Background
Peggy Taylor was born in Calvert County, Maryland, the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Walter Smith and his wife, Ann Mackall.
First Lady of the United States president's wife
Peggy Taylor was born in Calvert County, Maryland, the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Walter Smith and his wife, Ann Mackall.
She grew up in comfortable and genteel surroundings, and was educated in the manner of young ladies of her time. In 1809, the twenty- one-year-old Peggy traveled to Kentucky to visit her sister, and she met a handsome lieutenant named Zachary Taylor. Lieutenant Taylor, aged 25, married Peggy Smith, aged 21, on June 21, 1810, at the home of the bride's sister, Mrs. Mary Chew, near Louisville, Kentucky. Their marriage appears to have been a happy one.
A devout Episcopalian, Mrs. Taylor prayed regularly for her soldier husband. She became somewhat reclusive because, it is said, she had promised God to give up the pleasures of society if her husband returned safely from war. While he was serving in the Mexican-American War, she lived at their Cypress Grove Plantation near Rodney in Jefferson County, Mississippi.
With the rise in Zachary Taylor's political career, his wife Peggy Taylor literally prayed for his defeat, for she dreaded the personal consequences of his becoming president. By the time she became First Lady, the hardships of following her husband from fort to fort and the birth of several children had taken their toll.
She was a private first lady, rarely venturing out of her official home except to worship at St. John’s Episcopal Church. Almost all of the first lady’s office duties were relegated to Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Bliss, her lively and attractive daughter whose husband served as the president’s secretary.
While her husband was away fighting in the Mexican War, Peggy Taylor lived in a mansion at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that the couple had bought in 1840. She became a prominent member of Southern society, finding herself ever more popular as her husband’s victories were reported. She wasn’t terribly pleased to learn that national fame might lead to a presidential nomination. At the age of sixty, she could hardly have been expected to be excited about moving to Washington. She did make the move, however, and during her husband’s brief tenure as the twelfth president, she lived in the executive mansion by his side, even if she kept a low profile as first lady.
With the sudden death of the President, Mrs. Taylor's health deteriorated rapidly. Margaret "Peggy" Taylor died two years later, on August 14, 1852, in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was buried next to her husband near Louisville, Kentucky.
Physical Characteristics: A brief description of her personal appearance in 1825, when she was about 37, describes her as "a fat, motherly looking woman."