Ellen Axson Wilson

Ellen Axson Wilson. , Ellen Axson Wilson was First Lady of the United States (1913-1914) when her husband, Woodrow Wilson became our 28th President. She grew up in Rome, where her father, the Rev. Samuel Edward Axson, was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church., Ellen was educated at the Rome Female Academy, where she studied art, winning an international award., Ellen and Woodrow met in her father's church and were married in Savannah in 1885. She helped him in his early career as a professor and college president, while rearing their three daughters and pursuing her interest in art., Mrs. Wilson later studied with the plein-air American Impressionists in Old Lyme, Connecticut. She exhibited and sold her paintings, donating her earnings to the Berry Schools., She became active in social welfare when Woodrow Wilson was governor of New Jersey (1910-1912)., After Woodrow Wilson was elected President, she lobbied for urban renewal in Washington, DC, the first First Lady to work for a cause outside of the White House that was not her husband's., Her activism set an example for the young Eleanor Roosevelt, whose husband, Franklin, was in the Wilson administration. Mrs. Wilson also designed the original White House Rose Garden., She died in the White House on August 6, 1914, at the outbreak of World War I. She is buried beside her parents in Myrtle Hill Cemetery in Rome, Georgia.