Mary Dimmick Harrison

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Mary Harrison
Indianapolis, Indiana
, U.S.
Spouses
Walter Erskine Dimmick
​
​
(m. 1881; died 1882)​
​
​
(m. 1896; died 1901)​
ChildrenElizabeth Harrison Walker

Mary Scott Dimmick Harrison (née Lord; April 30, 1858 – January 5, 1948) was the second wife of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States. She was nearly 25 years younger than Harrison, and was the niece of his first wife.[1]

Biography

Born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, as Mary Scott Lord, she was the daughter of Russell Farnham Lord, chief engineer of the Delaware and Hudson Canal (later known as the Delaware and Hudson Railway), and his wife Elizabeth Mayhew Scott.[2]

On October 22, 1881, she married Walter Erskine Dimmick (July 4, 1856 – January 14, 1882), a son of the attorney-general of Pennsylvania and brother of future Scranton mayor J. Benjamin Dimmick. He died three months after their marriage, leaving her a widow at age 23.[2] A niece of Caroline Harrison, she in 1889 moved into the White House to serve as assistant to the First Lady. Sometime after Mrs. Harrison's death in 1892, the former president and Mrs. Dimmick fell in love and late in 1895 announced their engagement.

At age 37, she married the former president, aged 62, on April 6, 1896, at

St. Thomas Protestant Episcopal Church in New York City.[2][3] Harrison's grown children from his first marriage, horrified at the news, did not attend the wedding. Harrison's vice president and the then governor of New York, Levi P. Morton, and several former cabinet members were among the three dozen guests; former navy secretary Benjamin F. Tracy
was best man. Without a honeymoon, the couple settled in Indianapolis.

Together, the Harrisons had one daughter:

The Harrisons traveled widely: to

The Benjamin Harrison Memorial Home in Indianapolis, Indiana."[5] In 1901, she commissioned Frederick Wilson of Tiffany Studios to create a stained-glass window for Benjamin Harrison's long-time congregation, First Presbyterian Church.[6]

On September 1, 1914, Mary and her seventeen-year-old daughter Elizabeth returned from Europe upon the outbreak of war aboard the

Indianapolis, Indiana, in Crown Hill Cemetery
.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Mary Dimmick Harrison". Benjamin Harrison. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  2. ^
    Milwaukee Sentinel
    . January 6, 1948. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  3. New York Times
    . March 29, 1896. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  4. ISBN 978-0-7864-1956-2
    .
  5. ^ Arden Davis Melick, Wives of the presidents (Hammond, 1985), 53.
  6. ^ "Angel of the Resurrection". Indianapolis Museum of Art Online Collection. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  7. ^ 1914; Arrival; Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 2365; Line: 18; Page Number: 3. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820–1897; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls); Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
  8. Time magazine. January 12, 1948. Archived from the original
    on February 1, 2011. Retrieved 2009-12-30.

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mary_Dimmick_Harrison&oldid=1220240193"