Caroline Harrison

Caroline Harrison married future U.S. President Benjamin Harrison in 1853. After her husband won the presidential election in 1888 and became the 23^rd President of the United States, Caroline Harrison made it her mission to renovate the White House. Caroline lobbied Congress for funds to modernize and expand the building, and it was through her efforts that electricity was installed and the plumbing was updated in the building. She also established the tradition of having a Christmas tree at the White House.

Caroline involved herself in numerous social causes. She helped raise money to found the Johns Hopkins University medical school, with the condition that the school admit women. Interested in history, Caroline was also a founding member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a nonprofit women's organization for the descendants of individuals who aided in achieving American independence, and served as the group's first president general.

Caroline delivered a moving speech that she had written herself, becoming the first U.S. First Lady to do so, during a DAR convention in February 1892.

Caroline died of tuberculosis during her husband's re-election campaign in 1892. Four years after her death, her husband married her niece, Mary Dimmick, who had worked as her secretary at the White House.