Margaret Woodrow Wilson

Margaret Woodrow Wilson was born on April 16, 1886, in Gainesville, Georgia. She was the eldest daughter of Woodrow Wilson, who later became the President of the United States, and Ellen Louise Axson. At the time of her birth, her parents were residing near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where her father was on the faculty of Bryn Mawr College. She had two siblings named Jessie and Eleanor. Her parents identified strongly with the South, and her mother chose to have Margaret born in Georgia to avoid her children being regarded as Yankees; the family stayed in Gainesville for her birth.

Wilson attended local schools associated with the colleges where her father taught. She later enrolled at Goucher College, where she was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, alongside her sister Jessie. Margaret received training in voice and piano at the Peabody Institute. She was involved in music and developed an interest in social service and education. As a singer, she recorded several pieces, including "My Laddie," which was released in 1914 on Columbia Records (catalog number 39195). She performed for Allied troops during World War I.

Her father, in his will, bequeathed her an annuity of $2,500 annually (equivalent to approximately $45,869 today), under the conditions that this amount not exceed one-third of his estate’s annual income and that she remain unmarried.

From August 1914 to December 1915, Margaret Wilson served as First Lady of the United States, filling the role temporarily after her mother’s death and before her father's remarriage to Edith Bolling Galt. Her tenure as First Lady was during this transitional period.

Wilson was an advocate for women's suffrage and engaged in efforts to improve conditions for African American students in Washington, D.C., despite her father's support for segregation policies.

In 1938, Margaret Wilson traveled to Pondicherry, India, to join the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. She became a devotee and adopted the name Nistha, which in Sanskrit means "devotion" or "dedication." She remained at the ashram until her death in 1944. While in India, she collaborated with scholar Joseph Campbell to translate and edit the English version of the Hindu mystic Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings, resulting in the publication of "The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna" in 1942 by the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center in New York.

Margaret Wilson died from uremia on February 12, 1944, at the age of 57. She was unmarried and had no children. Her final resting place is in Pondicherry, India.