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WHHA PRESS ROOM | Background Info : Weddings
WEDDING CEREMONIES HELD AT THE WHITE HOUSE
Seventeen White House weddings have been documented:
March 29, 1812
Lucy Payne Washington (the sister of Dolley Madison) married Thomas Todd on the State
Floor, probably in the Blue Room.
March 9, 1820
Maria Hester Monroe (daughter of President and Mrs. James Monroe) married Samuel
Lawrence Gouverneur (Mrs. Monroe’s nephew) on the State Floor, probably in the Blue
Room.
February 25, 1828
John Adams (son of President and Mrs. John Quincy Adams) married Mary Catherine Hellen (Mrs. Adams’ niece) in the Blue Room.
April 10, 1832
Mary A. Eastin (Rachel Jackson’s niece) married Lucius J. Polk in the East Room.
November 29, 1832
Mary Anne Lewis (daughter of a close friend of President Andrew Jackson) married Alphonse Pageot in the East Room.
January 31, 1842
Elizabeth Tyler (daughter of President and Mrs. John Tyler) married William Waller in the
East Room.
May 21, 1874
Nellie Grant (daughter of President and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant) married Algernon Sartoris in
the East Room.
June 19, 1878
Emily Platt (niece of Lucy Hayes) married Russell Hastings in the Blue Room.
June 2, 1886
President Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the Blue Room.
February 17, 1906
Alice Lee Roosevelt (daughter of President and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt) married Nicholas
Longworth in the East Room.
November 25, 1913
Jessie Woodrow Wilson (daughter of President and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson) married Francis
Bowes Sayre in the East Room.
May 7, 1914
Eleanor Randolph Wilson (daughter of President and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson) married William Gibbs McAdoo in the Blue Room.
August 7, 1918
Alice Wilson (niece of President Woodrow Wilson) married Isaac Stuart McElroy, Jr., in the
Blue Room.
July 30, 1942
Harry Hopkins (assistant to President Franklin D. Roosevelt) married Louise Gill Macy in
the Second Floor Oval Room (then the president’s study).
December 9, 1967
Lynda Bird Johnson (daughter of President and Mrs. Johnson) married Charles Spittal Robb
in the East Room.
June 12, 1971
Tricia Nixon (daughter of President and Mrs. Richard Nixon) married Edward Finch Cox in
the Rose Garden.
May 28, 1994
Anthony Rodham (brother of Hillary Rodham Clinton) married Nicole Boxer in the Rose
Garden.
Wedding ceremonies of children of incumbent presidents that were held at
other locations than the White House.
Twelve children of incumbent presidents were married at locations other than the White
House. In the past one hundred years the wedding locations have been as far flung as a
small church in New England, the stylish Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles, or an observation
platform overlooking the Grand Canyon. Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt celebrated
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(con’t)
marriages of all five of their children during their long administration. Each, four sons and
one daughter, chose to be married at locations other than the White House. Two children of
presidents chose to marry after their fathers were elected but before they had taken office,
Julie Nixon to David Eisenhower, grandson of President Eisenhower, on December 22, 1968
and Ron Reagan, Jr. to Doria Palmieri on November 24, 1980.
1. Andrew Jackson Jr. to Sarah York November 24, 1831 in Philadelphia
2. Abraham Van Buren to Angelica Singleton November 27, 1838 at Home Place Plantation
in South Carolina
3. Frederick Grant married Ida Marie Honore on October 20, 1874 at the Honore home at
Vincennes and 47th Street
4. Elliott Roosevelt married Ruth Googins on July 22, 1933 in Burlington, Iowa.
They divorced and on December 3, 1944 he married actress and television personality Faye
Emerson on an observation platform overlooking the Grand Canyon.
5. Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Jr. married journalist John Boettiger on January 18, 1935 in the
Roosevelt’s New York City home.
6. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. married Ethel Du Pont on June 30, 1937. The ceremony,
heralded as the wedding of the decade, was held at Christ Church, Christiana Hundred,
Delaware. A reception followed at Owl’s Nest, the estate of the bride’s parents Mr. and Mrs.
Eugene Du Pont at Greenville, Delaware. Some 300 invitations were issued for the wedding
with an additional 900 invitations to the reception. The couple was featured on the cover of
Time Magazine.
7. John Aspinwall Roosevelt married Anne Lindsay Clark, a Boston debutante, on June 18,
1938 in Nahant, Massachusetts.
President and Mrs. Roosevelt traveled from Washington, D.C. by special train to attend the
ceremonies, to which 300 had been invited.
8. James Roosevelt married Romelle Schneider at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George P. Connverse in Beverly Hills, California on April 14, 1941.
9. Luci Johnson married Patrick Nugent on August 6, 1966 at the Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception in Washington, D.C. Afterward President and Mrs. Johnson welcomed some 700
guests to a reception in the White House.
10. Maureen Reagan married Dennis Revell
on April 25, 1981 at the stylish Beverly Hills Hotel with 375 guests attending.
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11. President and Mrs. Reagan attended Patti Davis (Patricia Ann Reagan) wedding to Paul
Grilley on August 14, 1984 at the Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
12. Dorothy Walker Bush married Robert Koch on June 26, 1992 at Camp David. She is the
only presidential child to be married at Camp David.
IMAGE GALLERY:
Angelica Singleton Van Buren
White House Historical Association
Roosevelt Family Sailing, 1933
Franklin D Roosevelt Library
Luci Johnson and Patrick Nugent, 1966
White House Historical Association
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President Reagan, Paul Grilley, Patti Davis, Nancy
Reagan, 1984
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
President Bush and daughter, Dorothy, sledding
at Camp David, 1991
George Bush Presidential Library and Museum
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