Rachel Donelson, wife of Andrew Jackson, died the December before the inauguration. Therefore the position of Presiding Lady was accorded to her niece, Emily Donelson, wife of Major Andrew J. Donelson, private secretary to the President. His adopted son’s wife, Sarah Yorke Jackson, presided at the Hermitage then, and for many years. Mrs. Donelson was very young when called upon to fulfil her social duties; but innate refinement, ease, grace, dignity and various accomplishments rendered her capable of adding much to this period’s noted brilliancy. All admired her, even when party spirit quenched unbiased judgment. In all points of etiquette she was arbiter, the President deferring everything to her opinion. Her four children were born in the White House. Early in 1836 she returned to Tennessee, as her health was failing, hoping for renewed strength; but consumption developed, and her death followed in December of the same year. [Illustration: _RACHEL DONELSON JACKSON_ _Copyright 1903, by Bureau of National Literature & Art._] Angelica Van Buren EIGHTH PRESIDING LADY 1839-1841 Angelica Singleton was presented by her cousin, Mrs. Madison, to President Van Buren, in 1837, and in the following year married his son, Major Van Buren. On New Year’s day, 1839, she assumed her place as hostess of the White House, as Hannah Hoes, the wife of Martin Van Buren had died in 1819, leaving him a widower when elected President. This was a great loss, for she would have filled well the exalted position occupied in later years by her eldest son’s wife. The next spring Major Van Buren and his wife went abroad, where they received most flattering attentions, attributed to their high standing in America, and also to Mrs. Van Buren’s exceeding charm of features, form and manner, and long ancestral descent. They were invited to dine at the Palace of St. Cloud, where they were entertained with a cordial lack of ceremony by Louis Philippe and his Queen. In later life she was a society leader in New York, her death occurring in 1878. [Illustration: _ANGELICA VAN BUREN_ _Copyright 1903, by Bureau of National Literature & Art._] Anna Symmes Harrison NINTH PRESIDING LADY 1841