Dans Papers - June 1, 2007 - Julia Gardiner Tyler of East Hampton, America's 1st Lady

The scenic South End Cemetery in East Hampton, nestled beside the pond, is the final resting place for many of those who played a large role in the making of the Town of East Hampton. The gentle layers of white tombstones line up generations of family history. Perhaps the most prominent family name is Gardiner, the founding of whose Island home, Gardiner Island, precedes the founding of the East Hampton, then called Maidstone, in 1648. In 1639 King James I issued a "Royal Patent" to Lion Gardiner for the Island. At the time, Lion Gardiner referred to the island as the Isle of Wright. One of the largest grave markers in the South End Cemetery is that of David Gardiner, father of a first lady Julia Gardiner Tyler and perhaps the only deceased member in the famed cemetery whose untimely death was witnessed by a sitting President of the United States. He died aboard the PRINCETON, a pre-civil war era naval vessel that hosted the President of the United States, many cabinet members and 200 distinguished guests on February 28, 1844.

David Gardiner had brought his 23-year-old daughter to Washington D.C. as a sort of coming out party on the national level for Julia, whose beauty was unmatched in the high social circles of that time. In fact, at that time, she was called "The Rose of Long Island." The legend is that Julia wasn't feeling well that day and went down below the deck, saving her own life. Had she remained right next to her father, then a New York State Senator with ample political powers and influence, she most likely would have been killed as he was by the explosion that resulted from the testing of a new twelve-inch gun manufactured in New York City. The explosion killed the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Navy, an ambassador from Brussels, the President's personal valet and a few others besides David Gardiner.

When told that her father had been killed, the young East Hampton debutante literally fainted into the arms of the widowed President Tyler. Julia Tyler said the first words she ever spoke to her future husband while in his arms, regaining her composure. Of course, other historians claimed they were introduced earlier in the day. A wake was held in the East Room of the White House for all those killed, except the black presidential valet. David Gardiner was buried in Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. before being reburied in East Hampton.

Only four months later, the widowed President Tyler, the first Vice-President to become President by the death of a sitting President, and Julia Gardiner were married. The country was shocked to learn that the widowed Virginian President of the United States had married a 24-year-old New Yorker. Julia Tyler loved having gala balls and it is said that one of her famous galas was attended by over 1,000 invited guests. After his brief Presidency, the Tylers resided in Richmond, Virginia. A house on Main Street was referred to as the East Hampton White House whenever President Tyler was there. At the time of his death in 1862, President Tyler was serving in the Congress of the Confederacy in Richmond. Julia bore President Tyler seven children, who lived alongside the eight his first wife blessed him with. Julia and President Tyler's first son was named David Gardiner Tyler, in honor of her dad, and was born in East Hampton.

David Gardiner Tyler, after attending Washington College -- now called Washington and Lee -- actually fought for the Army of Virginia under Robert E. Lee in the Civil War and was with Lee when he surrendered to General U.S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House. David went on to serve as a United States Congressman from the state of Virginia in the 1890s and presided as a Judge in Virginia until his death in 1926. He his mother, Julia Gardiner Tyler, his father, President John Tyler, and President Tyler's first wife are all buried in Richmond.

After the Civil War, the widowed 46-year-old former first lady, Julia Gardiner, was broke after having her property confiscated by the North. She and Mary Todd Lincoln were the first First Ladies to have Congress appropriate a Federal Pension for widowed former First Ladies. The original sum was $1,200. It was increased to $5,000 later on to assist Julia Tyler plus the widows of President Garfield, President Polk and President Lincoln. Historians enjoy pointing out that when President Tyler's last child died, it was 100 years after the birth of his first, Mary Tyler, who never truly adjusted to being four years older than her stepmother.

With a $5,000 annual pension, Julia Gardiner Tyler, one of two first ladies born in East Hampton -- the other being Jackie Kennedy -- lived comfortably in Richmond until she died in 1889, when she was not quite seventy years old. The former "Rose of Long Island" remains forever in Virginia, yet her impression on East Hampton persists to this day.