a month, from March 4th to April 4th of 1841. However, Anna never actually set foot in the White House, even though she was the first lady.
  • At the age of 69, Anna was the oldest woman ever to be First Lady. Her husband died when she was still First Lady, so she only held the title for a very short time.

EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE

  • Anna Tuthill Symmes was born to Judge John Cleves Symmes and Anna Tuthill in Morristown, New Jersey.
  • Her father was a chief justice in the New Jersey Supreme Court, and he later became a prominent landowner in southwestern Ohio.
  • When her mother died in 1776, her father disguised himself as a British soldier and carried Anna on horseback to her grandparents on Long Island. They took care of her during the war.
  • Her father also served as a Deputy to the New Jersey Provincial Congress (1775-1776), a Member of the Sussex County Protection Committee during the Revolution, and a Delegate from New Jersey to the Continental Congress (1785-1786).
  • Anna grew up on Long Island and obtained an extraordinarily large education for a woman of that time. She attended Clinton Academy on Long Island in East Hampton, as well as New York City’s Isabella Graham Private School.
  • In 1794, Anna went to the Ohio wilderness with her father and new stepmother, Susannah Livingston, a daughter of the New Jersey Governor, William Livingston. They lived specifically in North Bend, Ohio.
  • In the spring of 1795, while visiting relatives in Lexington, Kentucky, Anna met Lieutenant William Henry Harrison, who was taking care of military business in the town.
  • Harrison was stationed at Fort Washington nearby, but he was deeply disapproved of by Anna ‘s father because he wanted to spare his daughter from the difficulties of life in the army camp.
  • The courtship flourished behind his back, despite his decree that the two were to stop seeing one another.
  • While her father was away on business in Cincinnati, the couple got engaged and married at the home of Dr. Stephen Wood, a Northwest Territory treasurer. The marriage took place in North Bend on November 22, 1795. The couple honeymooned at Fort Washington, as Harrison was still stationed there.
  • Two weeks later, at a farewell dinner for General “Mad” Anthony Wayne, Anna’s father challenged his new son-in-law for the first time since their wedding. Symmes, sternly addressing Harrison, demanded to know how he intended to support Anna’s family. Harrison replied, “Sir, by my sword, and by my own right arm.” Not until his son-in-law had achieved fame on the battlefield did Symmes come to accept him.

FAME

  • Harrison gained fame as an 1812 Indian fighter and war hero, but he spent much of his life as a civilian. His service as a territorial delegate from Ohio in Congress gave Anna and their children an opportunity to visit her family at Berkeley, their James River plantation.
  • Harrison’s appointment as Governor of the Indiana Territory took them much deeper into the wilderness, where he designed a magnificent house at Vincennes, Indiana, that combined fortress and manor plantation.
  • In 1812, during the war, the family moved to the North Bend farm.
  • Upon hearing the news of the landslide electoral victory of her husband in 1840, home-loving Anna simply said, “I wish that my husband’s friends had left him where he is, happy and contented in retirement.”

FIRST LADY

  • As William was inaugurated in 1841, Anna was held at their North Bend home by sickness. She decided not to come to Washington to accompany him. President-elect Harrison asked his daughter-in-law, Jane Irwin Harrison, his namesake son’s widow, to accompany him and act as hostess until Anna’s proposed arrival in May. About a dozen other relatives were able to go along with them.
  • President Harrison died on April 4, precisely a month after his inauguration. When she heard of William’s death in Washington, Anna was packing for the move to the White House. After the news, she never made the journey.

DEATH

  • After William’s death, she lived in North Bend with her son, John Scott, and helped raise his children, including 8-year-old Benjamin, who later became a US President. In June 1841, President John Tyler signed the first pension for the widow of a president into law, a $25,000 grant for Mrs. Harrison.
  • Anna Harrison died at the age of 88 on February 25, 1864, and she was buried in North Bend at the William Henry Harrison Tomb State Cemetery. Horace Bushnell delivered her funeral sermon.

Anna Harrison Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Anna Harrison across 21 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Anna Harrison worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Anna Tuthill Harrison who was President William Henry Harrison’s wife and President Benjamin Harrison’s grandmother. She was First Lady of the United States during the one-month term of her husband in 1841, but she never entered the White House.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Anna Harrison Facts
  • Biographical Profile
  • Periods of History
  • Fact or Bluff
  • First Lady Duties
  • Grid of Letters
  • Matchy Ladies
  • Acrostic Poem
  • Lots of Contributions
  • Word Search
  • Life After

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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