Jessie Benton Frémont

Jessie Benton Frémont
Photo taken in 1876
Born	Jessie Ann Benton May 31, 1824 Rockbridge County, Virginia
Died	December 27, 1902(1902-12-27) (aged 78) Los Angeles, California
Spouse	John C. Frémont
Signature

Jessie Ann Benton Frémont (May 31, 1824 – December 27, 1902) was an American writer and political activist. She was the daughter of

Jessie was raised in Washington, D.C., in a manner more typical of a 19th-century son than a daughter. Her father, renowned as the "Great Expansionist," oversaw her early education and introduced her to the prominent politicians of the era, an uncommon practice for the time.[2] Jessie formed a strong bond with her father and remained by his side. He shared with her the numerous books and maps from the valise that accompanied him on their journeys between Missouri and Virginia. Gradually, she began to adopt his vision of a nation stretching from ocean to ocean. Through this upbringing, she acquired a comprehensive education encompassing social structure and various disciplines such as politics, history, literature, and languages. After achieving fluency in French and Spanish, Jessie contributed to the translation of government documents.

In 1840 at age 16, while studying and living at Georgetown Seminary, she met Lieutenant John C. Frémont who was in Washington preparing a report on explorations (with Joseph Nicollet as commander) he had made between the Missouri River and the northern frontier of the United States. They became engaged, but her parents objected to a marriage at that time because of her age. Probably through the influence of Col. Benton, Frémont then received an order from the War Department to make an examination of the Des Moines River on the western frontier. Shortly after their return they were married on October 19, 1841.^[3]

For a while after their marriage, Jessie and her husband lived on

A reconciliation occurred between Jessie and her father when he promoted Frémont's famous explorations of the West.^[1] Senator Benton had been persuaded by his ailing wife to accept the marriage, and the couple moved into the Benton home. Frémont left his pregnant wife behind in the spring of 1842 to lead his first expedition to mark the trails West. He returned, however, days before the birth of their eldest child, Elizabeth Benton "Lily" Frémont, who was born November 15, 1842, in Washington D.C. He then headed off again, and Jessie and the baby remained behind.

Frémont became known as the "Pathfinder to the West", after

In 1849, Jessie and Lily made a harrowing and treacherous journey aboard ship to join Frémont in California. After disembarking and crossing the Isthmus of Panama, they boarded another vessel to San Francisco. With income from their gold mines, the Frémonts established a home and settled into San Francisco society. As a politically informed woman, Jessie was known to get involved in city politics and discuss with the men any issues that were of importance at the time. She became a member of the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association.^{[citation needed]}

John C. Frémont served from September 9, 1850, to March 3, 1851, as a Senator from California. Their third child, John C. Frémont Jr., was born on April 19, 1851, at Las Mariposas, California. While the couple was visiting Paris, France, their fourth child, Anne Beverly Frémont, was born on February 1, 1853. Anne died five months later, on July 11, in Washington, D.C. Their fifth and final child, Francis Preston Frémont, was born on May 17, 1855, in Washington.

In 1856, Frémont's antislavery position was instrumental in his being chosen as the first-ever Republican candidate for President.^[1] Jessie played an extremely active role in the campaign, rallying support for her husband. One particular campaign slogan read, "Frémont and Jessie too." Her father, however, a lifelong Democrat, refused to endorse her husband's bid for the presidency. This did not stop the supporters of Frémont from continuing to refer to her as the "first lady in the land," a title her admirers continued to use throughout her life.^[4]

Frémont garnered many Northern votes but ultimately lost the election to James Buchanan, though he did surpass the American Party candidate, Millard Fillmore. Frémont was unable to carry the state of California.

In the years following, the couple moved several times, living in California,

Jessie Frémont served as her husband's unofficial aide and closest adviser. The two shared the belief that St. Louis was unprepared for war and needed reinforcements and supplies, and both pressured Washington to send more supplies and troops. She threw herself into the war effort, helping to organize a Soldier's Relief Society in St. Louis and becoming very active in the Western Sanitary Commission, which provided medicine and nursing to soldiers injured in the war.

One of the most impressive feats of her political career came shortly after Frémont lost his position during the Civil War for issuing his own edict of emancipation, summarily freeing all of the slaves in Missouri, which predated Lincoln's own Emancipation Proclamation. Jessie actually traveled to Washington and pleaded with Lincoln on behalf of her husband, but to no avail.^[6]

The Frémonts would not live in St. Louis again, moving to New York and then California. In the Panic of 1873, John C. Frémont, who had invested heavily in railroad stock, lost everything and declared bankruptcy. Undaunted by their financial situation, Jessie began writing books to help support the family, namely A Year of American Travel: Narrative of Personal Experience (1878), a story about her journey to California in 1849, and Souvenirs of My Time (1887).

From 1878 to 1881, John C. Frémont served as

After the death of her husband, the Congress, in recognition of his valued services, granted Jessie a widow's pension of $2,000 a year. In 1891, she moved into a home at the corner of 28th and Hoover Streets in Los Angeles that was presented to her by a committee of ladies of the city as a token of their great regard.^[7][8] She remained in good health until about two and a half years before her death when an accident made her an invalid, but she was able to use a wheelchair and enjoy the outdoors.

Jessie Benton Frémont died at age 78 at her home in Los Angeles.

• The letters of Jessie Benton Frémont (1993) edited by Pamela Herr and Mary Lee Spence, Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Collection of 271 letters offering insights into the mind and heart of the author, across the span of her life, including her husband's presidential campaign, her role in the Civil War, her time as First Lady of the Territory of Arizona, and her impressions of the late 1800s in California.

• Jessie Fremont at Black Point (1974) by Lois Rather, Rather Press, Oakland CA
• Jessie Benton Frémont: A Biography (1987) by Pamela Herr
• Jessie Benton Frémont: A Woman who Made History (1995) by Catherine Coffin Phillips
• Jessie Benton Frémont: Missouri's Trailblazer (2005) by Ilene Stone and Suzanna M. Grenz
• Passion and Principle: John and Jessie Frémont, the Couple Whose Power, Politics, and Love Shaped Nineteenth-century America (2007) by Sally Denton
• Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Fremont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity and Helped Cause the Civil War, (2020) by Steve Inskeep, Penguin Press

• Immortal Wife: The Biographical Novel of Jessie Benton Frémont (1944) by Irving Stone
• Phillips, Michael and Judith Pella. The Journals of Corrie Belle Hollister: On the Trail of the Truth Bethany House Pub., 1991.
• Dream West is a 1982 historical novel by David Nevin about Charles and Jessie Frémont, which was adapted into a 1986 miniseries of the same name.^[13]

• 1856 United States presidential election
• 1860 United States presidential election
• 1864 United States presidential election