Eleanor Randolph Wilson McAdoo (October 16, 1889 – April 5, 1967) was an American writer and the youngest daughter of American president
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
and
Ellen Louise Axson. Wilson had two sisters,
Margaret Woodrow Wilson
Margaret Woodrow Wilson (April 16, 1886 – February 12, 1944) was the eldest child of President Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Louise Axson. Her two siblings were Jessie and Eleanor. After her mother's death in 1914, Margaret served her father as the ...
and
Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre
Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre (August 28, 1887 – January 15, 1933) was a daughter of US President Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Louise Axson. She was a political activist, worked for women's suffrage, social issues, to promote her father's call for ...
.
Biography
She was born on October 16, 1889 to
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
and
Ellen Axson Wilson
Ellen Louise Wilson (née Axson; May 15, 1860 – August 6, 1914) was the first wife of President Woodrow Wilson and the mother of their three daughters. Like her husband, she was a Southerner, as well as the daughter of a clergyman. She was ...
in
Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States, Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, it is south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated by English settler ...
. She was educated at
Saint Mary's School, an
Episcopal boarding school for girls in
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...
.
She married
William Gibbs McAdoo
William Gibbs McAdoo Jr.McAdoo is variously differentiated from family members of the same name:
* Dr. William Gibbs McAdoo (1820–1894) – sometimes called "I" or "Senior"
* William Gibbs McAdoo (1863–1941) – sometimes called "II" or "Ju ...
, Wilson's
Secretary of the Treasury
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
, at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
on May 7, 1914.
[Staff report (May 8, 1914). ELEANOR WILSON WEDS W.G. M'ADOO; President's Youngest Daughter and Secretary of Treasury Married at White House. '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' They had two daughters: Ellen Wilson McAdoo (1915–1946)
[Staff report (May 22, 1915,). Ellen died from an overdose. DAUGHTER IS BORN TO MRS. W. G. McAdoo; President's Second Grandchild Will be Christened Ellen for the Late Mrs. Wilson.''The New York Times''] and Mary Faith McAdoo (1920–1988).
[Staff report (July 18, 1934). NEW M'ADOO BABY BORN PRIMARY NIGHT; A Second Daughter for ex-Secretary of the Treasury and the Former Miss Eleanor Wilson. ''The New York Times''] She divorced McAdoo in July 1935.
[Staff report (July 18, 1934). Eleanor Wilson McAdoo Divorces Senator At Five-Minute Hearing on Incompatibility. ''The New York Times'']
Because she had written a biography about her father, she served as an informal counselor on the 1944
biopic ''
Wilson''.
[Knock, Thomas J. "History with Lightning": The Forgotten Film Wilson. ''American Quarterly'', Vol. 28, No. 5 (Winter, 1976), pp. 523-543] In 1965, she became largely incapacitated after suffering a
cerebral hemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
.
McAdoo died at her home in
Montecito, California, at 77.
She was interred at the Santa Barbara Cemetery,
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...
. She was the last surviving child of Woodrow Wilson.
Family
*
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
, father
*
Ellen Axson Wilson
Ellen Louise Wilson (née Axson; May 15, 1860 – August 6, 1914) was the first wife of President Woodrow Wilson and the mother of their three daughters. Like her husband, she was a Southerner, as well as the daughter of a clergyman. She was ...
, mother
*
Edith Bolling
Edith Wilson ( Bolling, formerly Galt; October 15, 1872 – December 28, 1961) was the first lady of the United States from 1915 to 1921 and the second wife of President Woodrow Wilson. She married the widower Wilson in December 1915, during hi ...
, stepmother
*
William Gibbs McAdoo
William Gibbs McAdoo Jr.McAdoo is variously differentiated from family members of the same name:
* Dr. William Gibbs McAdoo (1820–1894) – sometimes called "I" or "Senior"
* William Gibbs McAdoo (1863–1941) – sometimes called "II" or "Ju ...
, former husband
*
Margaret Wilson
Margaret Anne Wilson (born 20 May 1947) is a New Zealand lawyer, academic and former Labour Party politician. She served as Attorney-General from 1999 to 2005 and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2005 to 2008, during the Fifth L ...
, sister
*
Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre
Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre (August 28, 1887 – January 15, 1933) was a daughter of US President Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Louise Axson. She was a political activist, worked for women's suffrage, social issues, to promote her father's call for ...
, sister
Publications
* ''The Woodrow Wilsons'' by Eleanor Wilson McAdoo (McMillan, 1937)
* ''Julia and the White House'' "An American girl finds herself in the exciting yet sobering limelight of the White House" (Dodd, Mead, 1946)
References
External links
Guide to the Wilson-McAdoo Collection, ca. 1859-1967
1889 births
1967 deaths
19th-century American women
20th-century American women writers
20th-century American writers
People from Middletown, Connecticut
St. Mary's School (North Carolina) alumni
Writers from California
Writers from Connecticut
Woodrow Wilson family
Children of presidents of the United States
Spouses of California politicians
{{US-writer-stub